Gundam Wing: GenderSex
Mar. 3rd, 2001 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootFun with gender and sexuality, for us, if not the characters.
I should start out with some positional clarifications. I tend to agree with Croik (Fan Rape, see the link list on Main) that a lot of GW fans seem to have a knee jerk impulse to throw the characters straight into bed. I also agree that the relationships between these characters are a lot more complex than merely sex. Given the intensity of said relationships, however, I do think there is a real reason for said impulse, aside from incurably hentai fans. One of the easiest ways to interpret an emotionally and/or spiritually intense bond between humans is sexually. Personally, I'm including the whole enchilada. When I talk about love or connection between characters I mean those terms to encompass in potentia all forms of intimacy. The question of how initmacy might reasonably be expressed in each case is something I may address in later additions to this page...or I might just go back to my own fanfiction and work it out there. In any case, I certainly think that Gundam Wing, more than most other anime I've seen so far, opens up possibilities beyond the simple equation of intimacy with sex and beyond the simple geometry of couples' intimacy. The soundtrack for this page is Stevie Nix's "Blue Denim."
Onward, then.
The web-arguments over who loves whom in this story just keep going and going. Not surprising, when you look at it, really. I mean, for every one of these characters there are multiple match possibilities, none of which are actualized. (Can anyone tell me exactly where we got the info that the authors of this branch of the series deliberatly established multiple open-ended romantic possibilities in order to bring in the gay audience as well as the straight? I've seen this mentioned but have yet to track down the source.) Almost none of them make neat groupings, either. Heero can't kill either Relena or Duo, and they disturb his equanimity which is probably as close as he gets to avowal of love or passion ("live according to your feelings" is all well and good, but the emphasis seems to be on action not speech here); on top of that, he certainly relates well to Zechs and is, um, troubled by his apparent death. Duo is clearly interested in Heero, and possibly in Hilde also. The images that bring Trowa back to himself after loosing his memory are of Heero (who he speaks very admiringly of while they're looking for Noventa's family) and Quatre as well as sister Catherine. Quatre seems very drawn to Trowa, but also has some kind of intense link to Relena and...well, something with Dorothy. Wu Fei has his love-hate relationship with Treize, who seems fascinated by him, and an unusually companionable relationship with Trowa. Treize looks awfully cozy with both Zechs and Une. And Noin is also obsessed with Zechs, who's nicely chivalrous toward her. Not to mention Dorothy, who seems downright fixated on Relena. The smallest moderately stable grouping I can see here is Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Relena and Dorothy, which would give us Relena-Heero, Heero-Duo, Heero-Trowa, Trowa-Quatre, Quatre-Dorothy, Quatre-Relena and Relena-Dorothy. Wheee! Of course stable is a relative term here.
I think that may be a large reason why most people seem to cleave to monogamous couples when trying to romantically arrange these characters for the long term...well, a large reason after cultural brainwashing, of course. Can you imagine the levels of acrimony? Particularly between Relena and Duo, unless they're both given a good handful of years to mature and calm down. Duo might be willing to share Heero with Trowa, but I intensely doubt Relena would share with anyone (probably doesn't have much experience with it; in a couple more years she really might loosen up, though) and I suspect Duo would return her sentiment with interest. And while Zechs might or might not be willing to share Treize with Wu Fei, I have difficulty imaginging Treize cheerfully letting Zechs out of his sight for dates with Heero (the man's a control freak). And if you put Zechs and Une in the same household with Treize...let's just say Zechs had better shake out his boots every morning.
Of course, what really fascinates me about all this is why the authors cranked the level of tension so high in a story that barely nods in the direction of romance. If you look at all the possible pairings, the overwhelmeing majority of them involve either unequal or unrequited desire. Noin springs to mind, here, as she's so very obvious about her desire for Zechs. And Zechs doesn't seem to know what to do with her. While it's hard for a mask to show expression, I have the impression that he's more surprised and non-plussed than anything else when she starts toying with their swords in that early canteen scene. The wistfulness that Quatre displays as Trowa (deadpan as always) joins him for music and again when he leaves his estate, Duo's similar surprise that Heero remembered his name, the bathing scene between Treize and Une, they all feature one party being more invested then the other. The only two I can think of off hand that get along on a more even keel are Trowa and Wu Fei. This is normally the kind of tactic I would expect in a story where the romantic element formed a significant theme. Resolving that kind of tension is a classic romantic plot element. But here it isn't resolved, it's just left hanging. I really wonder if that isn't part of why GW fans display such a ferocious drive to settle these issues one way or another--because our conditioned expectations of a story in which such tension shows up is that it will get settled and people are frustrated that it hasn't been.
