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Forum - View topicNEWS: Minneapolis to Host 1st Mechademia Academic Conference
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_V_
 Posts: 619 |
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I am incredibly disappointed by the attempts by the Mechademia crowd in the past to analyze Evangelion.
Rather than an objective attempt to explain the series, such analysis as they made was often more akin to the pop culture analysis seen in the South Park episode "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerBalls": That is, the boys in South Park wrote an intentionally inflamatory book, so disgusting that no one can read it without vomiting, but literary critics from all sides start reading meaning into it that they never intended: i.e. both pro and anti-abortion groups insist that their book supports their views, pro and anti-healthcare groups, conservatives and liberals, etc. The point the boys try to emphatically make by the end is "stop reading your own meanings into something". The Death of the Author has been greatly exaggerated. I have actually seen the argument presented that "well, I'm not really talking about 'Hideaki Anno's Evangelion', but my interpretation of it". This is well and good....so long as people know what the base starting point was. For example, an article trying to make the point that "Miyazaki's works are ANTI-environmentalist" would be..."interesting", but not factually correct. The simple fact is that we're all eating out of the same bowl, there's a finite amount of academic articles and convention panels, and if you run a "Miyazaki was anti-environmentalist" panel....that's one less timeslot for another panel which was actually based on Miyazaki's written statements. Of course, its fairly easy to write academic articles about Miyazaki....what with that fact that he *wrote an autobiography*. With Evangelion this is much less clear: the most we have to go on are scraps, bits and pieces of information that we get fro Hideaki Anno's occasionally statements in magazine interviews. Specifically with regard to Evangelion....they haven't even produced that much on the subject. Its actually a common myth that "everything that can be said about Eva has been said", because in terms of "actual number of research articles" the number is pitifully low: http://www.corneredangel.com/amwess/nge_papers.html Susan Napier's "article" simply shoehorns Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain together....I imagine because they were hot button series at the time. Frankly, a lot of this seems like hastily retooled Ghost in the Shell articles, rather than something that approached Eva on its own terms. http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a88.htm#Napier What little time Napier devoted to Eva was filled with minor factual errors (which functionally didn't affect her point, but are a sign of sloppy methods)....and basically devoted to twisting the series in such a way that it is presented as an existentialist, solipsistic masterpiece....which never existed in reality. Indeed, Napier casually states that The End of Evangelion is not canonical, and was merely made as "revenge on fans". This is the kind of supposition that I would expect from the deepest bowels of 2Chan, not from a "professional academic". Yes, there is argument about how and why EoE was made....but Napier simply disregards that ending in *literally one sentence*, without citing any outside sources. Frankly, I've observed that the major "citation" strategy for the Mechademia crowd when it comes to Eva is to cite themselves rather than the statements of the Japanese creators; Napier cites Orbaugh, Orbaugh cites Napier. Unsurprising given that Napier's vaunted "bible of anime studies", Anime: From Akira to Howl's Moving Castle, contains such lacunae as a full chapter on the works of Rumiko Takahashi....which includes no quoted statements from Rumiko Takahashi herself. Most of Napier's research hasn't been on "Hideaki Anno's Evangelion" itself so much as "fan-thropology", examining the Rei Ayanami Fanboy Cult: 
Yes, we all know that Rei Ayanami has been commercialized and merchandized into an infinite variety of forms, from "Princess Rei" to "Commando Rei" to "Mermaid Rei" (shudder). But we shouldn't be *encouraging* this. Napier & Co were fascinated by the second-order simulcra effect that grew up around Rei, rather than trying to analyze the original Rei. And how, exactly, is this furthering our understanding of "Evangelion"? As for Orbaugh's Sex and the Single Cyborg: Japanese Popular Culture Experiments in Subjectivity: http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a88.htm#Napier
...they showed Shinji breathing in oxygenated LCL fluid *literally one time* in the entire series, to establish that this is how it functions. Somehow this got twisted into more Freudian phallic imagery of "penetration". Napier and Orbaugh have basically just been repeating excerpts from Mari Kotani's article on the series....written in Japan over 15 years ago, and notably *before* The End of Evangelion was produced! Of course they'll try to find ways around the actual ending, as it challenged their pre-conceived notions. What have they been...doing, these past 15 years? Other than recycling an outdated article by Mari Kotani that was biased to begin with? Then again, Mari Kotani does actively cosplay as Ritsuko Akagi: 
Beware the academic who cosplays 
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Shenl742
Posts: 1525 |
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NGE isn't even mentioned anywhere in the article...
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_V_
Posts: 619 |
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It wasn't. But they've mishandled it before.
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Shenl742
Posts: 1525 |
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It sounds like they only "mishandled" it for you, based on your extremely...elaborate standards. I really don't think it deserved the the whole wall o' text.
