[EVA] Concurrency tangent (WAS: Alternate Rei on DVD cover)

[once at ix.netcom.com]

>Mr. Horn, as Gwern here has also pointed out....well, you keep repeating "it means something to the characters or else they wouldn't call them that"
>
>Which "characters"?  Not Shinji, Asuka, Misato...only Keel and his flunkies, Gendo and Ritsuko...who are not presented as, objectively, "sane" people.  

Well, would you care to rewrite the plot of Evangelion and give us a new version to watch--one that removes "only" Kiel, SEELE, Gendo and Ritsuko? What job, what missions, what conflicts exactly, would Shinji, Asuka and Misato have in the story if these people and their plots did not exist? 

Insanity does not mean objective realities no longer exist for the afflicted, whatever reality happens to be within the story (i.e., "a giant image of the Systema Sephiroticum just appeared in the sky"); i.e., it doesn't follow that their beliefs about existence are delusional. And what does it matter if they are sane, objectively or otherwise, as long as they have the knowledge, power and authority to do their will? Plenty of leaders in the real world have been unstable, yet their beliefs had consequence for millions. Are Shinji, Asuka, and Misato in perfect mental health, for that matter? 

There is nothing surprising about Shinji, Asuka, and Misato having a different perspective than Kiel, SEELE, Gendo or Ritsuko--they're soldiers in the field, asked to carry out orders and plan tactics. The strategy, or indeed the reasons for the conflict, were never for them to say, or perhaps even understand. Again, that would be realistic for any military organization.

I'm worried about an interpretation of Evangelion that is based not on seeing things that aren't there, but the reverse approach--eliminating things that are there, creating a private, edited version of the series, cutting it down to fit the theory, where characters and concepts that don't fit into the theory are redefined as somehow unimportant and meaningless. 

--C.