I don't want to shut down the line(s) of conversation you guys are
carrying there. In a way I enjoy reading it. But my point is that...
Joseph Riggs wrote:
But if the idea manages to keep showing up even in other series, perhaps it can
accomplish its goal anyway?
Yes it's not a negative sign that the idea (which shall remain
unexplained) is surviving, and even influencing other series. But
it's NOT "accomplishing its goal". That's what I mean by "... had
their (often unsubtle) moral theme ignored by the wide audience" way
back in my first reply to James.
Since Gundam is a difficult topic, let's pick a series less
controversial. It's pretty much accepted X-men is about racism /
civil rights. So let's randomly pick 1000 X-men fans and 1000
non-fans and measure their racist or xenophobic leaning. Note, I
count myself a X-men fan (if one can be admitted a fan without reading
the comics). But I believe (you are free to challenge it) that X-men
fans are no less racist or xenophobic than the rest. In fact, I won't
be surprised one bit if X-men fans prove to be slightly more
xenophobic than average.
Likewise, I believe that Gundam fans are, on average, less likely than
non-fans to be actually "walking the walk" of this idea (which shall
remain unexplained).
So what's the value of "civil rights" in X-men, or anti-XYZ theme in
Gundam? That's where a theme descends into a cliche, or worse, a
fan-service. One normally think of an upskirt shot or mecha
transformation sequence as fan-service, but isn't an anti-war hero
also a fan-service?
--
Dr. Core
--------------------------------------------------
The Gundam Mailing List MK-II [email protected]
Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml
Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in
the BODY: help list
