Tis a Long Post

- Hello, I'm a new Utena fan and while I know there really isn't anything new to cover in a show that's been around for so long, I would like to offer a newbie's perspective anyhow.  The attempt has been made to avoid delving into all the analysis to preserve my own view, but I am ready, so feel free to input your own interpretation and help me piece together this kaleidoscope of art.  It's gonna get wacky and waaay out there, but whatever, enjoy the ride.   Just some facets that caught my attention and enriched the show: colors, clothing, hair and Chu-Chu. 

The show's cypher: inverted meanings

I'm going to jump right in and start with saying that I didn't really begin getting what the show was doing until I realized its use of inverted meanings and symbolism (it was like a piano fell on me in the curry episode).  From then on out I was ensnared.  Once this fell into place most things started making sense.  I kicked myself for not seeing it more clearly sooner, especially given the giant upside down castle in sky in the very first episode.  When the figurative symbolism goes literal you know it's juicy.       



The idiom of a castle in the sky is where I go to for my interpretation.  The castle is an illusion, a pipe dream, unattainable and fantastical.  Within that castle lies a wish for making a memory, a fervent wish eternal and untouchable.  So the way I figure is that these wishes the duelists have are their figurative castle in the sky but because the show goes hardcore with this and shows the castle inverted, it has to mean these dreams are inverted as well.  They're nightmares not dreams, and what each character wants most to reside within that castle is the one thing they most need to let go.  Saonji's castle crumbles apart in episode 9 because his view of friendship is irrevocably lost and altered.  Or something.  It leads me to think that Utena's castle crumbling apart in the ending means that she changed her own meaning of what a prince is, her castle in the sky broke along with the illusion of her meaning, and with it Dios shattered and Utena isn't crushed by this in the way Saonji was because she tore her own castle down herself.       

> pretty much me while watching the show

Here's Utena doing a handstand to try to see things right side up.  More hints about how things are inverted.  Does she only do handstands when she's looking at Anthy and Akio?  Anyone know?


Colors

This is going to be a quick and dirty listing of some impressions

- Prince and Utena

White: the white knight archetype.  Heroic, charming, pure, honorable, chivalrous, slayer of evil, protagonist, etc. 

Used to signify:
- brides and weddings
- divinity - angels
- gives aid - hospitals, doctors
- peace - the white dove
- purity and righteousness - moral color spectrum
- death, mourning and funerals - eastern cultures
   
Black: black knight archetype.  Rouge/outcast, rough around the edges/literally unpolished*, amoral and at times downright evil, antagonist. Batman, etc.

*

A black knight is a knight not sponsored or employed by a local lord for the defense of the lands. Therefore, the black knight does not have at their disposal the resources needed to keep the armor polished and in good repair. To save face, these knights painted their armor black, to hide any wear and tear that the armor may have endured.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p … k%20knight

*Utena is referred to as an uncultured lout by Saionji due to her eschewing of traditional feminine traits (as exemplified by Anthy).  HOLY she's flying around on horseback, wearing black freaking armor while wielding a jousting lance in the opening credits . 

Used to signify:
- power, control, intimidation
- rebelliousness
- funerals, death, mourning - western cultures
- evil - moral color spectrum
- indicator of emotional vulnerability
- mystery, darkness

Inverted meanings -- Utena wears black to contrast with the white of the duelists and all both uphold but also invert the meanings of white and black.  Whoever wears white has the surface qualities of goodness but the deeper, inverted meanings of black.  Touga wears white, he seems like a dashing, charming,  princely guy.  White turns to black and he's actually an awful guy who manufactures his white knight appearance.  I just followed along the same kind of reasoning for them all and it's super fun when the meanings are simultaneously inverted and not.  Did I mention the headaches I got from watching this show?  I could only handle a few episodes at a time.     

Hair

All very blatantly color coded and inverses/complimentary, extra depth if you consider split complimentary colors.

Miki and Jury -- logic and emotion | happiness and despair dependent upon love

Orange is a color that connotes happiness, enthusiasm, or optimism but within Jury its meaning is inverted to mean melancholy, resignation, and pessimism.  It's literally a sunset and a sunrise meaning.  Orange signifies the possibility of both and which one it is depends on another variable, in Jury's case the Shiori mess.  It's like the Schrodinger's cat of the show LOL.  Here's a orange box, what's inside?  Something happy or sad.  What opens it determines which is in there.       

