[EVA] Re: Kaworu's Origins

[V V]

"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."

...that V believes that Evangelion is completely and utterly devoid of
religious meaning, which is completely self defeating because symbols
ALWAYS have meaning despite their usage.  I could tattoo a swastika on my
forehead, and tell people that it has no meaning, or that it's meaning is
the classic one of good luck, but everyone's first assumption would be
that it's one of hate or intolerance because of the heavy meaning that has
been associated with it in more recent history.

I don't doubt that Gainax wasn't trying to say anything about
Christianity, Judaism, or God, and I don't think there is a God in the
world of Evangelion, but you have to agree that the religious substance is
there, even if it is only pseudo-religious, much like the science is
pseudo-science, and also that people WILL read meaning into it because
again, symbols ALWAYS have meaning, that's why they're symbols.

--Aaron
EvaMonkey.com


Finish the Tsuramaki quote, Aaron:  he goes on to point out how Christianity is a VERY uncommon religion in Japan.  Less than 1% (basically, foreigners passing through)

The cross imagery truly meant nothing, the kabbalah images truly meant nothing.  You see it's like when we have a "samurai" character in western animation who in no way reflects what shinto is really like.  Crosses and words like "Lilith" seemed so exotic that they just put them in....purely for "atmosphere";   they never seriously thought people would sit down and try to "decode" all of the religious imagery, as Taliesin Jaffe and Sean McCoy have tried to "decode" them.  

Symbols only carry meaning in context, and in Japan...many religious references which seem commonplace to us are alien and exotic.  

As for the swastika analogy....that wouldn't work with say, aliens on another planet.  They'd have no frame of reference; obviously, something like "World War II" affected most societies on the planet.  But when it comes to Christianity....Japan might as well be another planet.  The common audience member really doesn't know much about it.  

"Symbols always mean something" is redundant with itself:  by definition, "symbols" are "things with meaning".  The argument is that "the Kabbalah imagery meant nothing"...which simply worded an alternate way, could be put as "The Kabbalah images weren't actually a symbol for anything".

"Motifs" aren't "symbols" of course.  They had about as much to do with real-world religion as Egyptian mythology does to the Stargate mythos.  


"I'm pleased to meet you and I hope you guessed my name,
but what's puzzling you, is the nature of my game"