Through the glass

[salinea]

Today after a roleplaying game, where the GM surprised us with informing us that we were playing, in the cyberpunk & urban fantasy world of Shadowrun, two laboratory mice who were set to try to conquer the world (I was Brain; we ended up stunning everyone and the power in Seattle then firing a shuttle to the Zurich Orbital station using potato power) I ended up showing a few fanvids to my friends; including one of my fave "Your Man" by charmax, at which point one of them observed that Lesbians seem to do a lot of kissing through glass. Of course then I tried to show them "The Glass" by thingswithwings but I couldn't cuz it's not up on streaming. But it also made me think of Star Driver :









Do you think the creators of Star Driver are familiar with Henry Jenkins? It wouldn't even surprise me if they were.

Also should I be posting this on abymage instead of here? *ponders*

Comments

[eisen]

Yoji Enokido (head scriptwriter and story designer)'s referenced acafan and particularly queer-theory media-analysis concepts before; they're all over DIEBUSTER, f'rex, and MELODY OF OBLIVION gets in on the act, too. (UTENA, too, but I figure that goes without saying.)

I would love to see someone sit down with Enokido's works and discuss all the ways in which he uses the medium's own tools to queer itself and to really pull apart the allusive content of his scriptwork and series construction, because it's just so rich with information and reference that way (even saying that, though, it's dense without being distracting or obtrusive, something most other writers working in the same "style" tend to fall short of). I bet it would be incredibly rewarding.

[salinea]

Well that pretty much confirms it then, awesme. And thanks :)

Should I add Diebuster and Melody of Oblivion to my to-watch list? ^^

I would love to see someone sit down with Enokido's works and discuss all the ways in which he uses the medium's own tools to queer itself and to really pull apart the allusive content of his scriptwork and series construction
oh boy yes!

[eisen]

I think anyone with a fondness for giant robots, especially the super robot variety, owes it to themselves to watch DIEBUSTER at least once - I consider it one of the best super robot stories ever done, if not the best (the only competition it has is Yasuhiro Imagawa's entire giant robot ouevre - GIANT ROBO, TETSUJIN 28-GO, G GUNDAM, SHIN MAZINGER SHOUGEKI! Z-HEN - but while Imagawa and Enokido are both delightfully fixated on exploring the cultural baggage the super-robot genre carries within itself and on finding ways to use the genre to transcend and illuminate that cultural accumula, Imagawa's stories are always homosocial with a focus on male gender-performative tropes filtered through the chauvinist cliches of super-robot fandom and DIEBUSTER is homosocial with a focus on female gender-performative tropes filtered through the chauvinist cliches of super-robot fandom, and I am sorry but I will take the ladyBFFs and femslashy subtext over the dudes every time). It's a lot to take in all at once, since it's six episodes long and they pack as much plot and concept into those six episodes as the average 26-episode series and they do it while pushing the genre about as far as it can possibly go before it collapses under its own generic weight, but it's just an incredibly rich piece of work that manages to be wonderfully compassionate and considerate while still being a ridiculously over the top tragicomedy filled with hilarious innuendo and subtext and actual outright text. If you think the bit with the glass in STAR DRIVER is impressive, that's actually a step back on the excessive-not-really-text scale from DIEBUSTER.

MELODY OF OBLIVION is ... a bit more of an acquired taste, since DIEBUSTER is by comparison a step back from the lengths of metatextual density MoO gets up to; MoO takes the kinkplay and referential absurdity of DIEBUSTER and Utena to places I think most other people would fear to tread, but if you like the Nanami episodes of Utena and would like an entire series like that, then you'll probably like MoO.

[salinea]

Well, I wouldn't describe myself as a fan of super robot; and I do love the Nanami episodes :) On the other hand, I do love stuff that play with gender and genre conventions in fun way, and femslashy subtext is always fun (if not as fun as femslashy text). Will have to investigate further...

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Do you think the creators of Star Driver are familiar with Henry Jenkins? It wouldn't even surprise me if they were.

Given how meta-tastic the series the creators have worked on before have been, I think I wouldn't be surprised either. I also wondered if Yoji Enokido was additionally using it as a way to sneak in a visual reference to that Utena + Touga elevator scene in the Utena movie--and didn't Star Driver have a nod to RahXephon in the first episode? This might turn out to be a weirdly referential show.

(Also? That roleplaying session sounds awesome.)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I also wondered if Yoji Enokido was additionally using it as a way to sneak in a visual reference to that Utena + Touga elevator scene in the Utena movie
That works too. And still within the realm of the glass as a metaphor for forbidden/impossible/transgressive love.

The third episodes had yet other scenes reminding me of the Utena movies btw.

didn't Star Driver have a nod to RahXephon in the first episode?
So I've heard, though I haven't watched RahXephon so...

Also? That roleplaying session sounds awesome.
:D

[pierreuse.livejournal.com]

That works too. And still within the realm of the glass as a metaphor for forbidden/impossible/transgressive love.

Love that sceeeeene.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

which one, the one in Star Driver? Yeah, it was hilarious.

[pierreuse.livejournal.com]

Naw, in the Utena film. I haven't yet seen Star Driver. :o

[aiffe.livejournal.com]

Didn't the girls of t.A.T.u. kiss through a chain-link fence in one of their music videos?

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I am... not an expert of TATU music vids :) but it's plausible.

[q99.livejournal.com]

They kiss near it, but the chainlink fence seems to be a metaphor for the disapproving social barriers other people have for them rather than something that separates them vid

[aiffe.livejournal.com]

Oh neat, thanks. It'd been a while since I saw it, and I couldn't remember which video it was in.

I keep thinking I've seen a kiss through a chain link fence somewhere. An anime, maybe?

[q99.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty cute scene :)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

It was pretty fun XD

[rebbe]

In that final cap, is the person on the left wearing a hat? Or is that their hair?

I'M SO CONFUSED

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

It's a kind of... cap. You know, the sort with just the visor?

[rebbe]

...OHHHHHHHH

So it is both hat and hair. I comprehend!

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

Say, if I hypothetically wanted to RP but failed at finding groups, could you hypothetically give me pointers, or groups or whatever who might hypothetically be okay with me?

._.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Hypothetically, i know a few hypothetical ways to find tables :)
the one thing for all is Opale, which is dedicaced to help find players find one another with subforums by regions and stuff :)

And then, well, any rpg forum is good for such stuff. I'm fond of Tenebrae which organizes WoD and other white wolf centered games every month or so and has a good ambiance overall; and of Shadowforum, which is less organised for games but still have people proposing tables regularly, has a great ambiance and meets ever friday to drink alcohol and have fun with one another.

I might start a Mage Ascension game soon, too, if you'd be interested.

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! I'll look.

I haven't played in ages, and never Mage: the Ascension, but sure, if that's okay with you, that'd be awesome.