Blue also is linked to meaning melancholy but here its meaning is realism/logic, inverted to mean whimsy, fantasy or emotion.  Blue also means trust and "true blue" of all the duelists it seems Miki is befriended by Utena since they are seen more often hanging out together in comparison to the others.  Even if he started out just wanting to be friends only for an excuse to be around Anthy.  It's an awesome part of the show to see how Miki, Jury become a duo and bring Nanami along to kinda be friends with Utena and all start out rather chilly towards each other and gradually gravitate into friendships.   

Both have what the other needs to overcome their past

- Miki needs to have faith in his sister’s bond with him but also realize siblings should gain independence from each other. his sense of happiness can't be tied to her.   

- Jury needs to apply logic to her situation with Shiori but emotions and wishing/memories hold her back

Split complimentary of orange is purple and green --> Juri is jealous of princesses.  Seems to add up.  She wants to be a normal girl and experience what the princess does (love and being the subject of one's affections, etc.)  of course, she doesn't buy into fairy tales, miracles, and whimsy but deep down she wants to go to the damn zoo!  I guess once she takes on the meaning of purple for herself (sees herself as her own princess aka self-respect and love) she'll also take on the alternated meaning of green (new life and growth)   

Blue's split compliments are red and yellow --> Miki has sibling issues and his sense of power and ego is tied into them.  Must relinquish a need for power derived from his sister...also plays into the Akio and Anthy theme.   

Touga and Saonji -- power, action, ego, self | envy, poison, growth and life

Touga represents power and Saonji is green with envy, true, but he is poisoned by that image of power.  Green symbolizes toxicity.  Saonji is seeking to overcome Touga and he wants whatever will increase his status, power, ambitions and so on.   Touga's power and ego levels increase when he knows how much Saionji admires and resents him.  For Touga, he most needed to fail at things and learn humility.  Utena provides this and he then takes on the growth, blooming, life symbolism of green.  At least I'd like to think so. *Anthy's melting dress is green...given to her out of Nanami's jealously and toxic attitude.           

Split complementary for red are blue and yellow --> needs to apply reason/logic and remove his emotions and ego from encouraging Nanami's obsession with him even though it feeds his feelings of power

For green it's purple and orange --> Saonji's happiness or despair is tied into his perception as royalty?  I need a better fix on what purple means to really get this one.   

Anthy and Nanami

Purple and yellow both indicate royalty (princess) both have a brother figure that dominates their life and actions, and both needle the other… is this a clash of queens and a case of Anthy’s self-loathing manifesting in her treatment of Nanami, who strongly parallels her devotion (enslavement) to her brother? Yellow seems to indicate worship, but also enlightenment "I see the light!" that kinda thing.  So maybe the purple-yellow dichotomy means something similar to light and shadow? Purple is the combo of red and blue, so is it reasoning applied to energy and action?  Does Anthy think like a woman of action and act like a woman of thought? 

Yellow's split compliments are red and blue --> Nanami needs to think before she acts.
Purple's split compliments are orange and green --> obviously the more complex, of course, Anthy.  umm could mean something along the lines of how her happiness or despair is linked to her envy of those with freedom or maybe she needs to overcome her need for status and ambitions? They won't make her happy, so she needs to let go of the power she does have --> quit being the rose bride?          

Akio

Has white hair, but do you know who else does…Sephiroth (check my name, I am a ff7 junkie).  White hair denotes the mystical, demonic, and morally void.  However, should he have black hair instead?  Black hair with purple highlights?  Akio is complicated, and I don't dismiss him as only a villain.  Maybe by having black hair it would have shown that yes, there remains a speck of Dios within, but since his hair is white I have to interpret it to mean that Akio is lost entirely and his intentions of revolution aren't well meaning - even if it appears he tested Utena and tried to seduce her to determine her fortitude at being a  prince Anthy could believe in and thus be saved from her eternal torture.  So Akio having white hair has to mean he never really wanted to help his sister after all and would have used the power of revolution for himself.  What might be in Akio's castle in the sky?       

