Comments on: “We start out with really awesome robots and kick some ass, but then the other guys get robots just as awesome and things go to hell” http://cuchlann.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/we-start-out-with-really-awesome-robots-and-kick-some-ass-but-then-the-other-guys-get-robots-just-as-awesome-and-things-go-to-hell/ because anime isn't obscure enough for me Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:19:37 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: The Animanachronism http://cuchlann.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/we-start-out-with-really-awesome-robots-and-kick-some-ass-but-then-the-other-guys-get-robots-just-as-awesome-and-things-go-to-hell/#comment-60 The Animanachronism Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:41:45 +0000 http://cuchlann.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/we-start-out-with-really-awesome-robots-and-kick-some-ass-but-then-the-other-guys-get-robots-just-as-awesome-and-things-go-to-hell/#comment-60 Ah. I was speaking in invisible inverted commas: to Celestial Being, anyone who was promoting war was a 'bad guy'; in <em>Wing</em> and several other parts of the franchise (though not, I would argue, the original <em>MSG</em>) these people are at least people it's ok to blow away without much thought; in <em>00</em>, for the audience, Graham, Patrick, Soma &c were normal people we could sympathise with. Ah. I was speaking in invisible inverted commas: to Celestial Being, anyone who was promoting war was a ‘bad guy’; in Wing and several other parts of the franchise (though not, I would argue, the original MSG) these people are at least people it’s ok to blow away without much thought; in 00, for the audience, Graham, Patrick, Soma &c were normal people we could sympathise with.

]]> By: cuchlann http://cuchlann.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/we-start-out-with-really-awesome-robots-and-kick-some-ass-but-then-the-other-guys-get-robots-just-as-awesome-and-things-go-to-hell/#comment-57 cuchlann Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:20:19 +0000 http://cuchlann.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/we-start-out-with-really-awesome-robots-and-kick-some-ass-but-then-the-other-guys-get-robots-just-as-awesome-and-things-go-to-hell/#comment-57 Bah. Lens metaphors are *always* helpful. : ) I recall that my lit. crit. professor used the lens metaphor on the first day of class to describe the function of literary theory; each one, she said, is simply a lens. And you're right -- the Gundams are definitely a kind of god from the machine; especially as the technology used to motivate them is so vague. The only thing is that I never viewed the other people as "bad guys," though that is a convenient term. I always thought the point was that no one was really "bad." Though I really never did like the super-soldier chick. Bah. Lens metaphors are *always* helpful. : ) I recall that my lit. crit. professor used the lens metaphor on the first day of class to describe the function of literary theory; each one, she said, is simply a lens.

And you’re right — the Gundams are definitely a kind of god from the machine; especially as the technology used to motivate them is so vague. The only thing is that I never viewed the other people as “bad guys,” though that is a convenient term. I always thought the point was that no one was really “bad.” Though I really never did like the super-soldier chick.

]]> By: IKnight http://cuchlann.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/we-start-out-with-really-awesome-robots-and-kick-some-ass-but-then-the-other-guys-get-robots-just-as-awesome-and-things-go-to-hell/#comment-56 IKnight Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:52:36 +0000 http://cuchlann.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/we-start-out-with-really-awesome-robots-and-kick-some-ass-but-then-the-other-guys-get-robots-just-as-awesome-and-things-go-to-hell/#comment-56 Given the religious nomenclature and what you call the angelic overtones, I liked to think of <em>00</em>'s Gundams as <em>dei ex machinis</em>. From the perspective of the three superpowers, the Gundams initially looked like godlike things that literally came out of a machine in the sky to sort things out by defeating the bad guys. Of course, defeating the bad guys didn't sort things out - at least, not as Celestial Being might have expected - and the bad guys became progressively stronger. I think you're right that it was a show which benefitted when (at least partly) viewed through a mythic lens (though I seem to recall lelangir suggesting that my lens metaphors were unhelpful). Given the religious nomenclature and what you call the angelic overtones, I liked to think of 00’s Gundams as dei ex machinis. From the perspective of the three superpowers, the Gundams initially looked like godlike things that literally came out of a machine in the sky to sort things out by defeating the bad guys.

Of course, defeating the bad guys didn’t sort things out – at least, not as Celestial Being might have expected – and the bad guys became progressively stronger.

I think you’re right that it was a show which benefitted when (at least partly) viewed through a mythic lens (though I seem to recall lelangir suggesting that my lens metaphors were unhelpful).

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