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When all the smarty-pants otaku talk about UTENA they always bring up the literary references to....to....not Kafka...but...that other guy....Hermann Hesse. I've never read much of that literary crap, even though I'm quite capable of alluding to it at least when discussing the results of major sporting events.... Yes....the final score of the latest football game represented an approach to offensive strategy remeniscent of Herman Hesse's The Glass Bead Game! However, I am more aware and cognizant of the works of William Shakespeare....who wrote, I should point out, for the more loutish types like meself. I've yet to see or read much Shakespearean critique or analysis when discussing SHOUJO KAKUMEI UTENA, until now, of course. "Young wenches burn....." But I digress.... When I was a high-school lad, I was quite taken with not only the poetry of T.S. Eliot, but also the plays of Shakespeare. Back then, I truly and honestly thought that the gist and theme of HAMLET was: INCEST IS BEST!! Now, as the days have run away like wild horses over the hills ((as Charles Bukowski more eloquently stated it)), I've come back to this thought of HAMLET, and can see how aptly it can be applied to the effervescent (to put it nicely) Nanami....especially as regards the psychotecture of her relationship with Touga. While Ophelia was truly tragic, Nanami is comic.....yet both have essential elements of each other's turmoil driving their respective soul's. Ophelia floating in a pool, and Nanami wearing her cowbell of happiness are both building blocks of a curiously collective soul. And the inherent sadness of it all is caught up in the web of unrequited love for a brother. Ophelia would be far better off with Touga, and Nanami far better off with Hamlet. And so would Denmark. I should point out, however, that Hamlet and his Mother were the item. But it would be intriguing to think about how much cooler it would been if Ophelia were Hamlet's sister!! Very cool, I would think. And then this bit of polemic would actually make some sense.A pansy for your thoughts. Meanwhilst, this be one of a few pages devoted to Nanami, who I've dubbed, The Little Revolutionary. This is but a brief intrados to a fearful and fearless little angel whose deviltry defies imagination and also provokes a bit of comedy. A few portraits for the nonce,and this last thought which captures Nanami and cuts her to the quick, or should: "...so full of artless jealousy is guilt." |
The Little Revolutionary More pages in my Nanami collective coming soon. |
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