Pink Hair

Dainty, sweet, harmless - first inversion of the series that clued me in to look for more.  Pink is not part of the visible color spectrum.  Red, green, and blue receptors in your eyes all work in tandem (blue and green cones activate followed up by red cones to create pink interpretations color.  Blue and green partially activate, followed by a full activation on red cones).  In order to get pink, red, green and blue are all needed. 

Furthermore, pink's color inverse is a yellow-green.  So, Utena has the envy aspect of Saonji directed at the ideal of the prince which is something she has devoted herself to like a sibling aka Nanami's yellow meaning.  She goes as far as emulation in the efforts to catch up/surpass to stanch the envy feeling of green and instead provide the alternate, life and rejuvenation meanings of green... So it's a love-hate relationship to the prince that Utena seems to have?  Seems about right.   

The red and blue follow the same meanings for Touga and Miki --> Utena needed to dial down her ego, plus let go of her illusion and fantasies which is tied into her sense of happiness or sadness (orange) the split complementary is orange and blue?  hard to tell with pink. So Utena's happiness or melancholy (belief in miracles or disillusionment, etc) is tied to dreams vs. reality, logic and emotion.  Seems legit.  Apply the inverse meaning and we get that Utena's playacting as prince brings her happiness, but she's not happy really.  Applying reason seems like it would burst her bubble but it's the one thing that will make her happy.  Utena's fantasy of being a prince actually makes her sad?  Two ways to look at this: A) she wants to be a totally normal girl and have the "girl" experience and not be grouped into the boy category that goes along with being a prince B) she doesn't actually support what being prince means since the way it is only makes her sad.  So she goes about becoming a hero who replaces the definition, shatters Dios, and overcomes her own illusion.     

Mikage and Utena - visually connects these two to reinforce their thematic connections, androgyny, and queerness.  Serves to amplify Utena’s femininity and contrast but also de-emphasizes her unconventional, masculine coded traits.  Mikage's pink hair (at times looks white, and we all know what white hair means) works in the inverse that Utena’s does I suppose.  It highlights and also de-emphasizes his male traits through calling attention to his feminine coded ones.  Intellect, scientific, stoic | emotionally unstable female trope, motivated by feelings, story centers around love plot.     

Long hair vs. short

Hair length seems to be a thing.  Can't figure it out just yet.  Does it mean something like a yard stick on how much power one has?  Long hair = powerful?  Short hair = less powerful?  Of course, it could also be inverted.  Long hair might actually mean weakness and powerlessness while short hair could be a sign of a character with the most power.....  Anthy's hair seems to mean something like this and it flip-flops in meaning throughout the show.  When it's up it means she's powerless, as seen during the first few episodes but later Akio is introduced when it's down it seems to mean she is powerless.  SO when her hair is up it actually meant she was powerful?  As in she was orchestrating things throughout the first arc?  And with Akio her hair being down means she's powerless?  And finally at the very end her long hair's meaning comes full circle to, yes, mean actual power and freedom? 

Akio, Touga, and Saionji --> all Fabio hair, male sexuality? desirable and powerful?  but can’t take seriously because it’s traditionally coded feminine hair applied to a hyper-masculine character in terms of exerting superiority, power, sexual conquesting, male coded virility and strength

Miki and Tsuwabuki --> both short hair, boyish and traditional/conventionally attractive because of hair style yet not seen as powerful or desirable.  The inversions are so real it slays me! Best, most dreamiest, swoon worthy hair goes to the little boy of course because that’s how the show rolls. Tsuwabuki's hair also resembles Utena’s hair fringe, interesting hmm. So she shares the connotations of a young kid then: youthful, energetic, playful, innocent, genuine.   

Mikage is in a league of his own.  He has shoulder length hair that separates him as unique and an outlier among the cast of men.  Supports him being paralleled with Utena but his hair has to be mid length in accordance to the other male characters to signify both his lack of and possession of male coded power. 

Whew. 

Next up is the Chu-Chu Files.  As soon as I caught on to the inversions I knew the most easily dismissed character had to be one of the most important.  I was not disappointed.  Chu-Chu is everything.   

Thanks for reading, I hope I gave you a laugh or a trip down the memory lane of being confused and new to the show.

Last edited by airetam (07-06-2016 12:41:08 PM)