fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #514 ]

⌈ Secret Post #514 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[that's McKay from SGA, by the way; ass-recognition courtesy of

failaga]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 13 pages, 305 secrets from Secret Submission Post #074.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 3 4 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 4 5 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ], [ 1 - random link, wtf? ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

can't be independent

Uhh, what? I think maybe you missed something. =/

Poor wording. I saw the romance as completely unnecessary. The only thing it would change by not being there is this underlying idea that girls should wind up with *someone* at the end of the story. At least that's what I got out of it. I enjoyed the ending so much more before I found out that their relationship was supposed to be subtlely romantic.

Exactly - you missed something if you think that there is this idea that girls have to wind up with someone. While there IS some subtle romance between Utena and Anthy, I wouldn't go so far as to say that the series is attempting to say that girls can't be happy unless they're in a romantic relationship. There's...a lot more than that, and just because they have some romance doesn't mean they have to follow through on that or they won't be happy. In fact, I'd say the series enforces an idea that you DON'T have to be with someone to be happy - what happens at the end? Anthy breaks off her relationship with Akio, and is only then given the freedom to spend her life as she chooses. Sure, she's going off to look for Utena, but whether or not she plans on having a romantic relationship with Utena when she finds her is up to the viewer; and even if you think that it is going to be romantic, the series makes it clear that Anthy could be happy even without that. The series makes it very clear that both Anthy and Utena could be happy without a romantic relationship with anyone. Maybe I'm the one missing something, but I don't think RGU enforces at all the idea that "girls should wind up with *someone* at the end of the story".

While I agree with what you're saying in theory, I'm looking at this as a deliberate decision by the writer. Why did he chose to put these elements into the story if they don't ultimately mean anything? Yes, Anthy breaks off her relationship with Akio, but the writer made a point of having Anthy say she was going to find Utena. Without that line, you could still infer that she would look for her, since they'd said they wanted to have cookies and tea ten years from then, but it would be left up in the air for people to decide for themselves what she'd do. And the fact that the director put the romantic hints in at all, even though they were so subtle that many people (myself included) didn't see them until it was pointed out, and especially as a method of keeping a heterosexual pairing from taking over the plot, just seems strange and arbitrary to me. You aren't required to agree with me, of course, but I really cannot think of another reason why the implication would be in there, particularly given the reasons he gave for the pairing in the first place.

Do those romantic implications have to be there just because the writer wants to make it seem like OMG NO GIRL CAN LIVE WITHOUT ROMANCE without having a heterosexual romance? Regardless of what the writer has said, the existence of romantic implications between Anthy and Utena =/= attempting to infer that girls cannot live happily without being involved in a romantic relationship. It's my understanding that you seem to think that these hints are somehow un-feminist and un-empowering or make the show un-empowering and un-feminist - personally, I don't see how they really could be (at least not on purpose), especially considering the fact that at its core, the series' main theme really isn't romance. I mean, I can sort of see how you could view the romantic implications as a bad thing, but I don't know if it ruins the ending by thinking of them as lovers. Friends or lovers, they still have a damn close relationship, and it's touching either way...and really? Even if you think the romance ruins it, in the end, they still both make conscious decisions to be with each other (as opposed to being forced together in the beginning). And that, I think, is just as empowering if they're lovers as it would be if they're just friends.

But, yeah, that's just my viewpoint on the matter.

I wouldn't disagree with that if it had been more overt in the show, or the director hadn't said it was there basically because heterosexual romance was too distracting. To me, it seemed like it was there simply for the sake of being there, which is not a good enough reason. You're free to disagree, of course, especially if you get something out of the pairinf. More to you. I just don't like the mindset behind the decision for it to be there, I guess.

[ SECRET POST #514 ]

Re: 128 OP

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