And thanks for the thorough response! I've been putting off replying to it because I keep hoping I'll have something really eloquent and interesting to write back, but I think I have to just admit that it's a big pile of "I agree!" and get on with life. :)
I completely respect your approach to the movie, and yeah, if it was intended as a sequel, that's been entirely lost on most people. Myself included for the last 13 or so years since I first saw it. I'm glad you liked the meta though! That's something I really love about this fandom. Years and years later, people are still writing intensely in-depth meta about it that makes me look at it in new and interesting ways.
I also agree with you in that I wouldn't have wanted Utena and Anthy to get together until after the point Anthy leaves Ohtori of her own accord. It's super dodgy in terms of consent preceding that point. I will say that I think the movie tries to give Anthy that same aspect of agency by putting the key in her hands and letting her make the choice about staying or leaving with Utena. But I see your point in that, either way, she couldn't do it without Utena, which recasts Utena back into the prince role. Or maybe not the prince role, since that's more strongly associated with gender in the movie, but the role of a savior. When it comes right down to it, it's got to by Anthy's choice and Anthy's own strength that gets her out of her coffin in order to bust apart those roles and really be revolutionary. I think we lose a lot of those nuances that were so great in the series because of the shorthand format.
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Date: 2014-08-01 08:32 pm (UTC)I completely respect your approach to the movie, and yeah, if it was intended as a sequel, that's been entirely lost on most people. Myself included for the last 13 or so years since I first saw it. I'm glad you liked the meta though! That's something I really love about this fandom. Years and years later, people are still writing intensely in-depth meta about it that makes me look at it in new and interesting ways.
I also agree with you in that I wouldn't have wanted Utena and Anthy to get together until after the point Anthy leaves Ohtori of her own accord. It's super dodgy in terms of consent preceding that point. I will say that I think the movie tries to give Anthy that same aspect of agency by putting the key in her hands and letting her make the choice about staying or leaving with Utena. But I see your point in that, either way, she couldn't do it without Utena, which recasts Utena back into the prince role. Or maybe not the prince role, since that's more strongly associated with gender in the movie, but the role of a savior. When it comes right down to it, it's got to by Anthy's choice and Anthy's own strength that gets her out of her coffin in order to bust apart those roles and really be revolutionary. I think we lose a lot of those nuances that were so great in the series because of the shorthand format.