Forum - View topicPrincess Tutu lacks... something...
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Raftina
 Posts: 3282 |
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More specifically, the relationship between Duck and Rue is a bit lacking.
The progression: Stage 1 spoiler[On one hand, we have a cheerful, energetic, friendly, but clumsy girl as the protagonist. One the other hand, we have a serious, aloof, and accomplished girl as her classmate. The protagonist approaches the serious girl, talking with her, smiling with her, and going through trials with her. The two gradually become friends, thanks largely to the efforts of the protagonist, and we see the nice side of the serious girl.] Stage 2 Then, spoiler[we find out that the serious girl has loved a man for a long time. She wants him to reciprocate her feelings, but he appears unmoved. She waits patiently for him, but this wait cannot last forever. His eyes turn toward the protagonist. We then find out that the protagonist is the Chosen One, and we see the man slip away before the serious girl's eyes. She embraces the Darkness and betrays everyone and everything else she held dear, desperate to reclaim him.] Stage 3 In the end, spoiler[the serious suffers many tribulations for her new allegiance. However, it is through her suffering that the man comes to see how much she loves him. In the end, the magnanimous protagonist helps to redeem her. The serious girl and the man leave together to live happily, more mature for their experience that leaves an indelible mark on their lives.] Much of the drama of stage 2 depends on the setup in stage 1, and how acceptable the stage 3 depends as well on it. In Princess Tutu, stage 1 is somewhat lacking: 1. Rue is a proud girl. She has eyes only for Mytho. While her interactions with the other students may not be condemnable, they also do not establish her as particularly sympathetic. For example, her remark to Anteaterina spoiler["you can't" in response to an inquiry about how to dance like her may have been meant as "you can't dance like me, because you have to dance in your own way," but this is not well communicated.] Because she is not particularly sympathetic in stage 1, her actions in stage 2 are less acceptable, and her fate in stage 3 are similarly less acceptable. 2. The budding friendship between Rue and Duck is cut short with their rivalry. Rue had barely begun to think of Duck as a friend and made a single aborted attempt to approach her. By the time spoiler[Kraehe asserted herself,] the relationship was almost entirely one-sided on Duck's part. Thus, in stage 2, when Duck spoiler[refers to the two of them as friends, the claim rings less true than when Rue denies it.] Thus, stage 2 lacks the poignant tragedy of spoiler[two friends being driven apart by their apparent competition for the man.] It's just... not that well done in this respect. ...Now that I look back on what I wrote, I sound like Drosselmeyer. Ew! |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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It wouldn't make sense for Rue to be likeable and sympathetic in part one, given the revelation somewhere in part 2/3 where spoiler[she has been manipulated by The Raven into believing that she is his worthless daughter, and that she neither needs nor is able to be loved by anyone other than him.]
Besides which, I don't believe the point was ever to make Rue truly sympathetic in the opening, as the half-way point of the series spoiler[makes an effort to completely change the role of the four lead characters as greatly as possible. It is only once we see Rue cast down from her position as The Raven's primary agent and abandoned by Mytho that we realize she was only ever a pawn, and thus deserving of our sympathy.] Her public personality was never intended to be particularly nice in the opening stages, but rather condescending and cold. She only began to open up and display kindness because Duck was unaffected by her cattiness and persisted in the attempt to become friends. |
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EricJ
 Posts: 876 |
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And then, of course, there's the factor that the second half of the series was a complete mess.
The whole plot revolves around whether Duck's niceness can coax the characters out of their predestined "roles" as famous ballet characters, and Rue, of course, is the Black Swan to her Odette. (Although certainly not in the Natalie Portman sense.  )
I don't take it quite THAT academically seriously, but allow it a sort of leeway between art and plot. |
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Jedi Master
 Posts: 400 |
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Is that a bad thing? 
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Raftina
Posts: 3282 |
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Enjoying watching the suffering of others? Well, perhaps it would have been stronger if I had compared it to Kirei Kotomine, eh?
