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branchandrootSo, what does Emily do when she feels sick and out of sorts? Researches anime! Well, everyone has their own sort of escapism, I suppose.
*pauses to make more tea*
First off, everyone who wastes time comparing this to Evangelion should just hush. Yes, it initially left me with the same sort of "WTF was that?!" reaction. Yes, there are a fair number of structural similarities, not least some of the fight choreography, but the content is very different. The characters are different, the point of the show is different, and the way the source-mythology is handled is extremely different. Eva uses only the most superficial aspects of Christianity in general and Genesis in particular. RahXephon delves very deeply into Churchward and Blavatsky, and seems to be having a great deal of fun doing so.
About that mythology. For those unfamiliar with Churchward's Mu/Lemuria and Blavatsky's cosmology in general, this site offers an overview both reasonable and humorous. Myself, I was particularly interested to note that, while the white egg/black egg has strong associations with Hindu sources and the whole idea of birth/rebirth cycles of the world, it also connects back to Mu via Blavatsky's assertion that the 'ancestors' of humankind were hermaphrotic egg layers, and humans proper weren't produced until these forbears discovered sex and started fooling around. This, after the fashion of 19th c spiritualism, represented a degeneration. This fits very well with the manner in which Ayato was produced, also, and, supposing the Mu/Lemurians themselves to represent the ancestors, explains to some extent their callousness toward humanity. Of course, since Churchward's alleged sources for his book were tablets found in a Hindu monestary somewhere, that association is still just as strong.
The cosmopolitan approach to naming things also fits with Churchward's idea that Mu colonized Maya, Egypt, etc.. Ra (RahXephon), is one of the Egyptian sun gods. Ollin (the tuners' 'title'), which seems to translate to "movement", is an Aztec calender term applying to particular days as well as the current age. Two different deities, male and female govern this day, depending on whether the day-sign or 13 day period is referred to; the associations with those deities are extremely appropriate to Ayato and Quon, respectively. In both cases, Ollin is a time for purification and transformation. (note that this calendar appears to derive from the Mayan calendar, but well-attested Mayan sources are kind of thin on the ground) Ishtar (my own vote for what Ishitori derives from), is a Babylonian goddess associated with fertility and war, with conflict and birth, which fits very nicely with the conflict leading to rebirth at the end, between the two potential tuners. I have seen Ixtli suggested for Ishitori, which almost kinda sort works; ixtli means, I believe, face or personality in the Aztec language.
Xephon, itself, is driving me nuts trying to figure out. It looks distinctly greek, and the "phon" for sound would fit, but I'm buggered if I can figure out what the "xe" is doing hanging off the front.
More later, maybe.
*pauses to make more tea*
First off, everyone who wastes time comparing this to Evangelion should just hush. Yes, it initially left me with the same sort of "WTF was that?!" reaction. Yes, there are a fair number of structural similarities, not least some of the fight choreography, but the content is very different. The characters are different, the point of the show is different, and the way the source-mythology is handled is extremely different. Eva uses only the most superficial aspects of Christianity in general and Genesis in particular. RahXephon delves very deeply into Churchward and Blavatsky, and seems to be having a great deal of fun doing so.
About that mythology. For those unfamiliar with Churchward's Mu/Lemuria and Blavatsky's cosmology in general, this site offers an overview both reasonable and humorous. Myself, I was particularly interested to note that, while the white egg/black egg has strong associations with Hindu sources and the whole idea of birth/rebirth cycles of the world, it also connects back to Mu via Blavatsky's assertion that the 'ancestors' of humankind were hermaphrotic egg layers, and humans proper weren't produced until these forbears discovered sex and started fooling around. This, after the fashion of 19th c spiritualism, represented a degeneration. This fits very well with the manner in which Ayato was produced, also, and, supposing the Mu/Lemurians themselves to represent the ancestors, explains to some extent their callousness toward humanity. Of course, since Churchward's alleged sources for his book were tablets found in a Hindu monestary somewhere, that association is still just as strong.
The cosmopolitan approach to naming things also fits with Churchward's idea that Mu colonized Maya, Egypt, etc.. Ra (RahXephon), is one of the Egyptian sun gods. Ollin (the tuners' 'title'), which seems to translate to "movement", is an Aztec calender term applying to particular days as well as the current age. Two different deities, male and female govern this day, depending on whether the day-sign or 13 day period is referred to; the associations with those deities are extremely appropriate to Ayato and Quon, respectively. In both cases, Ollin is a time for purification and transformation. (note that this calendar appears to derive from the Mayan calendar, but well-attested Mayan sources are kind of thin on the ground) Ishtar (my own vote for what Ishitori derives from), is a Babylonian goddess associated with fertility and war, with conflict and birth, which fits very nicely with the conflict leading to rebirth at the end, between the two potential tuners. I have seen Ixtli suggested for Ishitori, which almost kinda sort works; ixtli means, I believe, face or personality in the Aztec language.
Xephon, itself, is driving me nuts trying to figure out. It looks distinctly greek, and the "phon" for sound would fit, but I'm buggered if I can figure out what the "xe" is doing hanging off the front.
More later, maybe.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 05:21 pm (UTC)Problems with understanding what the title might mean linguistically:
1) "Xe" could either mean "ze" or "kse," soundwise, which makes a difference in Greek.
2) "phon" could either be spelled with omicron or omega, which is the difference between it's relating to murder or to sound.
3) There is no Greek word "zephon," even if one assumes that that's the correct pronunciation.
The closest you'll find to "zephon/xephon" in Greek is "Zephuros," which is a name for the west wind. Neither "ze" nor "xe" seems to be a prefix, though "ze" is a suffix at times. "Phon" at the end of a word usually indicates a neuter noun.
On a completely random note, the word "ephonion" in Greek is "a saddle for an ass." My mind, of course, responded by interpreting the title of the series as "Ra x saddle-for-an-ass OTP! omgtheirloveissolinguisticallychallenged."
If you look away from the linguistic side of things, there are a few occurrences of "Zephon" around. According to encyclopedia.com, "Zephon" (or "Ziphion") is, in the Bible, the son of Gad (Genesis 46, in one of those interminable genealogies). Baalzephon/Baal-zephon, also in the Bible is a place near where the Isrealites crossed the Red Sea. Continuing on the Christianity trail, Zephon is an angel in Milton's Paradise Lost who, with Ithuriel and Gabriel, looks for Satan in the garden of Eden when they realize that there's an intruder there. (The last case was likely taken from the Bible, but there you go.)
About Baal-zephon: This site (http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/baal-zephon.html) scans it as "Baal of the north," but I don't know how accurate the site itself is. It's mentioned in both Exodus and Numbers, though.
About Zephon: This site (http://www.jcsm.org/StudyCenter/kjvstrongs/STRHEB68.htm) talks about Hebrew and the meanings of words, and is horribly confusing, but. You can do a "find" for Zephon, which is given as "Tsphown" as well. If you follow the links around, it ends up connecting the name with watching/a watchtower.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 05:25 pm (UTC)...and in the second sentence in the "About Baal-Zephon" paragraph, "it's" is obviously referring to Baal-Zephon, not the website about Baal-zephon, because it would be weird if they mentioned a website in the Bible.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 05:46 pm (UTC)Yeah, it was Hebrew that I found the most instances of the word in, but I'm not sure how likely it is for the writers of this story to draw on that source. On the other hand, the concept of a protector of Paradise does work pretty well.
I've seen "music of the world" suggested as a meaning, but it was a totally uncited translation so I have no idea how she derived it.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-02 09:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-02 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-02 08:07 pm (UTC)