alexander warned against reading too much into the imagery, but reading is fun! I’m not claiming this is in any way a meaningful spiel, I sure as hell probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but it’s just something I enjoyed writing. Nor is this a comprehensive analysis - I actually wrote one of those and then realised that even by standards that’s far too sadistically long-winded a thing to foist on anyone. Okay, enough disclaimers, here goes...
The Prince is Prologue. SEE WHAT I DID THERE, SHAKESPEARE NERDS?
The Prince is a fairy tale: He is narrated by a young girl, he arrives on a white horse and is closely associated with roses – okay everything’s associated with roses but the narrator stresses that part here. Specifically the white rose, as other visual cues make clear. The music and odd visual presentation here certainly seem to evoke the archetypal prince. Utena’s response is, well, less traditional, which gives the narrator time to chuckle a little at her expense. (This is also one of the voices narrating the shadow puppet show.) If the prince’s role is the most stereotypical one imaginable for gender in fairy tales, Utena’s response really isn’t. Bringing up gender may seem corny but I think from what we’ve seen so far Utena embracing a masculine identity is a big deal in this series, so hah. Her wearing of a boy’s uniform, being a ‘boyfriend’ to one girl and a ‘husband’ to another. Heck, she has squealing fangirls but no male interests, so far rejecting associating with them on any level.
Also, clearly the Prince has some relationship to Anthy. This is quite beside the observation that they’re the only dark skinned characters in a world of lily white people – Utena specifically gets the same rose smell from Anthy that she had done from the Prince, and there’s a mirror image of her being embraced by the Prince next to Utena being embraced by the Prince in the end credits. One of the more striking images of the opening credits is the Prince’s eyes opening as the jousting arena is destroyed, and this – combined with the significance of the rose seal which he’s given her - suggests to me he’s the End of the World everyone’s talking about. (By which I mean whoever or whatever is sending those letters rather than identifying him as a literal apocalypse.) And that’s not even starting on when she apparently drew on the Power of Dios to defeat Saionji in episode 2, which was shown as a ghostly form of the Prince coming down from the heavens to aid her... I’m leaving that duelling symbolism for later, I promise.
There’s a lot of symbolism that recurs. More about those in later weeks, but for now here’s my thoughts of the Absolute Destiny Apocalypse song:
Absolute Destiny Apocalypse: The Apocalypse (or Revelation) is a book in the Bible well known for its surreal and symbolic imagery – the interpretations as to what if anything it means are all and sundry. One popular view is that it’s about the end of the world, hence ‘apocalyptic’. So: Surreal symbolic end of the world? Seems apt for our topic, no? ‘Absolute Destiny’ suggests an extreme fatalism to me, and since we’ve seen members of the Student Council unquestioningly obey something called ‘the End of the Word’ I think that’s exactly what this refers to.
Records: Well, we get more Christian religious imagery here with the notion of baptism, the pouring of water onto the head (or submersion) which normally confirms one into the faith. Grouping that with birth and death puts it among the basic universal recorded events in one’s life – which it arguably would be in pre-revolutionary France. Okay I don’t have much here.
Shangri-La: The closest any of the symbols come to something I can identify as Eastern or Buddhist – if there are others they eluded me. Only, haha, it isn’t! Shangri-La is an ersatz Buddhist concept cooked up by a British writer. Either way it referred to an area on the continent so it’s certainly another ‘exotic’ symbol – like all the symbols so far. More to the point: Paradise.
Paradise Lost: A prose poem by John Milton which was a boffo hit back in the day - so big he followed it up with a crappy sequel, Paradise Regained. Take that English majors! The poem’s about how the original man and woman were cast out of the Garden of Eden – but its meaning here is, I think, self-explanatory. The use of ‘time-plated’ makes its connection to ‘gold-plated’ Shangri-La clearer – and what does that ‘plated’ mean anyway? Some kind of artificial worth or length imparted onto this world?
Sodom: A Biblical city that was so wicked that God destroyed it. The wickedness never actually spelled out but frequently assumed to be homosexuality because of a scene in Genesis where a crowd of Sodomites try to rape men and even turn down the reasonable alternative of raping women. That – combined with God’s stern no-no about gays in Leviticus – sort of seals the deal. So more apocalyptic imagery and maybe a little hint towards that gay subtext we’ve all been hearing about. In some subversive accounts Sodom too is a kind of decadent utopia, and the woman who looked back on the city before it was destroyed (for which she was turned to salt) did so with longing. So that’s THREE paradises if you accept this obscure half-remembered factoid as having any relevance. Either way we’ve got two paradises, two examples of sin and two apocalypses so far. Cute.
The Darkness of Light: There’s actually a lot of light/dark symbolism in this show – and heck, this song - but this one raises all sorts of questions. Usually light/dark symbolism is your standard good and evil dualism, but making the light dark is rejecting this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we get apparent goods which turn out to be evil – or apparent evils which turn out to be good – over the course of the show.
Now about those roses.
They’re easily the most prominent and repetitive symbol in the entire show so far. Different characters or objects even appear to be denoted by coloured roses on the sides of the screen. I admit the first thing that comes to mind about roses is very banal: They have thorns. This makes them a popular symbol for cruel beauty - and surely Saionji fits this part. Of course EVERYTHING is associated with the roses and they can’t all be cruel beauties – the Prince for instance. Still, maybe this has something to do with the darkness of light.
The only other thing that comes to mind is the Rosicrucians, a secret and mystical Christian group. Hm. Hang on, there might actually be something to that comparison. I promise to brush up on my Rosicrucianism and see if I can’t talk more about them next week. Either way, one thing is clear: I’m not done talking about roses.
