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ANNCast - Diabolical Ruh-minations

Well, you are arguing with the guy who jumps around in a V for Vendetta costume at anime conventions and yells about Evangelion.

You could also go down to Mann's Chinese Theater and get into a debate about ingrained subconscious misogyny in Marvel Comics with the guy wearing the top half of a Spiderman costume and blue sweatpants.

Because Shinji's actions are so self-destructive and he seems happy at the end with his declaration of "I am me. My life is worth living," you assume he has come to terms with reality. You are sadly mistaken. That's actually a very Western sentiment, although it is present in a lot of anime, it isn't in EVA, not at all.

He has really come to terms with the assertions of the collective mind after Third Impact. What does the collective mind say? I refer you to approximately two straight episodes of textbook postmodern existentialist theory. The essential conclusions:

1. "There are as many truths as there are people and all are equal because of their 'trueness' to that individual." (I know that's not a word, but I'm trying to keep it simple.)
2. "Truth is distinct from reality because reality shapes your truth but doesn't actually matter. Your perception of reality matters."
3. "This perception of reality is fragile and can be changed at any time. Once perception of reality is changed, truth is changed, and this enables the individual to alter reality."

Postmodern existentialism, ladies and gentlemen. I wish it really were that simple, but there's more to it that would take pages of nonsense upon nonsense to extrapolate.

Shinji comes to terms with himself not because his life is worth living...honestly, all evidence suggests otherwise at this point, he has severe changes to make. Still, Shinji comes to terms with himself because "he wants to continue living in the world and be himself." Through that "truth," which he has created, he manifests a reality that is pleasing to him and can say "My life is worth living here," thus actualizing it and making it true. His life is not worth living because of some outside determiner of its value, but because of his essential ego, his will to live. If he says he is not worthless, then it will be so.

Like I said, I don't quite remember what Napier wrote, but she at least has it closer than you do, actually. Take the text (and the subtext) for what it is, not what you would like it to be.

that's WHY I hate Evangelion. In many other ways it's brilliant and I would like to say I thoroughly enjoy it, but things like that message and the ludicrous ep. 24 just keep me from anything but abhorring it.

Those last two episodes are really all you need, but there's plenty of little scenes in before that throughout the series. Your analysis is off because you want something for Shinji that just isn't gonna happen until maybe EoE, where Anno once again tweaked his philosophy a bit, and that's still a massive maybe.

As someone who has actually taken Napier's class

If you disagree with one scholar's analysis, the best antidote is to provide a better analysis. Write a book, or submit an article to Mechademia. The community will appreciate you for adding constructively to the debate.

Actually I was wondering the same thing. What ever happened?