Also don't forget Anthy herself accepts, possibly goads,  slaps. There are a few essays that address it but vaguely I think it just sort of works with her passive-aggressive side. Anthy can't slap back, she's supposed to at least look physically helpless.

Nanami, on the other hand, gets slapped by Keiko at one point and bitch-slaps all three of her minions into place , reinforcing my belief she'd make a great mafia leader.
The series doesn't condone it,  but they do use it quite often, usually I think to reinforce what Anthy is though that part I'm not too sure about.

I thought the question was more why do characters in the series react so lightly to Anthy's abuse, not why Anthy does. 

(Though I do believe that Saionji and Juri do pick up on that facet of her personality, which exacerbates their cruelty and disdain and utter lack of sympathy.)

This sounds like I'm disagreeing -I'm not.  I swears .  Part of that mindset you mentioned interests me specifically, especially when manifest in Utena - the idea that women should deal with it.  On one hand, it's antiquated and sexist - stemming partially from a lack of perspective and the notion that women are meant to passively endure, but also in feminist pride.  Even more so with Utena, there may be a desire to want to play it off as nothing because you want your fellow females to be strong and not victimized - the fallacy is that they place that responsibility on the victim's shoulders.  This conflict is showcased in Utena -she wants Anthy to a be a princess for her by needing to be saved and protected from forces she cannot control, but she also wants to save Anthy by helping her become a stronger woman who does have some element of control.  [She wants to have her rosecake and eat it too, much like with her conflicting desire to be and be loved by the Prince].

The obvious problems with that last bit is that once a princess is saved, she doesn't need a prince anymore.

So in a weird, confused way, Utena does both in reaction to Anthy's abuse.  Gives her a cold shoulder in terms of a support outlet to talk about it, indirectly telling her to stop making such a fuss because Anthy's more feminine weaknesses also embarrass* Utena and her feminist ideals, while going off to fight the bad guys - staving them off only for a certain period of time, of course.


*Me and Stormcrow were just talking about this.  It's called Saving Face, and we do it in social situations in which a person embarrasses themselves or messes up, we may not help - we may flat out turn away or ignore them awkwardly, not out of cruelty or disdain, but in the hopes that by NOT intervening we don't embarrass them further by drawing attention to their loss of face.  You feel a sort of empathy - you feel embarrassed for them and egoistically think, " If that were me, I would just hope no-one saw."

It's kind of like when you watch a scene on television and you know something very very humiliating is about to happen to the main character.  You may say things like "I can't watch!" or (I used to do this a lot) even change the channel until you could be sure the embarrassment was over.  We wanted to help the little fictional person save face.  #:

Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (03-31-2010 05:45:35 PM)

Maybe it ties in with the whole dueling atmosphere?

Cause sometimes happens You've got to do so.
Even to a girs.

*Said Saionji-sama*

*...and me*