I like your interpretation of poppies, Clarice. I'll have to think about it some more though.

Clarice wrote:

The cacti are probably symbolic of Akio himself. Firstly he's lying amongst them half-naked -- so he's presenting himself as a sexually available entity, but look at the prickles you have to dodge to get to him (I SAID PRICKLES NOT PRICK STOP LOOKING AT HIS CROTCH). He's being represented as a reward of some sort, but then again...is the journey worth it? (From a moral viewpoint; the sexual ecstasy is not in question here, ) You could also say he's being portrayed as equal to the environment of the cacti, i.e. a moral wasteland, or desert. In that case, what do the fortified plants represent? His morals, his emotions, his locked-away "good" self in the form of Dios?

Any thoughts?

Oh, I had a different interpretation about the cacti.
I've always been thinking thatthe cactuses have more to do with Touga than Akio. "The Love that Blossomed in Winter" - the title of the episode refers to the fact that Touga had feelings for Utena at this point. Ironically, his love for her was not meant to survive because nothing can grow or bloom in winter. Utena didn't return his feelings because she was much more interested in Akio. Then again, cactuses may bloom in winter 'cause there are no seasons in the desert (as far as I know) but since deserts are such desolate places, who would notice it? Or what meaning does a single blossom in the desert have if it's all alone?

I think Akio lying among the cactuses represents his power over people. He could manipulate every single one of them and  have absolutely no guilt or regret about doing so. I think so because the cactus he's holding doesn't have any blossoms, nor does it look like it's about to bloom, while the cactus Touga's holding burts into bloom right at the end of their conversation. I think this shows that despite everything, Touga was able to develop feelings for someone (Utena in this case), while Akio remains a cold-hearted manipulator.

I last watched Utena a long time ago and have no analysis skillz, but bear with me here.

episode 35 wrote:

Akio:  The red poppy is native to Southern Europe, and is also known as Gubijin flower.
Akio:  There's a legend that they grew on the spot where Gubijin, who was loved by Kouu, was buried long ago.
Akio:  Because of that, in the language of flowers...is something wrong?
Utena:  Um, no. I just thought that all you knew a lot about was stars.
Utena:  But you know a lot about plants too.
Akio:  I wouldn't say a "lot".
Utena:  So what do red poppies mean in the language of flowers?
Akio:  In the language of flowers, the red poppy means...

Akio never finished. But the red poppy means "pleasure". (also, poppy in general is sleep/oblivion) So I, uh, kinda never questioned it any further after finding that out. Just thought it meant something like Utena blindly falling in lust with Akio.

And the cacti... I thought it symbolised Akio being a bastard. If you try to come near to him, you'll only get pricked by his thorns. Touga has one too, but try as he might he can't be a bastard like Akio; so his cactus has a soft spot in the shape of a pretty little flower.

iruka wrote:

Akio never finished. But the red poppy means "pleasure". (also, poppy in general is sleep/oblivion) So I, uh, kinda never questioned it any further after finding that out. Just thought it meant something like Utena blindly falling in lust with Akio.

In English lit class in college we talked about the poppy. In the 19th century, English authors and poets used the poppy to symbolize someone who didn't know what was going on in the plot or that there was something going on behind their backs. So I always thought that was the reference Akio meant since Utena certainly is oblivious to what's going on around her. But either works. It seems lately the poppy is worn to symbolize peace or rememberance of soldiers who have died in war.

Clarice wrote:

Akio's plucking of a petal with his teeth could refer to two things -- the fact that he controls the dream and its potency, or the fact he's screwing with Utena (both figuratively and literally). After all, plucking flowers is an image associated with the loss of virginity, so...

Dani wrote:

In the 19th century, English authors and poets used the poppy to symbolize someone who didn't know what was going on in the plot or that there was something going on behind their backs.

Frau Eva wrote:

I always just assumed the poppy was a symbol of Akio's power as master of illusions, since, well, opiates are derived from it.

My god the layers. THE LAYERS. Even after nine years, I still have moments where I fall in love with this show all over again. I always made the virginity connection and the opiate connection but this plot device in literature one is new on me. Awesome.

But you know...Touga's episode in the first arc where he plays his prince card to win the duel is called 'Graceful and Ruthless; The One Who Picks the Flower'. Now obviously this isn't a metaphor for sex, but it could apply to the other two, since he's picking the flower, thereby revealing, her ignorance to the events around her, and in doing so also sobers her prince-induced high.

