Anno's sadistic game (contains EoE spoilers)
zedizdead
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After watching End of Evangelion several times it has occurred to me
that the story-telling technique through most of ep.25(Air) can be
reduced to the simple and cruel formula: raise the audience's hopes
for a character or situation, then dash those hopes as brutally as
possible.Some of the more obvious examples would include:
Set-up: Hyuga and Shigeru speculate about what will become of NERV,
now that the last Angel has been defeated. Resolution: Almost everyone
in NERV is terminated with extreme prejudice.
Set-up: Thanks to the secrete data provided by Kaji, Misato realizes
what HCP actually entails. Misato is brave and resourceful; will she
be able to prevent SEELE's insane scheme? Resolution: Misato is
killed saving Shinji's ass. SEELE's plan continues apace.
Set-up: Before she dies, Misato pulls out all stops to persuade Shinji
to snap out of his near-catatonic state and pilot EVA.01 once again.
Resolution: Shinji finds EVA.01 buried in Bakelite, and must stand by
helplessly as Something Very Bad happens to Asuka.
Set-up: Ritsuko implants a secrete program to trigger MAGI's
self-destruct mechanism.(OK, I know that wouldn't be a good thing for
the people left in NERV, but it would buy the human race some time, by
rendering ADAM,LILITH, and EVA.01 inaccessible to SEELE.) Resolution:
CASPAR refuses to self-destruct, and Ritsuko is offed by Gendou.
And (very obvious)
Set-up: Asuka snaps out of her coma. Asuka and EVA.02 kick ass big
time.ALL HAIL ASUKA! Resolution: The MP EVAs regenerate, and eat her.
Do we detect a pattern here?
The last time I saw EoE, however, I came to realize that in End of
Evengelion:Final, Anno is playing precisely the same game with the
audience's expectations that he has been doing all along: Raise hope,
then kill it. The set-up is the pretty words uttered by Rei,Kaworu,
and Yui , that everyone who wishes to can return to human form, etc.
etc. The brutal reality is what we see in Final.
I had always been a believer in the "Everyone can and probably will
come back" school of thought, both for the usual reasons offered
(Asuka was dead, and she comes back, so why not everyone else, etc.),
and for the frankly sentimental reason that an Evangelion world
without Misato in it has no appeal or meaning to this fanboy. But what
is Anno really telling us the last minutes of EoE? Final briefly and
succinctly shows us the fate of the four main characters: Rei has
become an ethereal, angelic Presence, unconstrained by space or time,
who fades in and out like a Jedi. Shinji and Asuka are the last humans
on earth in a blasted, hellish landscape. And Misato... That cross
nailed to a grave marker stared back at me, and the truth finally sunk
in, like a kick to the stomach: She (and, by extension, everyone else)
is Gone. Kaput. Not Coming Back.
I think the words of Rei and Yui are there to explain away the
otherwise magical re-appearance of Asuka, and to set us up for a
final, bitter disappointment .
"I feel sick..."
I know just how you feel, Asuka...
"Who is Zed"
Zed is Dead, Baby, Zed is Dead..."
Vaughn L.Porter
"zedizdead" <csf...@mac.com> wrote in message
news:cf1e5c98.03030...@posting.google.com...
Without a doubt, Hideki Anno has some real issues to resolve (if Evangelion
doesn't convince you of that, Nadia: Secret of Blue Water andHis and Her
Circumstances will). Even if Anno wasn't trying to send a big FU to the Eva
fanbase, he does show he has a rather dismal view of humanity, and where
it's going. So my advice to Studio GAINEX: KEEP HIM AWAY FROM MAHOROMATIC
AND ANY OTHER COMIDIC FARE!
Vaughn L.Porter
I hope he's back on his meds.
zedizdead
> doesn't convince you of that, Nadia: Secret of Blue Water andHis and Her
> Circumstances will). Even if Anno wasn't trying to send a big FU to the Eva
> fanbase, he does show he has a rather dismal view of humanity, and where
> it's going. So my advice to Studio GAINEX: KEEP HIM AWAY FROM MAHOROMATIC
> AND ANY OTHER COMIDIC FARE!
>
> Vaughn L.Porter
> I hope he's back on his meds.
OK, I can see that EVA is the product of a deranged mind, but what,
exactly, did you have in mind in reference to Nadia? The most
disturbing thing I recall in Nadia was when Gargoyle threatened to
shoot a four year old child (Marie), because you knew he was
perfectly, remorselessly serious, but beyond that it all seemed
reasonably harmless...
"Who is Zed?"
"Zed is dead, Baby, Zed is dead..."