Stage 1 is a progression, where Rue does not need to start as likable, though it is also not necessary to make the character unlikable in this stage. Whether she is unlikable or not has no bearing on how she should be at the end of stage 1. She did not change. Her spoiler[upbringing does not imply that she has to remain unlikable, because she does not have memories of her upbringing during stage 1.] The spoiler[Raven's claim depends to a specific type of love, where the lover would sacrifice anything for her. This is what was allegedly demonstrated for Rue when she tried to seduce Femio.] As the audience, we are well aware that the claim does not apply to spoiler[platonic love of friends, because Duck loved her as a friend regardless of knowing she was Kraehe.]
There is a vast gap in the series between the opening and when spoiler[the Raven abandoned her as his agent.] It is her largely unsympathetic portrayal that is part of the problem. The other problem is highlighted in your last sentence: She has "only begun to open up" by the closing of stage 1--the display kindness part remains absent. The series jumped too quickly to spoiler[cast her as the villainess, leaving little time have her recognize Duck as a friend.] This quick transition leaves the stage 2 spoiler[rivalry without the poignant angle of a conflict between friends.] |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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It's really interesting that you mention this specific part of Princess Tutu, because I thought the way they did it actually made it better than the 'traditional' handling of that kind of situation. It's pretty cliche to have 2 people become friends and then have them dragged apart by circumstance, forcing one into the role of villain and the other as a hero.
The only bone I had to pick with Princess Tutu was the underdevelopment of her two best friends. They're pretty much the comic relief in the story (which I have no problem with) but besides that they don't have much personality. Well, that's a pretty small complaint though. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18587 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I'm with Tris8 on this, but I'll go even farther. I was never convinced that Rue was intended to be a sympathetic character at any point in the first half except possibly in the wake of episode 13's climax, spoiler[where she retreats from the scene, admitting defeat, and seemed more sad than actually angry.] That was the first point where I started to consider that there might be more to Rue than we had seen so far. I didn't really start to see her as consistently sympathetic until her flashbacks started much later in the series.
Honestly, Raftina, I think your problem is that you're trying to define the story in terms of a traditional progression, but this isn't a fully traditional story. |
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Jedi Master
Posts: 400 |
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Yet unlike Kirei, Drosselmeyer spoiler[knows that these are merely characters in a story. I should watch the end again as I've forgotten if he ever realized that he himself is also a fictional character in the story.] |
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Tris8
Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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Raftina
Posts: 3282 |
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1. There are three common points to end stage 1 and begin stage 2: 1) When the serious character barely begins to respond. 2) When the serious character has reciprocated but has not fully acknowledged the friendship. 3) When they openly acknowledge each other as friends. These are variations of the same theme that are handled in different ways. It is a mistake to consider one "traditional." Princess Tutu uses approach spoiler[number 1),] a rather weak progression that generally leaves spoiler[one of the characters a one dimensional villain.] 2. Dragged apart suggests that it is the circumstances that constitute the driving force for beginning stage 2. My description of stage 2 is quite clear that this is not the case--one character voluntarily opposes the other, fully knowing the consequences. The dynamics of these different driving forces are quite different. "Dragged apart" is more suitable for an even protagonist and antagonist relationship, while "embraces the darkness" is more clearly intended for a hero and villain relationship.
How much the climax in episode 13 reveals "more to Rue than we had seen so far" depends quite a bit on what "we had seen so far." I would have been quite surprised if spoiler[she had been angry rather than sad, given how she was in episodes 8 and 9.] |
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Tris8
Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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 In the end, I think I like Princess Tutu better they way they decided to take it.
Also, even though I do acknowledge that Rue willingly chose the darkness of her own volition, I still consider Duck and Rue 'torn apart by circumstance' to a small degree, because I consider the lies and manipulation of spoiler[The Raven (her self-proclaimed father)] to be variables out of Rue's control and his treachery not reasonably foreseeable. Those circumstances actually serve to make the story more tragic for me, because by the end of the series I could see the potential Duck and Rue had as friends, and all the happiness they could have had..... all dashed because of spoiler[The frickin evil Raven and his manipulation of Rue.] Rue could have been so happy! Almost all of the suffering could have been avoided.... not just for Rue, but for so many people. Seeing the wasted potential of their happiness, imagining how Rue could have lived spoiler[a normal life with a family that loved her] just makes me want to cry.  K, sorry for that rant I just love Princess Tutu, and love debating/talking about it.
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