Joseph Riggs wrote: > note that the three prior listed conflicts all involve something that > doesn't exist today versus something that we're all familiar with (since > we're all Earthborn Oldtype Naturals). > Gundam 00 seems to be throwing that all out the window. Instead, the
Absolutely, that's part and partial to the emphasis on A.D. as opposed to UC, CE etc. G00 is about us and now. > approach seems to be, "Humans just really love to fight, and will look for > pretty much any excuse to do so." Humans don't need to be moving into space Well that part is not that unique. ZZ F-91 and Turn-A, (at least) also take up that theme. But they all add a layer of distance with the Newtypes and Moonraces. G00 throws them all out and directly reference current events, races, ideologies to force us to treat the show as relevant to our real world. Tomino and his AU followers have always stated that Gundam is supposed to be treated as meaningful to real world discourse. But adding alien concepts such as Newtype and limiting direct references to contemporary events (Degwin Zabi's comparison of Gihren to Hitler being an exception that proves the rule) serves a purpose, I think. By making the anime more remote from real world history/politics, Tomino gives the audience room to think about the anime independent of political colors. The hope is that the audience gets a moral/intellectual workout within the anime and then might apply the fruit of that workout in the real world. Personally I've always enjoyed those little workouts. The G00 writers think (perhaps rather, _Yours_Truly_ think) that doesn't work (anymore). Subtlety never worked that well before, and doesn't work at all now. If you have a message, you have to hit the audience over the head with it over and over again, repeatedly, with brutal bluntness and extreme prejudice. Sometimes the communication medium is politically incorrectness (G00), or graphic violence (e.g. Deathnote and Gantz), or actual bombs (US, Pakistan and You-Know-Who). The risk is that with direct reference to China (especially for Japanese audience), US, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Middle East, the audience are watching the show with bias from real world politics. I can absolutely say that I don't even attempt to apply any objectivity when I watch G00. The writers don't encourage me to be objective, so I won't even try. > or jumping to the next stage of genetic development (whether they got there > naturally or through artificial means). They'll look for reasons to fight > anyway. In fact, the one instance that we've seen so far of genetic > development actually has a single representative on both sides of the > conflict, and the existance of these two individuals has nothing whatsoever > to do with any of the fighting (though they're both involved in it). Well that may change. Who knows. The Soma arc is not over yet, by a long shot. -- Dr. Core -------------------------------------------------- The Gundam Mailing List MK-II [email protected] Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in the BODY: help list
