Madoka Magica and The German Play
Mar. 13th, 2011 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootDo not read this if you haven't seen the show yet. No, I really mean it this time. You know what a spoiler-junkie I am, and I'm still saying watch the show first. Seriously.
Here's the thing: isn't a direct mapping. There are a great many references to Faust in the anime, but there is no direct plot duplication.
In the Prologue, God and the Devil have a conversation about the corruptibility of mankind and strike a bet that Faust, despite temptation, will/will not lose sight of the right way. In the dream that starts the series, Madoka and Kyubei have a conversation about the hopelessness of Homura's fight alone against the Walpurgisnacht and Kyubei asserts that only Madoka becoming a magical girl can save her. There is no direct parallel here. Naming the dream the same thing as the Prologue makes those who have decrypted that name think about conversations between God and the Devil, and about temptation, damnation, redemption. Given later remarks about the extent of Madoka's potential power, I think we're meant to consider her God in that context, and Kyubei is definitely a solid candidate for the Devil so far. But I would say it's the themes in general the writers hope we take from that reference. Or, more specifically, that we apply in hindsight after running it through the fannish Enigma machine. The series is no more a direct mapping of Faust than, say, Angel Sanctuary is a direct mapping of Revelation.
After all, Madoka is clearly a Faust figure herself, for most of the rest of the series, but resembles him not at all in character. Indeed, Kyubei himself has more of the Faust character, in his desire to understand the nature of the human spirit or heart, though his lack of comprehension of the soul echos Mephistopheles more strongly. The roles alluded to are not fixed and set, and while the symbolism of the play is well mined there are vanishingly few actual plot parallels.
For example, Madoka's mother's makeup, numbered as it is, calls to mind the witches' one times one. Does this mean that her mother is a witch? Clearly not. Recall, however, that the witch who speaks the one times one in Faust is engaged in restoring Faust's youth. And what is makeup supposed to do for an adult woman...? This is typical of the show's references: remixed, as it were.
Similarly, the verses at the entrance to Gertrud's realm speak of the world being broken and destroyed, and then built up again. In context, these are spoken by a choir of spirits attending Mephistopheles as Faust contemplates making his bargain. Who is the Faust figure now? Not Madoka, but possibly Gertrud herself, or the magical girl she once was upon making her own bargain. Perhaps she, unlike Faust, fell entirely. Perhaps, on the contrary, she sees her transformation as the more splendid new song promised by the verses, which Faust later associates with the afterlife. Perhaps it's none of these and those verses are simply supposed to reinforce a particular concept.
Consider the way the battle and ending music echo this notion of a world broken and then reborn by someone's power. Consider, too, the ending of Faust, in which Faust experiences his moment of transcendent joy in accomplishing wondrous things for the benefit of others; even though he is wrong about what is actually happening, being blind by then, this is what saves him, the fact that he does, indeed, find his way beyond error, most especially selfishness, to redemption. Consider, now, Madoka's motives, throughout: to help others, to gain some worth by helping others. I can see this going a few ways.
One, and possibly most in keeping with the series so far: even the ending of Faust will be turned inside out, and only by a selfish act can Madoka save the world--by refusing to sacrifice herself to magic and despair, she can keep from destroying the world herself. The fact that her mother has already recommended this in general terms, and that there are really no throw-away scenes in this series, suggests that this is likely.
Two: Madoka is, in herself, the universal reset switch. Kyubei has already said she has enough power to re-write the laws of physics. She might reverse entropy (yes, I know, extremely bad science, just read it symbolically). She might wish to save all the magical girls, somehow undoing whatever causes them to degenerate and thus depriving Kyubei of his energy. This would be very in keeping with the general values often displayed in anime--that a universe in which you have to coldly sacrifice those you care for is not worth having and might as well be let to run down. Given the result of Homura's attempt to similarly fix things, however, this kind of ending would be out of keeping with the themes and trends so far. If Madoka has to destroy herself, spend herself entirely, to do it, that would be a bit more likely.
Three: there's one more unforeseen wallop in the works and the story will, once again, turn out to be something completely unexpected, thus rendering all previous speculation pointless. I don't actually expect this, but I'm not ruling it out either.
