That subject line is a week old — I messaged it to OGT upon watching episode eighteen of Macross Frontier. The “Lion” OP is truly bitching. Re: the subject, I just had to use it, though. So there you are.
The latest episode leaves us with two “oh shit” moments, but I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about our triad of protagonists, the “triangle” of the first OP.
It’s been a fact that I had access to all through this show, but this episode is where I realized that all three of our protagonists are performers, and they chart the archetypes of the figure: Sheryl is the classic idol, loving her fame and the act of performance, as Alto’s old acting buddy reminds her in this episode. Ranka is the new performer, not sure she can take to the world she’s dived into. Alto is the old performer, bitter about the whole world of it and trying his damnedest to stay away from it however he can. Alto is the one I’m most interested in right now.
If you can cast your mind back many months, you may remember the SMS’s bridge bunnies oohing and aahing over Alto as he fought — he posed after kills. Alto is a performer in the truest sense: he can’t do anything else, even when he’s, well, doing something else. However, don’t get tied up in the modern western worry about performers: Alto’s not a liar, he’s not acting to cover over something about himself (as Sheryl might be doing — it’s more likely the acting is the method for her to react to her world, rather than the end in itself, but it’s still a possibility). Alto doesn’t sing, but his name is significant in a series about singers: alto, one of the voice classifications. I played alto saxophone in high school. No, you didn’t really need to know that.
The actor as an archetype is a little lackluster — I can’t think of all that many examples right now. Of course, there’s a great example from Japanese mythology, which makes it really pertinent to what we’re talking about. I’m thinking of Ame-no-Uzume, the goddess of the dawn who teased Amaterasu, the sun, from hiding by performing a raucus dance outside the cave Amaterasu hid in. In remembering that story, and then looking it up to link to, I was forced to wonder if Alto won’t turn into a kind of Uzume. We know Ranka is good for screwing with the Vajra, and one or two tiny things hint that Sheryl, or at least Sheryl with Ranka, can be useful as well. Since both characters are racing toward a depression that could make them unable or unwilling to perform, Alto might be the figure who teases them from the cave to save the Frontier.
This is speculation about plot, which I usually refrain from doing, but I hope to make something useful out of it. Let’s see how that goes:
If Alto is this performing figure, Uzume, then the show changes a great deal in a short amount of time. Suddenly the whole plot of Frontier, which has only shown the combats in context of how they affect the relationships of these characters, shifts to forcing Alto to realize what performance can really be, the value it can have. I think we can believe Alto when he says his personal dream is to fly — not fight, but fly. He flew in this episode, but also performed, doing stunts in his training suit while marking out sky-writing for a concert. And he enjoyed himself, I think. I have to wonder if Alto has ever thought about a career as a stunt pilot.
We’ve already seen that Alto performs without realizing what he’s doing. We’ve also seen his performances help his friends, as when he saved Ranka during the movie shoot by, well, getting kissed underwater — possibly cooler than the famous upside-down kiss from Spider-Man, if only for the awkward.
I think it’s clear Alto is a kind of catalyst. Even if he doesn’t “save the day” by some sort of performance something or other, I believe the show has placed him in the role of performer, and has thus contextualized — or re-contextualized — the role of performer in society and literature. Alto must act upon one or both of our idoru, pushing them to the point where they’re able to “save the day.” And that’s basically what the whole Macross franchise is about.
Oh, and the pic is to appeal to OGT’s hungers, as I’m sure this episode pleased him in a way that has nothing to do with saving the world.
Oh man, how I wish I read this post back then. I think my post on Alto in the finale satisfies your speculation to a degree.
His coming to terms with his identity – that is to be an actor too along with the rest of what he does.
This is part of a theory of identity that I get along with:
Identity is something we have, it is not who we are.
What I mean is that I have an identity the same way I have a blog. It’s mine, but it is not me.
So when Alto claimed his identity as an actor, it allowed him to perform what he and everybody else needed him to do.
Forcing it
a bita lot, in the finale Ranka was Amaterasu trapped in the cave (Battle Frontier) Alto led the dance, the other Gods (Macross Quarter, Sheryl) assisted him in dance and song, and they collectively drew Ranka out.Playlist: Northern Cross, Anata Oto DOKUN DOKUN DOKUN
I suppose you could also look at identity as the identifier for a suite of actions, and Alto simply decided, finally, to use the suite of actions most appropriate. But that’s not a fully-formed idea, just one off the top of my head.
Identity as an identifier of a suite of actions… YES. It’s brilliant. Alto as actor has a range of possible behaviors. Cuchlann as critic has a range of commentary and manner of writing…
Identity – masks, suits, costumes, it’s consistent with those metaphors, which… hmmm makes it quite ordinary as well. But, I want to make something of this, given my propensity to write pieces on characters. We’ll discuss it over IM sometime! ^_^