Speaking of the bathing scene, I just have to try and parse that one out; it's so bizarre. So, here's the commander of OZ forces taking his ease in a roman-esque tub of bubble bath...downright sprawled at his ease, head resting back, eyes closed, arms and legs draped apart, little smile on his face. Then here's his executive second, standing practically at attention, straight as a pike staff, in full uniform down to the last button and glove, expressionless. They're a study in contrasts. In macro terms, I can read this both ways--either that their relationship is so totally non-sensual and non-erotic that there's nothing compromising in her briefing him while he's bathing or that their relationship is so erotically charged that they both take it for granted that she'll ogle him in the bath. It's the particular symbolic dynamics that strike me as really weird. I realize that nudity in general has a different valence in Japan than it does in the US (often seen but seldom looked at is the saying, if I recall correctly), but in this case Treize is very obviously the recipient of Une's gaze. It's the receptive dynamic that throws me. It's Une, the feminine party, who expresses the focused, invulnerable (fully clothed), active dynamic and Treize, the masculine party, who expresses the displayed, vulnerable (definitely unclothed), receptive dynamic. This should read as a gender role reversal, and I think it does to an extent. But I can't shake the feeling that it's Treize who's the aggressive element, the initiator. Their relative ranks certainly contribute to this feeling, as does Une's explicitly service-oriented role--she's the one who orders bath scents for him. The more I think about this scene, and about Treize's sword duel with Wu Fei, the more I'm inclined to read Treize as a godawful tease. I suppose that doesn't really surprise me, given how much he seems to like manipulating people on the policy level, too. A stimulating opponent, but not someone I'd want to get into a relationship with.
I'm leery of mapping this too strictly, but I just can't believe that it was all an accident. Look at who, ethnically speaking, is attached to whom, here. I'm breaking this down based on the alleged ethnic extractions of the pilots: Heero-Japanese, Duo-American, Trowa-European (Western, if we're talking Italian/Spanish/French), Quatre-Arab (Middle East), Wu Fei-Chinese, Relena and Zechs-North European, Treize-East European (I think? They do say that OZ is made up of of European aristocratic families), Sally-Chinese, Hilde-German (I'm assuming). So, America and most of Europe is in love/obsessed with Japan, Japan seems to reciprocate in a more decorous register, Europe and the Middle East are totally stuck on each other, North and East Europe have struck up a certain chemistry in the interests of world domination, China (in the male register) doesn't seem interested in anything but itself, with a possible crush on Europe (though in the feminine register, China seems quite interested in Japan), and Germany is starry-eyed for America or possibly West Europe.
The ones that really jumped out at me were the Japan-America romance implicit in Heero and Duo, and the fascinating division of China into the male who has a love/hate relationship with East Europe and the female who is eyeing Japan. Now there's a loaded image, given a) the cultural anxiety-of-influence of Japan vis a vis China and b) the legacy of Japan's occupation of China during WWII. Really loaded. I noticed that this dynamic was absent from Endless Waltz, the end of which partners Sally and Wu Fei.
I consider this a bit of a pisser (understatement of the year for 2001). Of course it's a shounen story, but still. All of the strong women are simply drooling over some one of the men. Une runs around attending Treize while he's bathing, for crying out loud. (Is it just me that thinks that is one of the strangest scenes in anime? Even weirder than the flamingoes on Sandrock.) Zechs notes that Noin deliberately played her own skill down in order to make him look better at the Academy. Hilde turns herself into Duo's domestic help. Even Relena, who under other circumstances would show up as the most dominant of the women, is fixated on Heero; note what she says to him (well, his back anyway) in Episode 9--"Let me stay by you a little longer so I can become strong like you." So, none of the women, even the strongest, are as strong as the men. In some cases (Noin, Une) because they deliberately let their own potential lapse in order to follow their fixations.
Major virtual razzing here.
Most parts of this show, I like. I enjoy the cathartic aspect of watching the G boys blow the hell out of everything that gets in their way. I like the twisted politics and I especially like the polymorphous romantic possibilities--it appeals to my basic inclinations. But I do not like the gender politics at all. Nor am I willing to try and recuperate the women. Yes, they're quite strong. They're also crippled by the writers in support of a particularly nasty brand of sexism (that is, isn't it sweet that she'll give up her own strength/potential for the man she loves--virtual barfing here). I find this pernicious and inexcusable. Can we say co-dependent?
In the words of the great Ani DiFranco:
I am not a pretty girl
that is not what I do.
I ain't no damsel in distress
and I don't need to be rescued.
So put me down punk
wouldn't you prefer a maiden fair?
Isn't there a kitten
stuck up a tree somewhere?
("Not A Pretty Girl" off Not A Pretty Girl)
So, there we go. On to Miscellany, which has...well, everything else.
