[EVA] Gendou - man or monster?

[Carl Gustav Horn]

I apologize, but I really seem to be missing something here. Over the  
past thirteen years, Evangelion has been discussed and analyzed from  
practically every angle--its aesthetics, its symbols, its technology.  
Discussion of character behavior is a particularly popular topic,  
including speculation on what they might have done differently, or  
what their true feelings are.

What is wrong, then, with discussing an Evangelion's character's  
actions from a moral perspective? It's not like doing so forbids one  
from ever talking again about the sandbox scene, or whether Rei is  
made of wave-particle matter, or which Eva character you'd like to go  
out with, or how Misato's panties look in Rebuild. There's nothing  
wrong with these types of discussion, but what is wrong with one on  
moral behavior? How is Evangelion deemed to "never" be about  
moralizing? Isn't "I mustn't run away," said first by Anno, and then  
put in the mouth of Shinji, itself a moral statement--do the right  
thing, don't run away from your responsibilities? I argue by that  
measure, for example, Shinii was more moral than Gendo; Gendo, after  
all, ran away from him, but Shinji faced up to his duty.

If one was writing about other fictional works--a novel, a play, a  
movie--it would be perfectly acceptable to say why you thought this  
or that character did do, or did not do, the right thing, and compare  
their morality that of the other characters. The idea of choice and  
possibility is inherent to the Instrumentality; even the prophecies  
of the Dead Sea Scrolls are said to be incomplete.

If the issue is that these are cartoon characters, as you say, and  
therefore not real, surely all discussions about them are an equal  
waste of time. The fact I find Evangelion to be full of bad and  
flawed people doesn't mean I regard it as a bad and flawed series-- 
quite the contrary. To me, Evangelion is a series that is deeply  
human. Gendo is human--a person who is loved by some, and who  
accomplishes amazing things. From another perspective, he is a  
horrible man. Both perspectives are true. There is little  
"superficial" about his behavior, because for a man of his power and  
will, his character traits have profound consequences for others;  
that's why I judge him more harshly within the fictional context of  
Evangelion, because within that context, he bears more  
responsibility. You say "talk about him as a character"--that's what  
I'm doing, just as I would talk about characters like Jason Compson  
or the Duke of Calabria. What's special about this one particular  
fiction called Evangelion, that it's somehow misguided or pointless  
to make a critique of the way its characters act?

--C.


On Jun 9, 2008, at 1:45 AM, Rachel K. Clark wrote:

> @Carl (et al.): If this discussion is just going to be about  
> moralizing, I don't see much of a point. It doesn't stimulate  
> productive conversation or encourage closer examination; it's  
> forceful rhetoric that's remarkably unhelpful when it comes to a  
> well-rounded analysis of -- yes! -- *fictional characters*.
>
> NGE was never about moralizing. I don't think Anno assembled his  
> motley cast of characters so that viewers would slap judgment upon  
> them for their superficial behavior and leave it at that. That's  
> simplifying things quite an awful lot. While the characters are  
> like real people in many ways, the fact remains that they aren't,  
> and never will be. They're fabricated constructs being used to  
> deliver the narrative, communicate various aspects of human nature,  
> and so forth. They must be treated as such.
>
> I mean, seriously. "Character A managed to accomplish more than  
> Character B even though they both had fucked up lives, and people  
> in real life did better than one or both, and blah blah blah..."  
> These observations aren't incredibly relevant (unless, of course,  
> measuring cartoon characters with your ethical ruler is all you're  
> interested in doing) or interesting, especially when they're  
> wielded like a 200-kg steel mallet. What does the story tell us  
> about the actual characters and their interactions with others?  
> What are we supposed to take from this, as viewers? (If Anno was  
> just going for "Gendo is a dick", either he would have left a lot  
> of material out or he is even more insidious than I think he is.)
>
> Believe it or not, it's possible to talk about Gendo without  
> patronizing him in any way OR "making excuses" for him. You just  
> talk about him as a character. It's that simple. Want to try sometime?
>
> Not sure if this message will accomplish anything, but I can always  
> hope. <_<
>
> -Reichu
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