I wasn't going to attempt to connect the two, but now that I think of it, it's Touga that picks the flower Akio sinks his teeth into. //

Hmm, a lot of this poem could speak to Akio and Utena.

   
              The Poppy
   Francis Thompson. 1859–1907

SUMMER set lip to earth's bosom bare,   
And left the flush'd print in a poppy there;   
Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came,   
And the fanning wind puff'd it to flapping flame.   
 
With burnt mouth red like a lion's it drank          5
The blood of the sun as he slaughter'd sank,   
And dipp'd its cup in the purpurate shine   
When the eastern conduits ran with wine.   
 
Till it grew lethargied with fierce bliss,   
And hot as a swinkèd gipsy is,   10
And drowsed in sleepy savageries,   
With mouth wide a-pout for a sultry kiss.   
 
A child and man paced side by side,   
Treading the skirts of eventide;   
But between the clasp of his hand and hers   15
Lay, felt not, twenty wither'd years.   
 
She turn'd, with the rout of her dusk South hair,   
And saw the sleeping gipsy there;   
And snatch'd and snapp'd it in swift child's whim,   
With—'Keep it, long as you live!'—to him.   20
 
And his smile, as nymphs from their laving meres,   
Trembled up from a bath of tears;   
And joy, like a mew sea-rock'd apart,   
Toss'd on the wave of his troubled heart.   
 
For he saw what she did not see,   25
That—as kindled by its own fervency—   
The verge shrivell'd inward smoulderingly:   
 
And suddenly 'twixt his hand and hers   
He knew the twenty wither'd years—   
No flower, but twenty shrivell'd years.   30
 
'Was never such thing until this hour,'   
Low to his heart he said; 'the flower   
Of sleep brings wakening to me,   
And of oblivion memory.'   
 
'Was never this thing to me,' he said,   35
'Though with bruisèd poppies my feet are red!'   
And again to his own heart very low:   
'O child! I love, for I love and know;   
 
'But you, who love nor know at all   
The diverse chambers in Love's guest-hall,   40
Where some rise early, few sit long:   
In how differing accents hear the throng   
His great Pentecostal tongue;   
 
'Who know not love from amity,   
Nor my reported self from me;   45
A fair fit gift is this, meseems,   
You give—this withering flower of dreams.   
 
'O frankly fickle, and fickly true,   
Do you know what the days will do to you?   
To your Love and you what the days will do,   50
O frankly fickle, and fickly true?   
 
'You have loved me, Fair, three lives—or days:   
'Twill pass with the passing of my face.   
But where I go, your face goes too,   
To watch lest I play false to you.   55
 
'I am but, my sweet, your foster-lover,   
Knowing well when certain years are over   
You vanish from me to another;   
Yet I know, and love, like the foster-mother.   
 
'So frankly fickle, and fickly true!   60
For my brief life-while I take from you   
This token, fair and fit, meseems,   
For me—this withering flower of dreams.'   
.      .      .
The sleep-flower sways in the wheat its head,   
Heavy with dreams, as that with bread:   65
The goodly grain and the sun-flush'd sleeper   
The reaper reaps, and Time the reaper.   
 
I hang 'mid men my needless head,   
And my fruit is dreams, as theirs is bread:   
The goodly men and the sun-hazed sleeper   70
Time shall reap, but after the reaper   
The world shall glean of me, me the sleeper!   
 
Love! love! your flower of wither'd dream   
In leavèd rhyme lies safe, I deem,   
Shelter'd and shut in a nook of rhyme,   75
From the reaper man, and his reaper Time.   
 
Love! I fall into the claws of Time:   
But lasts within a leavèd rhyme   
All that the world of me esteems—   
My wither'd dreams, my wither'd dreams.   80

Last edited by Dani (01-02-2007 10:16:24 AM)

Just being pedantic but cacti do bloom at specifc seasons.
Also the Japanese are great fanciers of cacti, they have bred many new varieties.

My favorite visual is the scene when Utena gets her ring in the film. Oh my gosh..its just so breathtaking. The petals everywhere, and the music..

I love how Utena's hair goes from short to long like magic.

I also really love the dance scene of course

Its been a while since I've watched the series through, I've seen the movie twice last week so its more fresh in my mind.