Love Polygons
I should start out with some positional clarifications. I tend to agree with Croik (Fan Rape, see the link list on Main) that a lot of GW fans seem to have a knee jerk impulse to throw the characters straight into bed. I also agree that the relationships between these characters are a lot more complex than merely sex. Given the intensity of said relationships, however, I do think there is a real reason for said impulse, aside from incurably hentai fans. One of the easiest ways to interpret an emotionally and/or spiritually intense bond between humans is sexually. Personally, I'm including the whole enchilada. When I talk about love or connection between characters I mean those terms to encompass in potentia all forms of intimacy. The question of how initmacy might reasonably be expressed in each case is something I may address in later additions to this page...or I might just go back to my own fanfiction and work it out there. In any case, I certainly think that Gundam Wing, more than most other anime I've seen so far, opens up possibilities beyond the simple equation of intimacy with sex and beyond the simple geometry of couples' intimacy. The soundtrack for this page is Stevie Nix's "Blue Denim."
Onward, then.
The web-arguments over who loves whom in this story just keep going and going. Not surprising, when you look at it, really. I mean, for every one of these characters there are multiple match possibilities, none of which are actualized. (Can anyone tell me exactly where we got the info that the authors of this branch of the series deliberatly established multiple open-ended romantic possibilities in order to bring in the gay audience as well as the straight? I've seen this mentioned but have yet to track down the source.) Almost none of them make neat groupings, either. Heero can't kill either Relena or Duo, and they disturb his equanimity which is probably as close as he gets to avowal of love or passion ("live according to your feelings" is all well and good, but the emphasis seems to be on action not speech here); on top of that, he certainly relates well to Zechs and is, um, troubled by his apparent death. Duo is clearly interested in Heero, and possibly in Hilde also. The images that bring Trowa back to himself after loosing his memory are of Heero (who he speaks very admiringly of while they're looking for Noventa's family) and Quatre as well as sister Catherine. Quatre seems very drawn to Trowa, but also has some kind of intense link to Relena and...well, something with Dorothy. Wu Fei has his love-hate relationship with Treize, who seems fascinated by him, and an unusually companionable relationship with Trowa. Treize looks awfully cozy with both Zechs and Une. And Noin is also obsessed with Zechs, who's nicely chivalrous toward her. Not to mention Dorothy, who seems downright fixated on Relena. The smallest moderately stable grouping I can see here is Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Relena and Dorothy, which would give us Relena-Heero, Heero-Duo, Heero-Trowa, Trowa-Quatre, Quatre-Dorothy, Quatre-Relena and Relena-Dorothy. Wheee! Of course stable is a relative term here.
I think that may be a large reason why most people seem to cleave to monogamous couples when trying to romantically arrange these characters for the long term...well, a large reason after cultural brainwashing, of course. Can you imagine the levels of acrimony? Particularly between Relena and Duo, unless they're both given a good handful of years to mature and calm down. Duo might be willing to share Heero with Trowa, but I intensely doubt Relena would share with anyone (probably doesn't have much experience with it; in a couple more years she really might loosen up, though) and I suspect Duo would return her sentiment with interest. And while Zechs might or might not be willing to share Treize with Wu Fei, I have difficulty imaginging Treize cheerfully letting Zechs out of his sight for dates with Heero (the man's a control freak). And if you put Zechs and Une in the same household with Treize...let's just say Zechs had better shake out his boots every morning.
Of course, what really fascinates me about all this is why the authors cranked the level of tension so high in a story that barely nods in the direction of romance. If you look at all the possible pairings, the overwhelmeing majority of them involve either unequal or unrequited desire. Noin springs to mind, here, as she's so very obvious about her desire for Zechs. And Zechs doesn't seem to know what to do with her. While it's hard for a mask to show expression, I have the impression that he's more surprised and non-plussed than anything else when she starts toying with their swords in that early canteen scene. The wistfulness that Quatre displays as Trowa (deadpan as always) joins him for music and again when he leaves his estate, Duo's similar surprise that Heero remembered his name, the bathing scene between Treize and Une, they all feature one party being more invested then the other. The only two I can think of off hand that get along on a more even keel are Trowa and Wu Fei. This is normally the kind of tactic I would expect in a story where the romantic element formed a significant theme. Resolving that kind of tension is a classic romantic plot element. But here it isn't resolved, it's just left hanging. I really wonder if that isn't part of why GW fans display such a ferocious drive to settle these issues one way or another--because our conditioned expectations of a story in which such tension shows up is that it will get settled and people are frustrated that it hasn't been.