Honestly it does seem pretty interesting to me, and it'd be cool if Brian could get some more info on it for his next columb. |
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_V_
Posts: 619 |
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What kind of Info?
I'm honestly confused that anyone would be more willing to hear an extremely complicated, intricate, but utterly fabricated interpretation because it is "interesting"....rather than the truth. By that logic, the hippie-fans that dominate Lord of the Rings fandom in the 1960's would still be in charge. Where are they now? |
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ZakuAce
 Posts: 525 Location: SE Wisconsin |
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...So basically, you just wanted to rant. Ugh.
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Shenl742
Posts: 1525 |
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Personally I think it'd be cool if he did a review of conference for his column, but who knows if he'll be able to attend it.
Okay, buddy. Now you're starting to irritate me. Just because I don't pander to the logic of you're little site which you seem to hock at every available oppurtinity like a snake-oil seller doesn't mean I can't find something interesting for interests sake. I really don't give a flying hell about YOUR truth. It's a freakin' workshop about robots and anime. It sounds fun. I don't give a damn whether it don't agree about your little idealogy about an over-a-decade show. It's fun. I sure as hell don't need to defend why I think so to the likes of you. I could say more but I don't want to dig myself any deeper. All i have to say is that you're seriously crossing the line V. |
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giapet
Industry Insider
 Posts: 205 Location: Washington DC |
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Calling everyone they know to gush about the titles and release dates for the upcoming Hobbits movies? |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I'd also say that they're pretty old. If they were in their 20's during the 1960's then they would be in their 70's or thereabouts by now.
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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Its actually a common myth that "everything that can be said about Eva has been said", because in terms of "actual number of research articles" the number is pitifully low: http://www.corneredangel.com/amwess/nge_papers.html Before using that portion of my site as *any* example, you may want to stop, think, and check how recent it is. I honestly don't remember when I last touched that particular page - and I run the thing! |
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GeminiDS85
Posts: 391 |
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I have been quite impressed by the Mechademia articles that I have come across. It is always very stimulating and fascinating to read academic analysis of anime and manga.
@_V_ I’m assuming that you are not familiar with a lot of the current theories and methods that are used in analysis of postmodern media. |
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_V_
Posts: 619 |
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I'm sorry, you meant "a column reviewing the conference", I thought you meant something else. Yeah, that would be good.
Yeah, The Hobbit: There & Back Again won't be out until 2013 or so. I'm sorry to namedrop your site I meant no embarassment; originally I just wrote "a couple of articles" then realized I had no comprehensive list, so it was better to link to your list as opposed to nothing at all. Its just really infuriating that when you sit down and read them, Napier & Orbaugh's statements on Eva don't really hold up to scrutiny.
Actually I am familiar with them: I reject them utterly. I'm frequently surprised that the common defense to criticisms I've leveled against previous analysis of Eva, is rarely a point-by-point counter-argument based on evidence.....but the accusation that the act of disagreeing with them is considered rude. Yes, unavoidably not everyone can simultaneously be right at the same time. From my point of view at least (I understand you might not share this)....its like an Intelligent Design advocate complaining that they are being victimized by teachers who refuse to give their theories "equal time" in public schools. We can't just give everyone in the kindergarten class a pat on the head and say "well, your idea might be correct too, we'll try to be inclusive". Ack.....I've been working on my thesis project for weeks. Its been so long since I've updated REVA. Ah, my beloved fansite. How I miss her...Bah! To Hell with this! Get my razors! Draw a bath! Get these Kleenex boxes off my feet! Its time to get back to work! Last edited by _V_ on Tue May 31, 2011 7:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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_V_
Posts: 619 |
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(double post)
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Takeyo
 Posts: 736 |
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And did anyone else notice that Sylvester McCoy is among the cast? I haven't heard a peep from him since he made me stop watching Doctor Who back in the day. How crazy is that?! I'm crossing my fingers he doesn't play another old, crusty elf like poor Tom Baker. That D&D movie was terrible! (no more a threadjack than the OP  )
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Shenl742
Posts: 1525 |
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At this point it's not even an issue about whether you're right or not...Hell I don't really care all that much about NGE anymore. It's had it's run, the movies are entertaining, but I'm through wracking my brain or arguing on the internet with people over whether or not Rei/Asuka/Misata represent the Three Faces of Eve, whether Gendo represents the failures of authority as a result of Hiroshima, or why the winged Appaloosa turned into a winged Arabian between scenes No. the issue here V-Guy is you have a bad attitude. You've got issues communicating with other people. You take every single criticism about the way you act as a direct blow to your little theories/truths/whatever, and don't even stop to consider, "Hey, maybe I'm being a little annoying/irritating. Maybe I should rethink the way I'm going about this" If you acted a little differantly, a little more open-minded, a little less abrasive, I'm sure you, me and more than few other board members could welcome what you think and actually have some rich, interesting discussions. But no, you just keep going back in circles. You need help man. |
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