07-09-2003, 04:28 PM
I l;ike eva as entertainment, but as a deep and philosophical artistic entity, I think it's total hog-wash. Frankly I'm sick of people putting so much stock into it. Why? Well, first I think that if any show (regardless of whatever medium it's produced in) is going to have a relevent meaning, it's got to be realistic. Even when you go beyond the mechs, the angels and the scandal, the characters are far from realistic. basically they take a character flaw, exploit and magnify it a few hundred times. I seriously doubt someone is tragically meek like Shinji (ie, can never be beyond meek no matter his/her accomplishments or the praise they receive). I doubt anyone will have a mental breakdown and explosion a la Asuka, just from not being as talented as someone else.
Second, Eva's "deeper" moments are expounded using techno-babble and psycho-babble. The best example is the episode where Eva-01 and Shinji are swallowed up by the mini-black hole in Tokyo-3. None of the jargon they use is real or relevent, but it's supposedly very deep. And of course the next episode after Eva-01 absorbes Shinji.
Anyways, to make my point, people have this tendandcy to surmise messages out of a show by putting elements of the said show that really don't mean anything (a la Symbolism). Symbolism can be a good and bad thing. The symbolism in Animal farm about the Soviet Leaders is far different than the Symbolism in Lord of the Flies about civilization.
Second, Eva's "deeper" moments are expounded using techno-babble and psycho-babble. The best example is the episode where Eva-01 and Shinji are swallowed up by the mini-black hole in Tokyo-3. None of the jargon they use is real or relevent, but it's supposedly very deep. And of course the next episode after Eva-01 absorbes Shinji.
Anyways, to make my point, people have this tendandcy to surmise messages out of a show by putting elements of the said show that really don't mean anything (a la Symbolism). Symbolism can be a good and bad thing. The symbolism in Animal farm about the Soviet Leaders is far different than the Symbolism in Lord of the Flies about civilization.