FLCL (Furi Kuri / Fooly Cooly)
Nov. 20th, 2014 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckro"That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder?" ~Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
Never before have I seen two hours of TV that so perfectly encompassed that quote. FLCL might be a work of brilliance, loaded down with puns and metaphors and biased narrators/viewpoints and deep, deep meaning…or it might just be a nonsensical mind-screw. (Though, at only 6 super-packed episodes, it’s worth the time even if it’s the latter.)
I think the best argument for this making sense is as a deeply metaphorical coming-of-age story, as the actual events are basically the main character’s emotional reactions to puberty, exploring his relationship with his immature father and late mother, his friends and his brother’s ex-girlfriend as a new girl comes to town and rocks his world (and his pants). I mean, he was bowled over by her arrival and got horny, mysterious things started emerging from his body, and rock and roll figures heavily into the emotional catharsis that could represent growing up. It’s very hard to tell (especially since the animation styles change frequently without rhyme or reason) what is an “imagine spot” and what “really happened”, so it’s easy to believe everything non-mundane is embellished or biased.
Alternately, in a Japanese company town influenced by alien mutigenic white smoke so that people are more resilient than normal and much more blasé, an alien woman uses local children as a portal to access the tools necessary to release a captive space pirate from the powerful overlords that captured it. Space guitars are really the galaxy’s most powerful weapons, and the human brain (at least, certain ones) works as a dimensional portal if you hit it enough. The government is generally ineffective, as they can’t even get the fake eyebrows that protect them from alien influence to work properly. In the end, some plans are foiled and the space pirate is released, but a series of battles beyond human comprehension continue.
…You know what? I like the first explanation better. The story is bookended by the comment that nothing interesting ever happens in this town. I think Naota has Calvin-levels of imagination, and his mind produces a much more exciting story when the Vespa-riding, guitar-playing Haruko rides into town and takes a temporary position as a maid for his family. He doesn’t actually know what Medical Mechanica does, and their factory looks like a giant iron, so why couldn’t they be aliens building evil robots and, eventually, a giant hand-bot that will use the iron. Mamimi obviously gets embroiled in these imaginings as well, though notice that her role in the story (as support or antagonist) is directly related to how Naota feels about her at that point. Canti’s role in the family is a “replacement” to Naota's absent brother, the “better child” manifested Hobbes-like. After all, who among can’t pretend they had wacky sci-fi adventure fantasies that inserted their middle-school crushes into them?
Overall: …eyebrows?
Never before have I seen two hours of TV that so perfectly encompassed that quote. FLCL might be a work of brilliance, loaded down with puns and metaphors and biased narrators/viewpoints and deep, deep meaning…or it might just be a nonsensical mind-screw. (Though, at only 6 super-packed episodes, it’s worth the time even if it’s the latter.)
I think the best argument for this making sense is as a deeply metaphorical coming-of-age story, as the actual events are basically the main character’s emotional reactions to puberty, exploring his relationship with his immature father and late mother, his friends and his brother’s ex-girlfriend as a new girl comes to town and rocks his world (and his pants). I mean, he was bowled over by her arrival and got horny, mysterious things started emerging from his body, and rock and roll figures heavily into the emotional catharsis that could represent growing up. It’s very hard to tell (especially since the animation styles change frequently without rhyme or reason) what is an “imagine spot” and what “really happened”, so it’s easy to believe everything non-mundane is embellished or biased.
Alternately, in a Japanese company town influenced by alien mutigenic white smoke so that people are more resilient than normal and much more blasé, an alien woman uses local children as a portal to access the tools necessary to release a captive space pirate from the powerful overlords that captured it. Space guitars are really the galaxy’s most powerful weapons, and the human brain (at least, certain ones) works as a dimensional portal if you hit it enough. The government is generally ineffective, as they can’t even get the fake eyebrows that protect them from alien influence to work properly. In the end, some plans are foiled and the space pirate is released, but a series of battles beyond human comprehension continue.
…You know what? I like the first explanation better. The story is bookended by the comment that nothing interesting ever happens in this town. I think Naota has Calvin-levels of imagination, and his mind produces a much more exciting story when the Vespa-riding, guitar-playing Haruko rides into town and takes a temporary position as a maid for his family. He doesn’t actually know what Medical Mechanica does, and their factory looks like a giant iron, so why couldn’t they be aliens building evil robots and, eventually, a giant hand-bot that will use the iron. Mamimi obviously gets embroiled in these imaginings as well, though notice that her role in the story (as support or antagonist) is directly related to how Naota feels about her at that point. Canti’s role in the family is a “replacement” to Naota's absent brother, the “better child” manifested Hobbes-like. After all, who among can’t pretend they had wacky sci-fi adventure fantasies that inserted their middle-school crushes into them?
Overall: …eyebrows?
