Science catches up to the New Sun

Gwern Branwen · 13 Dec 2008, 03:53 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: gwern0 at gmail.com (Gwern Branwen)
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:53:52 -0500
Subject: (urth) Science catches up to the New Sun
In-Reply-To: <49430D6C.3020509 at goosemoon.org>
References: <W2841518901296651229128526@webmail32>
	<49430D6C.3020509 at goosemoon.org>
Message-ID: <cbf55b100812121953y329041e5w38e64b0d5ff85724 at mail.gmail.com>

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On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 8:18 PM, Allan Anderson  wrote:
> Heh, I loved NGE too, but I'm pretty sure that the creator's use of
> Judeo-Christian imagery and reference was mostly for effect and for their
> alien-ness to his audience.

"There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our
story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because
Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be
mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There
is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual
symbols of Christianity look cool. If we had known the show would get
distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice."
? Kazuya Tsurumaki

That's true. If you parse the imagery, you don't get anything really
meaningful. When you take into account further information like the
Secret Files (Lilith and Adam are organisms created by the 'First
Ancestral [Alien] Race' as part of a panspermia program, but
accidentally they both end up on Earth etc.), Evangelion is, if
anything, profoundly atheistic.

(Personally, I consider the case for a cynical atheistic Evangelion
infinitely stronger than the one for a cynical atheistic New Sun.
There's an interesting essay I once saw in this vein -
http://www.geocities.com/sephkhan/rants/dharma.html )

Random trivia: Kaworu, in the early outlines, was a cat.

> Doesn't mean that he didn't say something touching and fascinating using
> these symbols (among others), but it does suggest that it's not useful to
> assume their intricate, deliberate, precise use.

If you want to analyze Eva, it's much more profitable to approach it
from a Buddhist or Western psychological perspective - both are fields
that Anno actually does know quite a bit about.

Random trivia: the striking phrase "Hedgehog's dilemma" is borrowed
from Arthur Schopenhauer.

> I mustn't run away...

"It's strange that 'Evangelion' has become such a hit - all the
characters are so sick!" ?Hideaki Anno

- --
gwern
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