Utena: Repetition
Oct. 20th, 2006 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootThe cyclicality mentioned on the Symbol Sets page is also displayed in the repeating motifs of this show. Each arc has new ones, adding layers of meaning as we move along.
The repeating motifs of the first arc are fairly simple, and introduce the basic symbols: roses, rings, swords, and the Revolution of the World. Anthy's association with roses starts here, with the greenhouse full of roses that she cares for and the roses she produces, apparently out of nowhere, to mark the duelists and their victory or defeat. The Apocalypse arc goes even further. While ascending to the arena, Anthy disappears and is replaced with a rosebush that grows to fill her clothes.
Starting with the Black Rose arc, things get more complex. The Black Rose arc is all about being frozen in time and/or regressing. The elevator descends deeper into one's true feelings, but progress is never made. Rather it is reversed--butterfly to chrysalis to caterpillar all the way to leaf. That, of course, gives us a reference point for the elevator up to the arena, in the next arc. That elevator is so chockablock with perspective-illusions that it's hard to avoid reading its ascent as yet another spatial illusion--which it and the arena and the castle do turn out to be.
The car, in the next arc gives us another type of motion, this time one that should be progressive. Yet the road seems to have no beginning or end, just appearing from nowhere between stationary appearances of The Car. And during the duels the car moves in a circle around and around the arena--another highlight to deceptive appearances, which is Akio (and Dios and Anthy) all over. Reaching the final duel depends on progressing, yet Ohtori Academy, and anyone who gets too involved with it, is frozen in time. The duelists who face Utena are frozen, often encouraged into that state by Akio. The car's association with him makes perfect sense: apparent motion without actual movement.
This besides, of course, the glaringly obvious car = sex part. The symbols surrounding Akio are heavily weighted toward sex-replacement or sex-projection, and strongly associated with glamour--which is, of course, yet another sort of illusion. The car and the camera shoots add to Akio's aura of living the high life, living in (and I use the phrase advisedly) the fast line.
I think there's also a certain amount of clue-bat involved. During his little seduction sequences, Akio offers to show his pigeons the End of the World. He then hops out of the driver's seat and let's the car run with no steering. The normal result of that would be a crash, which we get audio cues for, and which is, in fact, what happens to the losers of these duels. As for the camera...
Well, you know the old tale about how it's dangerous to have a picture taken because it will steal your soul, right?
The swords are a fascinating progression of their own. They seem to embody not only power but agency itself. We start with normal, external swords; Black Rose moves to using the sword/soul/agency of another person, stolen; the Apocalypse arc progresses to using one's own sword/soul/agency, called forth in cooperation with someone else. Akio attempts, more or less, to steal Utena's agency after she has cooperatively called it out, which I expect is why he fails. He is Anthy's mirror image in some ways--outwardly powerful but unable to generate his own agency, while she is outwardly powerless but is, ultimately, the source of all agency in the story. He can never make it though the Gate, because he simply doesn't have the capacity--he can't change, he is, as Anthy says at the end, locked in his cozy coffin.
Swords are also, however, the mark of anger and vengeance, as we see at the end when the Thousand Swords come for Anthy.
And, to round things off, swords are the mark of Princes, of action, but also, inescapably, the mark of someone who is being tricked and manipulated by Akio.
Circular imagery also abounds. The stair up to the dueling arena is a spiral. The car circles around and around the arena during the Apocalypse duels. At the end, we see Dios on a carousel.
Along with all the sequence-repetition associated with the duelists' preparations, this emphasizes very strongly the closed nature of the Ohtori Academy world.
Infinite Reflections
The repeating motifs of the first arc are fairly simple, and introduce the basic symbols: roses, rings, swords, and the Revolution of the World. Anthy's association with roses starts here, with the greenhouse full of roses that she cares for and the roses she produces, apparently out of nowhere, to mark the duelists and their victory or defeat. The Apocalypse arc goes even further. While ascending to the arena, Anthy disappears and is replaced with a rosebush that grows to fill her clothes.
Starting with the Black Rose arc, things get more complex. The Black Rose arc is all about being frozen in time and/or regressing. The elevator descends deeper into one's true feelings, but progress is never made. Rather it is reversed--butterfly to chrysalis to caterpillar all the way to leaf. That, of course, gives us a reference point for the elevator up to the arena, in the next arc. That elevator is so chockablock with perspective-illusions that it's hard to avoid reading its ascent as yet another spatial illusion--which it and the arena and the castle do turn out to be.
The car, in the next arc gives us another type of motion, this time one that should be progressive. Yet the road seems to have no beginning or end, just appearing from nowhere between stationary appearances of The Car. And during the duels the car moves in a circle around and around the arena--another highlight to deceptive appearances, which is Akio (and Dios and Anthy) all over. Reaching the final duel depends on progressing, yet Ohtori Academy, and anyone who gets too involved with it, is frozen in time. The duelists who face Utena are frozen, often encouraged into that state by Akio. The car's association with him makes perfect sense: apparent motion without actual movement.
This besides, of course, the glaringly obvious car = sex part. The symbols surrounding Akio are heavily weighted toward sex-replacement or sex-projection, and strongly associated with glamour--which is, of course, yet another sort of illusion. The car and the camera shoots add to Akio's aura of living the high life, living in (and I use the phrase advisedly) the fast line.
I think there's also a certain amount of clue-bat involved. During his little seduction sequences, Akio offers to show his pigeons the End of the World. He then hops out of the driver's seat and let's the car run with no steering. The normal result of that would be a crash, which we get audio cues for, and which is, in fact, what happens to the losers of these duels. As for the camera...
Well, you know the old tale about how it's dangerous to have a picture taken because it will steal your soul, right?
.
Swords
The swords are a fascinating progression of their own. They seem to embody not only power but agency itself. We start with normal, external swords; Black Rose moves to using the sword/soul/agency of another person, stolen; the Apocalypse arc progresses to using one's own sword/soul/agency, called forth in cooperation with someone else. Akio attempts, more or less, to steal Utena's agency after she has cooperatively called it out, which I expect is why he fails. He is Anthy's mirror image in some ways--outwardly powerful but unable to generate his own agency, while she is outwardly powerless but is, ultimately, the source of all agency in the story. He can never make it though the Gate, because he simply doesn't have the capacity--he can't change, he is, as Anthy says at the end, locked in his cozy coffin.
Swords are also, however, the mark of anger and vengeance, as we see at the end when the Thousand Swords come for Anthy.
And, to round things off, swords are the mark of Princes, of action, but also, inescapably, the mark of someone who is being tricked and manipulated by Akio.
.
Circles
Circular imagery also abounds. The stair up to the dueling arena is a spiral. The car circles around and around the arena during the Apocalypse duels. At the end, we see Dios on a carousel.
Along with all the sequence-repetition associated with the duelists' preparations, this emphasizes very strongly the closed nature of the Ohtori Academy world.
