Bizarre Film Reviews: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Okay, not a "film" per se, but a series, two movies, and a reboot. It has inspired Pacific Rim (or rather Pacific Rim ripped it off).
Story seems more complicated than it is. God gets pissed. Sends Angels to Earth to kill us. Military develops mecha countermeasures. Mecha can only be piloted by hormonal kids. One is emotionless, one is a bitch, and the other is the head's son; a spineless, insecure, milquetoadt, white, white guilt boy struggling with his heterosexuality.
Like....This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolfe mixed with Top Gun.
See....predating this was Robotech which was hardcore. It was like Iron Eagle with Transformer F-14s.
But for those of a certain age...along came Evangelion and the mecha vs monster battles are almost secondary to the needy, whiny, despair of this stupid kid. He's surrounded by girls and is awkward, he's given a bipedal death machine but is too wimpy to get it on, and he is just.....so lame.
And it was brilliant for the time. It captured a lot of teen insecurity and directionlessness. That hesitation that you are broaching manhood but need permission. The original is a product of a time when it could only have been made. The ending, which I wont spoil, is this odd....surreal....jarring end. And probably too close to home.
I saw this when it was new and decided to revisit it and realized I could no longer identify with anyone. It was a macabre lens into the sensibilities of the 90s. An equilibrium of anxiety and optimism for the future.
Relatable problems now seem so unproblematic. It was an incomplete show for incomplete people. You just had to have been there.
Its like those mosquito ringtones. Its like The Perks of Being a Wallflower but with giant robots.
Gundam 08th MS Team was like Tour of Duty.
Robotech was reflective of a post Vietnam era of trying to re-assert a proving force.
But Evangelion was this lost, pre-Millenium spiel of disappointment and isolation. From nostalgia I remembered adventure and "intelligence". Like Ditko era Spider-Man. The shlub is secretly a hero but cant tell nobody.
But this series, upon revisiting, is sadly neurotic. A marking post for people of a certain age but....it is a portrait of how a generation had no real role models and an uncertain future A lost generation. Victim to their own indifference and yet, beholden to their indoctrination.
We had no summer of love. We had no renaissance. Our Milennium taken from us before we could understand it despite our preparing for it for a decade straight.
We started out as Shinji......and now. We are Gendou.
And thats what makes this time capsule of a series brilliant. A portait of the second lost generation.
Its only a meme now because memes are our only legacy. Abrupt moments in time. Those too old and those too young never did us any favors.
But dont take my word for it. Its on DVD.
Skip the reboot. It totally destroys the point.
