Forum - View topicINTEREST: Madoka Magica Writer Urobuchi Compares Plot to Al-Qaeda
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
v1cious
 Posts: 6202 Location: Houston, TX |
|
|||||||
|
Even more interesting that it ends with spoiler[Madoka becoming god and her apostle in the desert.]
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Nineofclubs
 Posts: 78 |
|
|||||||
|
i can't really see a "well intentioned" angle with the whole twin towers attack but i guess i can see what he's trying to say. I wonder if the statement just didn't translate that well or something.
Anywhoo its an intresting interview none the less. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Cytrus
Posts: 7 |
|
|||||||
|
For those interested, the remaining part of the interview in English:
http://yaranakya.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/pandoras-box-1-madoka-goes-terrorist/ |
||||||||
|
||||||||
ArthurFrDent
 Posts: 466 |
|
|||||||
|
It's too bad that he didn't choose a terrorist action in his own country as an example, because that may be a better analogy. Al-Q really wants to simply destroy as much as they can, they're not even trying to convert. Their idea of justice is genocide...
I think it's a bit different than what he is suggesting. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
|
|||||||
|
Let me just start by saying that I'll admit I was surprised by Gen Urobuchi saying that Al-Queada was an influence from the plot. I mean conceptually speaking, you can find other examples of what seems to be justice for the one with power, isn't that way to others. I mean, you could use Kira from Death Note or Anakin from Star Wars and Yoda's quote from episode 1 (and I'm not saying this to compare quality between Madoka and the Star Wars prequels, so nobody give me that! I get those films are not well-liked, but that's not the point I'm making). Those are just a couple examples out of many others where you could apply where you could use that concept from. But to compare the Madoka plot to Al-Queada surprises me simply because Japan to my knowledge, is not a country that has been affected by Al-Queada or other terrorists. So that definitely surprises me.
That being said though, even with all of the deconstruction and arguing the magical genre in the show, I can still still only like the show and not really love it for one reason. And it's the same reason I have trouble being interested in most magical girl shows. And that problem is that the main character of Madoka Magica doesn't interest me right off the bat. In the beginning of the story, I don't feel that Madoka expresses any desire out of anything in her life and does not take action as a result, whether or not it has anything to do with a magical girl. All the other characters have desires and motivations and take action, but the fact none of them are the main characters and yet Madoka is and she has a perfect life, perfect family, perfect friends, and never wanted anything more out of it, would the average person ask why would they be interested in her? Madoka as the main character does have a desire and does something about it, it's just that it happens so late in the story that it risks losing my interest. And that's all I really want out of a magical girl show and really any other anime show so that I don't need to be told, "wait 'till x episode to see the good part" and have no problem really liking the story. That, and I don't want to feel that many magical girl shows are so feminine by nature that it's hard for virtually anyone to get into them. That's not to say Madoka is girly as well, but it still suffers the other problem of making the main character interesting, which is my chief criticism. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
mrdarkrai
Posts: 22 |
|
|||||||
|
Calling him pretentious? Its pretentious to assume you understand what a terrorist thinks. They are not working with a single hive mindset. There is a kaleidescope of ideas and ideals depending on their role, how they were indoctrinated, acquired (Palestinian boy found with bomb strapped to him), some do it for money to help their families.
He's right in his understanding of it, but we'll never understand what terrorists go through to become one or what they are thinking when they plan/carry out these acts. You can't say its to cause terror. Terrorism is a Western word. Some of them feel they are at war with us, all of us. They don't have soldier/citizen ranks in their 'cells'. 9/11 made me study them, its too bad most people didn't as well, esp the government. Many were allies before this hit the fan. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Lockgor
Posts: 7 |
|
|||||||
I hesitate to explain, since any explanation has a large potential to be misread... But I'll try to be careful. As long as I'm talking about the example, then I think I would still be on topic. Its a interesting enough subject though. The 2001 attacks didn't just come out of the blue, it came after two decades of American military, and political, action in the Middle East. In the minds of the hijackers, they were hitting back a nation who spend a considerable amount of time and resources smashing theirs. If American sources are to be believed, Bin Ladin actually thought (certainly naively, if true) that the Americans would pull out of the Middle East as a result of the attacks, being so unable to stomac the loss of life. If I recall, Bush responded to the statement by referencing the thousand deaths a night the Americans regularly sustained during the second world war. In the end, the Americans use the event as an excuse to get further entrenched into the Middle East, and take more overt military actions in, and against, multiple nations. The intent of saving lives and restoring autonomy in their own homelands ends up failing, even achieving the opposite. Its not a bad analogy if boiled down to its essentials: one takes an extreme action to achieve an end, one does not fully consider the logical conclusions of the extreme action, outcome ends up circumventing the intention. This happens in Madoka, especially to Sayaka and Kyoko.
He probably used the 2001 attacks because they are so well known, and were so impactful.
Not what he said, wasn't even implied.
Japan has been the victim of terrorist actions as well, for example the Subway Sarin Incident. Unfortunately, there are very few nation on earth who haven't been hit with something that can be described as a terrorist attack. Its just a regular part of the discourse between certain groups. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
|
|||||||
Okay then, my mistake. It doesn't really change my criticism with the show though. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
DarkHunter6523
 Posts: 96 |
|
|||||||
|
For the love of god people, Urobuchi wasn't saying Madoka was based off of Al Qaeda, he was just listing an example of something that can be interpreted as good or evil depending on your perspective.
Lets face it, the wars in the middle east and their cause is something everyone is pretty well acquainted with and he wanted a quick example that didn't need explaining, Al Qaeda is a pretty easy example to prove his point. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
|
|||||||
Like I just said, "my mistake." |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Veers
 Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
|
|||||||
Think about the story--we see a lot of it from Madoka's perspective, but spoiler[who started everything? Who is driving these events? Who obviously has a goal from the outset even if we don't know what it really is until later? Homura.] It's kind of like Kyon and Haruhi; the difference here being the (probably very intentionally) misleading choice of title. The story also ceases to be spoiler[a proper tragedy if you say anyone but Homura is the main character and becomes instead something more like a traditional comedy (in the theater/play sense, not the humorous sense).] I think you'd enjoy the show more if you watched it with the mindset that Homura is the main character. But that's just me. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
|
|||||||
Right! So it's makes perfect sense to have the character with the most depth and biggest motives be the least focused character until episode 10 and not have her name in the title! 
That just makes me ask why can't the story just be honest with itself by at least making episode 10 be episode 1 if nothing else? Yes, it spoils the "surprise" by doing that, but... I dunno. I mean, if I had to pick a favorite character in terms of who the most interesting storytelling-wise, Homura would be it. And if I was focused on her story from the beginning, then I wouldn't have as much trouble being interested. Not that the story didn't interest me at all, it's just that other than really liking episode 10, I was never really getting the hype coming anyone that watched the show. Maybe I as a viewer don't honestly care about not really knowing why certain characters act the way they do until way later in the story as a means of being creatively misleading or to surprise me. The idea of surprising me that way would only work the first time I watch the show and never any time after that if I decide to watch the show all over again because I'll already know how all the events are played out. I'm not really seeking super unique, never-before-seen ways of storytelling by having the writer mislead me and thus pull a prank on me that much and I don't understand why I need to seek that. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Veers
Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
enurtsol
 Posts: 14758 |
|
|||||||
Or Sixth Sense?
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
|
|||||||
Or Paranoia Agent and Baccano!, for other anime examples. 
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group