This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
I'll start with a big one for me:
Fight Club.
Fight Club is, on the surface, about rebellion and how awesome it is even if it's evil. But the hidden message is that rebellion and disenchantment with the system can only come from nihilism and never from a desire for something better. More pragmatically, it posits that rebellion can only lead to disaster and death and self-destruction, which is reactionary mental poisoning if such a thing ever existed.
Yeah, actually, this is pretty relevant to SKU as well.
Last edited by zevrem (04-22-2014 08:55:36 PM)
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That's not really "hidden," so much as the reveal/conclusion/point of the movie, right?
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Probably. Maybe. It's a shitty message either way.
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zevrem wrote:
Probably. Maybe. It's a shitty message either way.
Actually, I take it back. I really misread you (or read the version before the edit).
I don't think Fight Club is anti-rebellion or pro-nihilism at all.
It's mocking machismo, pompous sadomasochism, all that Iron John men being men bullshit, and nostalgia for "simpler times." And, y'know, showing off Brad Pitt.
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I find it VERY important that book was full of protagonists' memories of his father. I think it's impossible to interpret the storyline without the main character's background.
He was considering his father a walking failure (divorced, absent and unsuccessful) so I think the main character rebels against father (being successful) but hates to admit that he's still immature (he tries not to have mature relationships, etc.). But when we rebel we're not autonomous because we negate someone's values. We haven't matured enough to reject some things and accept others which is the first step to create our very own identity. Absent father is still present in his values and he is still connected to him because he tries to be his opposite. His second self is suppressed because it tries to negate success of the first self.
To me, Fight Club is about the lack of autonomy. The main character wants to rebel against everything that stands for authorities (father figure) but actually he's rebelling against his father.
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