Speaking of the bathing scene, I just have to try and parse that one out; it's so bizarre. So, here's the commander of OZ forces taking his ease in a roman-esque tub of bubble bath...downright sprawled at his ease, head resting back, eyes closed, arms and legs draped apart, little smile on his face. Then here's his executive second, standing practically at attention, straight as a pike staff, in full uniform down to the last button and glove, expressionless. They're a study in contrasts. In macro terms, I can read this both ways--either that their relationship is so totally non-sensual and non-erotic that there's nothing compromising in her briefing him while he's bathing or that their relationship is so erotically charged that they both take it for granted that she'll ogle him in the bath. It's the particular symbolic dynamics that strike me as really weird. I realize that nudity in general has a different valence in Japan than it does in the US (often seen but seldom looked at is the saying, if I recall correctly), but in this case Treize is very obviously the recipient of Une's gaze. It's the receptive dynamic that throws me. It's Une, the feminine party, who expresses the focused, invulnerable (fully clothed), active dynamic and Treize, the masculine party, who expresses the displayed, vulnerable (definitely unclothed), receptive dynamic. This should read as a gender role reversal, and I think it does to an extent. But I can't shake the feeling that it's Treize who's the aggressive element, the initiator. Their relative ranks certainly contribute to this feeling, as does Une's explicitly service-oriented role--she's the one who orders bath scents for him. The more I think about this scene, and about Treize's sword duel with Wu Fei, the more I'm inclined to read Treize as a godawful tease. I suppose that doesn't really surprise me, given how much he seems to like manipulating people on the policy level, too. A stimulating opponent, but not someone I'd want to get into a relationship with.
.
The Geopolitics of the Pilots' Attachments
I'm leery of mapping this too strictly, but I just can't believe that it was all an accident. Look at who, ethnically speaking, is attached to whom, here. I'm breaking this down based on the alleged ethnic extractions of the pilots: Heero-Japanese, Duo-American, Trowa-European (Western, if we're talking Italian/Spanish/French), Quatre-Arab (Middle East), Wu Fei-Chinese, Relena and Zechs-North European, Treize-East European (I think? They do say that OZ is made up of of European aristocratic families), Sally-Chinese, Hilde-German (I'm assuming). So, America and most of Europe is in love/obsessed with Japan, Japan seems to reciprocate in a more decorous register, Europe and the Middle East are totally stuck on each other, North and East Europe have struck up a certain chemistry in the interests of world domination, China (in the male register) doesn't seem interested in anything but itself, with a possible crush on Europe (though in the feminine register, China seems quite interested in Japan), and Germany is starry-eyed for America or possibly West Europe.
The ones that really jumped out at me were the Japan-America romance implicit in Heero and Duo, and the fascinating division of China into the male who has a love/hate relationship with East Europe and the female who is eyeing Japan. Now there's a loaded image, given a) the cultural anxiety-of-influence of Japan vis a vis China and b) the legacy of Japan's occupation of China during WWII. Really loaded. I noticed that this dynamic was absent from Endless Waltz, the end of which partners Sally and Wu Fei.
.
Gender Politics
I consider this a bit of a pisser (understatement of the year for 2001). Of course it's a shounen story, but still. All of the strong women are simply drooling over some one of the men. Une runs around attending Treize while he's bathing, for crying out loud. (Is it just me that thinks that is one of the strangest scenes in anime? Even weirder than the flamingoes on Sandrock.) Zechs notes that Noin deliberately played her own skill down in order to make him look better at the Academy. Hilde turns herself into Duo's domestic help. Even Relena, who under other circumstances would show up as the most dominant of the women, is fixated on Heero; note what she says to him (well, his back anyway) in Episode 9--"Let me stay by you a little longer so I can become strong like you." So, none of the women, even the strongest, are as strong as the men. In some cases (Noin, Une) because they deliberately let their own potential lapse in order to follow their fixations.
Major virtual razzing here.
Most parts of this show, I like. I enjoy the cathartic aspect of watching the G boys blow the hell out of everything that gets in their way. I like the twisted politics and I especially like the polymorphous romantic possibilities--it appeals to my basic inclinations. But I do not like the gender politics at all. Nor am I willing to try and recuperate the women. Yes, they're quite strong. They're also crippled by the writers in support of a particularly nasty brand of sexism (that is, isn't it sweet that she'll give up her own strength/potential for the man she loves--virtual barfing here). I find this pernicious and inexcusable. Can we say co-dependent?
In the words of the great Ani DiFranco:
I am not a pretty girl
that is not what I do.
I ain't no damsel in distress
and I don't need to be rescued.
So put me down punk
wouldn't you prefer a maiden fair?
Isn't there a kitten
stuck up a tree somewhere?
("Not A Pretty Girl" off Not A Pretty Girl)
So, there we go. On to Miscellany, which has...well, everything else.