Four: Madoka really does destroy the world, Kyubei stokes up the energy released and goes off whistling, curtain falls. Urobuchi laughs like a hyena in the background as the shrieks of the fans echo around the world. Frankly, I'm not ruling this one out either.
Also, some incidental thoughts on Kyubei. Because I've been wondering why, if his kind can grant any kind of wish, even wildly impossible ones, why are they scrounging energy off the magical girls? Shouldn't they have plenty of their own?
Maybe they're limited to one-person-sized wishes, or maybe they're just that stunningly selfish, but the thing that occurs to me, listening to the scene where he talks to Madoka about saving Sayaka, about what she could do rather than what she could wish, is that Kyubei might be using the magic of the girls themselves to grant those wishes. The way he talks while "granting" Homura's wish suggests this also; it's Homura's desire that 'overcame entropy' and caused her soul to 'shine'. This would make some sense of why their powers are imprinted, as it were, with the nature of their wish. Sayaka wishes to heal, and her magic is healing. Homura wishes for a do-over, and her magic manipulates time. This suggests that they may actually grant their own wishes once Kyubei does whatever he does. Perhaps the soul extraction process includes some manner of catalysis.
Of course this suggests in turn that the as yet utterly (ominously) unexplained reason the Soul Gems always corrupt is that they are created or "set" to do so by that very process. After all, Kyubei wants magical girls to turn into witches; that's the goal from his point of view. The most energy efficient way to do it might just be to disconnect their souls from actual life, isolate them to increase the effect, and let nature take it's course. Voila, witches. This particular process, and the essential danger of being disembodied and insulated from lived experience or sensation, is certainly showcased by Sayaka. This would also explain why the corruption can only be sent to or contained by another ex-gem, a Grief Seed.
I'm kind of expecting something like this in a reveal, to be honest.
Here's the thing: isn't a direct mapping. There are a great many references to Faust in the anime, but there is no direct plot duplication.
In the Prologue, God and the Devil have a conversation about the corruptibility of mankind and strike a bet that Faust, despite temptation, will/will not lose sight of the right way. In the dream that starts the series, Madoka and Kyubei have a conversation about the hopelessness of Homura's fight alone against the Walpurgisnacht and Kyubei asserts that only Madoka becoming a magical girl can save her. There is no direct parallel here. Naming the dream the same thing as the Prologue makes those who have decrypted that name think about conversations between God and the Devil, and about temptation, damnation, redemption. Given later remarks about the extent of Madoka's potential power, I think we're meant to consider her God in that context, and Kyubei is definitely a solid candidate for the Devil so far. But I would say it's the themes in general the writers hope we take from that reference. Or, more specifically, that we apply in hindsight after running it through the fannish Enigma machine. The series is no more a direct mapping of Faust than, say, Angel Sanctuary is a direct mapping of Revelation.
After all, Madoka is clearly a Faust figure herself, for most of the rest of the series, but resembles him not at all in character. Indeed, Kyubei himself has more of the Faust character, in his desire to understand the nature of the human spirit or heart, though his lack of comprehension of the soul echos Mephistopheles more strongly. The roles alluded to are not fixed and set, and while the symbolism of the play is well mined there are vanishingly few actual plot parallels.
For example, Madoka's mother's makeup, numbered as it is, calls to mind the witches' one times one. Does this mean that her mother is a witch? Clearly not. Recall, however, that the witch who speaks the one times one in Faust is engaged in restoring Faust's youth. And what is makeup supposed to do for an adult woman...? This is typical of the show's references: remixed, as it were.
Similarly, the verses at the entrance to Gertrud's realm speak of the world being broken and destroyed, and then built up again. In context, these are spoken by a choir of spirits attending Mephistopheles as Faust contemplates making his bargain. Who is the Faust figure now? Not Madoka, but possibly Gertrud herself, or the magical girl she once was upon making her own bargain. Perhaps she, unlike Faust, fell entirely. Perhaps, on the contrary, she sees her transformation as the more splendid new song promised by the verses, which Faust later associates with the afterlife. Perhaps it's none of these and those verses are simply supposed to reinforce a particular concept.
