[EVA] Concurrency tangent (WAS: Alternate Rei on DVD cover)

[V V]

...didn't the script liner notes/storyboards mention something about that Shinji accepted Instrumentality in the TV ending?  

Well, the logical breakdown is that he either accepted Instrumentality, or he did not.  

My view is that:

Option 1 - he rejects Instrumentality in the TV ending, and this is purely just what's going on in his head in End of Eva:  unfortunately it's a big ambiguous many people seem to have mistaken it for accepting it, but he really rejected it.

Option 2 - He accepts Instrumentality...only to then reject it in End of Eva; the entire thing was a gigantic cliffhanger, waiting for End of Eva, which was announced barely two weeks after the TV episode aired (movies *DO NOT* get made that quickly)....thus it corresponds to the point (more or less) when Shinji says "they can all just die" when Instrumentality starts in End of Eva.

I support either of these, though I tend to think Option 2 is - more or less - what the situation really is.  (Either that, or most of "the TV ending" - both episodes - focused on Instrumentality, with Shinji rejecting it in ONLY the last 30 seconds or so, in dialogue that was ambiguous enough that it wasn't clear)

However, I think there's a far greater problem:  without debate, *Instrumentality is presented as being a BAD thing*

Basically, Instrumentality is a big metaphor for Shinji's (and really, the whole cast's) problems:  to shut out the "real" world and live in a world of fantasy, one of pain but also no joy: he "mustn't run away"

So why would Anno suddenly turn around and...have Shinji *embrace* Instrumentality, the ultimate embodiment of all of the flaws in Shinji that he was being told to AVOID throughout the series?  

Instrumentality = "running away"...so why would the TV ending embrace it?

The problem is that many...i.e. the Mechademia crowd, as well as Tiffany Grant and the ADV folk...honestly seem to think that Instrumentality was a "good" thing...

Grant has said she thought the TV ending was "happier" because they all "evolve to the next level of existence"...that's not what happened, Instrumentality is a step BACKWARDS.  

Fundamentally....I think so many people who were fans of the series, are themselves hikkikomori shut-ins (I mean the real uber-fanboys in Japan that buy all of the dating sim Rei games, but we have a fair number too)....that they honestly came to love the idea of Instrumentality, and remain unconvinced that it was a "bad" thing.

What annoys me most is when people reject End of Eva because...they didn't like it, rather than evidence.  Heck, a lot of people didn't like Eva-03 getting killed and Toji crippled:  what show were they *watching*?  

Pause to consider:  theoretically, with unlimited funds, if the TV ending had been...whatever was originally planned....I think we'd still have many people complaining that the destruction of Eva-03 was "too dark"; it's just that the even darker ending overshadowed that.  We'd have people saying that the entire second half of the series "doesn't count" (much as some say that Gundam Double Zeta "doesn't count" for being unusually too comical...I mean the entire series)

It's just that fans latched onto the idea of "we can refuse to believe End of Eva was the real ending, it was 'revenge on fans'"

I mean, Misato and Ritsuko are shown dead in the TV ending *too* it's just so brief I don't think many noticed.  

So the point of this tangent is:  on a certain level, I can respect people who say "the TV ending is the real ending, and Shinji rejects Instrumentality"...I differ on this point, but it matches the themes that were being built along the 26 episode run.

But those who say that End of Eva can't be the same ending, because Shinji rejects Instrumentality in it?  I think they miss the major, repeated point of the series (which was more or less a REJECTION of existentialism)

Side note:  listened to a really awful review of Rebuild of Eva from some months ago recently:  the problem was that one guy admitted he'd only seen the first 7 episodes, then skipped to the TV ending (missing Asuka entirely), while in their discussion...they kept saying that "Eva was existentialist and made no sense" but really it was that they...had forgotten or conflated many elements from different episodes, due to not even bothering to rewatch the series before the review; I mean basing their knowledge on a viewing from over 5 years ago:  case in point...actually, this was even from watching Rebuild:  they said that "shinji running away" was "a dream, in rebuild" because he "wakes up after the train scene"......uh, he has the train dream after the first Angel fight, then gets onto a REAL train after the second angel fight.

Do people think Eva is "confusing" just because most anime is fairly straightforward ninja shows?  



--- On Sun, 1/31/10, SSD <sailorstardust at evageeks.org> wrote:

From: SSD <sailorstardust at evageeks.org>
Subject: Re: [EVA] Concurrency tangent (WAS: Alternate Rei on DVD cover)
To: "The english-language evangelion mailing list." <evangelion at eva.onegeek.org>
Date: Sunday, January 31, 2010, 6:26 PM

I've talked about ending concurrency time and again, pointing out how
Instrumentality must have been rejected in 26 like in EoE due to
Shinji's own words of wanting to keep living in reality:

SHINJI: One possibility that's in me. The me right now is not exactly who I
am. All sorts of me's are possible. That's right. A me that's not an Eva
pilot is possible too.

MISATO: When you think of it that way, this world of reality isn't so bad.

SHINJI: The world of reality might not be so bad. But I hate myself.

HYUGA: It's you that perceives reality as bad and unpleasant.

AOBA: It's you who's mistaken reality for the truth.

IBUKI: Your perspective on reality and the importance you place on reality,
the slightest difference in these things  will greatly change the world
inside your mind.

<SNIP>

IKARI: You are merely not used to being loved by other people.

MISATO: So there's no need for you to constantly care about  what other
people think of you.

SHINJI: But doesn't everybody hate me?

ASUKA: What are you, stupid?! You're just making yourself believe that,
that's all!

SHINJI: But I hate myself.

REI: Anyone who hates himself can't come to love and trust others.

SHINJI: I'm a gutless, hypocritical, wimpy coward.

MISATO: See? lf you understand yourself, you can be kind.

SHINJI: I hate myself.

*SHINJI & ASUKA & MISATO:
But maybe I can learn to love myself.*

SHINJI: Maybe it's okay for me to be here! That's right! I'm me, nothing
more, nothing less! I'm me.* I want to be me! I want to be here! And it's
okay for me to be here!*

Shinji's final words are also similar to his final words in EoE as well:

SHINJI: I still don't know how I can be happy...*but I'm here, and I will
keep wondering why I was born.* Then I'll simply discover things that are so
common again and again...*in order for me to be myself.*


And the TV ending was *originally* going to be EoE, so I'm not sure why Anno
would completely reverse his message instead of keeping it the same inboth
ends.

Other then that, for now I'll just say the 26 "Congratulations!" scene seems
to be a result (of sorts) of EoE Shinji's "I want to see them again, because
I believe my feelings were real" (Note both scenes have the blue sky with
clouds, everybody is happy and being portrayed as individuals in either
scene, etc) just before Eva-01 leaves Lilith who physically dies as the
Black Moon is destroyed.

-- 
Sailor*Star*Dust/SSD
http://www.darkscribes.org/author/Sailor+Star+Dust
「あんたが全部あたしのものにならないなら、あたし、何もいらない。」~ 惣流・アスカ・ラングレー
「何か役に立ちたいんだ。ずっと一緒にいたいんだ。」~ 碇シンジ
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