[EVA] Evangelion's easy-to-understand, complementary ending

[Peter Svensson]

> It's not reality that shatters at the end.  It's a stage, complete with lighting etc.  The stage is clearly (to me) a metaphor for what is fiction.  That is what stages, cinemas, stories are all about.  It is the fiction that shatters, not reality.

See, the stage to me is a limbo, a place divorced from the physical world, yet not part of the instrumentality. Shinji is in a waiting place, and at the end the illusion of limbo is replaced by the world where one's will can change everything.

The TV ending proposes that Shinji can be happy because reality is a figment of your imagination. You can be happy by choosing to be happy because there are no outside forces to inflict pain on you. Nothing that interferes with your pure mind.

That's not reality.

End of Evangelion proposes that Shinji can be happy, because while reality is full of pain and dealing with other people causes heartbreak, living is worth it. 

That's reality.
 
> Shinji is floating in a an unreal place at that point, because this is the point at which he rejects instrumentality.  There is still some merger with others - the de-merger has not started at that point.  The complete de-merger is only shown in EoE.

I disapprove of any interpretation of the TV ending which requires viewing the movie to be complete. The TV ending has to be able to stand on its own. 

That being said, the idea that people can watch that final scene and interpret it as an ode to becoming an individual astounds me. It's all about conformity. Shinji receives positive reinforcement by everyone for joining them.  At no point in the TV ending is there anything that hints at Shinji having any power over the fate of humanity. The only choice he makes is his own. 

And everyone smiles the same smile as Shinji joins the rest of humanity in becoming a singular entity, smiling and happy for all eternity the end.

It should be creepy. The TV ending is to some extent a commentary on the cults that were active in Japan at the time. It's political commentary that hasn't aged well or translates to those without an understanding of the Japan that the show was airing in. (Heck, some of those cults later appropriated Rei imagery for recruitment fliers!)

To that end, I have trouble reconciling the soul crushing message of the TV ending with the hopeful message of the movie. 

Peter Svensson