Consider the way the battle and ending music echo this notion of a world broken and then reborn by someone's power. Consider, too, the ending of Faust, in which Faust experiences his moment of transcendent joy in accomplishing wondrous things for the benefit of others; even though he is wrong about what is actually happening, being blind by then, this is what saves him, the fact that he does, indeed, find his way beyond error, most especially selfishness, to redemption. Consider, now, Madoka's motives, throughout: to help others, to gain some worth by helping others. I can see this going a few ways.
One, and possibly most in keeping with the series so far: even the ending of Faust will be turned inside out, and only by a selfish act can Madoka save the world--by refusing to sacrifice herself to magic and despair, she can keep from destroying the world herself. The fact that her mother has already recommended this in general terms, and that there are really no throw-away scenes in this series, suggests that this is likely.
Two: Madoka is, in herself, the universal reset switch. Kyubei has already said she has enough power to re-write the laws of physics. She might reverse entropy (yes, I know, extremely bad science, just read it symbolically). She might wish to save all the magical girls, somehow undoing whatever causes them to degenerate and thus depriving Kyubei of his energy. This would be very in keeping with the general values often displayed in anime--that a universe in which you have to coldly sacrifice those you care for is not worth having and might as well be let to run down. Given the result of Homura's attempt to similarly fix things, however, this kind of ending would be out of keeping with the themes and trends so far. If Madoka has to destroy herself, spend herself entirely, to do it, that would be a bit more likely.
Three: there's one more unforeseen wallop in the works and the story will, once again, turn out to be something completely unexpected, thus rendering all previous speculation pointless. I don't actually expect this, but I'm not ruling it out either.
Four: Madoka really does destroy the world, Kyubei stokes up the energy released and goes off whistling, curtain falls. Urobuchi laughs like a hyena in the background as the shrieks of the fans echo around the world. Frankly, I'm not ruling this one out either.
Also, some incidental thoughts on Kyubei. Because I've been wondering why, if his kind can grant any kind of wish, even wildly impossible ones, why are they scrounging energy off the magical girls? Shouldn't they have plenty of their own?
Maybe they're limited to one-person-sized wishes, or maybe they're just that stunningly selfish, but the thing that occurs to me, listening to the scene where he talks to Madoka about saving Sayaka, about what she could do rather than what she could wish, is that Kyubei might be using the magic of the girls themselves to grant those wishes. The way he talks while "granting" Homura's wish suggests this also; it's Homura's desire that 'overcame entropy' and caused her soul to 'shine'. This would make some sense of why their powers are imprinted, as it were, with the nature of their wish. Sayaka wishes to heal, and her magic is healing. Homura wishes for a do-over, and her magic manipulates time. This suggests that they may actually grant their own wishes once Kyubei does whatever he does. Perhaps the soul extraction process includes some manner of catalysis.
Of course this suggests in turn that the as yet utterly (ominously) unexplained reason the Soul Gems always corrupt is that they are created or "set" to do so by that very process. After all, Kyubei wants magical girls to turn into witches; that's the goal from his point of view. The most energy efficient way to do it might just be to disconnect their souls from actual life, isolate them to increase the effect, and let nature take it's course. Voila, witches. This particular process, and the essential danger of being disembodied and insulated from lived experience or sensation, is certainly showcased by Sayaka. This would also explain why the corruption can only be sent to or contained by another ex-gem, a Grief Seed.
I'm kind of expecting something like this in a reveal, to be honest.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-14 04:06 am (UTC)And that's an interesting interpretation of their wishes. I'd always sort of figured that it was basically something where Kyubey had sufficiently advanced technology to do anything most young girls would wish for without much effort, but having it be something they themselves do with the release of their soul gem actually makes a great deal more sense to me.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-14 04:09 am (UTC)Yeah, that was what I started out thinking, but there seem to be more and more hints that the power that makes the wishes happen is the girls'. Especially Homura; her going back around seems to be entirely under her own control, at least within the limits of what the wish was.