This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
#1 | Back to Top12-30-2006 03:56:47 PM
Akio Does American Beauty
...does that sound like a tabloid headline or what? Can't wait to see the on-campus reaction to that. 
But er, my point is something about cameras, and Akio's use thereof. I was watching that dodgy scene the other day where Akio is taking photographs of Saionji and Touga, and I wondered...why was he doing it? What was the metaphor in that? And my brain is too tired to work it out for itself, so I'd love some input.
I've got two vague viewpoints myself -- the first is the more relevant, I think, in that photographs are shown through the series to be a way of keeping a precious memory safe. Examples? Nemuro's photo-gallery (perverted though it was with Mikage's conquests...and that sounds dirtier than it actually is, come to think of it). Miki's photo of "the sunlit garden." Nanami's photographs of her childhood with Touga. Saionji's picture of himself and Touga as children. Juri's locket. The photograph of Utena, Akio and Anthy that eventually undergoes castration. Is it symbolic that Akio starts taking all these whacky photos right after he's written goodbye letters to all of the other duellists? And why would be be nostalgic about the loss of his duellists? 
Is he worried he might not get so much nookie from them, so now he's making a scrapbook? 
...er, feel free to be more serious about this. 
The other angle I turned my head at is this: remember the good old days when photographs were said to steal souls? How nice of Akio to borrow one's soul for a little Playboy spread! [snickers] But er, yes, I find that rather symbolic too, in that Akio's always "acquiring" the finer parts of people's personalities; it seems somehow lovely and appropriate to consider the session in this light.
Or maybe it's just that it was Akio's kink. And he has a huge personal porn stash (oh, so THAT'S why the tower's so large; he needs the storage space!). Thoughts, anyone?
It takes forty-seven New Zealanders eight months to make just one batch of 42 Below Vodka. ...luckily, that leaves one of us free to be Prime Minister.
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#2 | Back to Top12-31-2006 02:56:05 AM
Re: Akio Does American Beauty
Clarice wrote:
Is it symbolic that Akio starts taking all these whacky photos right after he's written goodbye letters to all of the other duellists?
Hmm...I would go with that except he doesn't take pictures of all the duelists. Just Touga and Saionji. (And Utena, but under different circumstances.) And I don't count Saionji exactly because there was something else going on there. Saionji was tagging along with Touga for what would have taken place with or without him.
I'd have to go through the scenes (ah...repeatedly, let's say), but I would strongly suspect the timing of shots is going to betray something. Also, he's certainly not the only one with the camera. Actually, wasn't the camera more often in Touga's hands? The whole other scene was him shooting Akio.
I like the soul-stealing thing, though, or a form of it...I keep thinking of the camera in terms of contrasting the device used on Utena: the projector. Cameras are much more honest, they're not designed to present a falsehood, although they can in the hands of the right photographer. Akio does very little lying with Touga, perhaps the camera is somehow suggestive of that? That Touga thinks he's seeing Akio for what he is, because a camera doesn't lie?
....OR DOES IT REPRESENT WHICH ONE'S ON TOP ON WHICH EVENINGS 
Akio, you have nice turns of phrase, but your points aren't clear and you have no textual support. I can't give this a passing grade.
~ Professor Arisa Konno, Eng 1001 (Freshman Literature and Composition)
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#3 | Back to Top12-31-2006 03:54:48 AM
Re: Akio Does American Beauty
Also note that when they're taking pictures in Akio's room, their clothing changes. Espceially Akio's, he's usually really wearing his normal clothes but then after taking a photo he's all of a sudden in his End of the World uniform. And their shirts get unbuttoned. I can't right now really think what it may represent but it most likely means something.
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Believing in True Friendship Since 2008.
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#4 | Back to Top12-31-2006 06:16:29 AM
Re: Akio Does American Beauty
Giovanna wrote:
I'd have to go through the scenes (ah...repeatedly, let's say), but I would strongly suspect the timing of shots is going to betray something. Also, he's certainly not the only one with the camera. Actually, wasn't the camera more often in Touga's hands? The whole other scene was him shooting Akio.
Heh heh heh, I just remembered something I forgot to mention which always amused me in this scene -- occasionally Touga's got Akio's camera, but at one stage when he's taking a shot from inside the car, he's got this dinky little 35mm that cracks me up every time. Er...metaphor, much?
It takes forty-seven New Zealanders eight months to make just one batch of 42 Below Vodka. ...luckily, that leaves one of us free to be Prime Minister.
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#5 | Back to Top12-31-2006 02:47:18 PM
Re: Akio Does American Beauty
Clarice wrote:
Heh heh heh, I just remembered something I forgot to mention which always amused me in this scene -- occasionally Touga's got Akio's camera, but at one stage when he's taking a shot from inside the car, he's got this dinky little 35mm that cracks me up every time. Er...metaphor, much?
Ahahahaha.
Actually for some reason I always assumed it was a digital camera, since it was especially small...but now that I think of it yeah, it probably was a 35mm. 
Maybe Akio got him into photography and he's starting small before investing in the bling blingin' gear Akio has.
(No way, like Touga would ever use that approach when purchasing things.)
Akio, you have nice turns of phrase, but your points aren't clear and you have no textual support. I can't give this a passing grade.
~ Professor Arisa Konno, Eng 1001 (Freshman Literature and Composition)
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