FLCL and Socialism

Discuss the metaphorical and hidden meanings behind the series.

FLCL and Socialism

Postby Curry armagedoom » Sat Dec 01, 2007 3:57 am

I was watching the end of episode 6 and something called my attention.

The giant arm that trys to get the iron in the end of the episode, The iron and the red lights itself, remembered me of socialism simbols. I was thinking about it, and even Medical Mecanica purpose gits the teory, beacuse they want everything flat, equal, with no lowers and highers, just plain flat, just like socialism ideals.

I may be wrong at this one, but other thing that called my attention, is that the robot itself, is dressed like a russian KGB agent.

Here are some images of the Socialism simbols:

Doesnt this one resembles the iron itself?
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/dws/images/dws-t-is-one-Communism.jpg

And here are some images of the socialism fist
http://images.stockxpert.com/pic/m/l/la/ladyann/486989_55029348.jpg
http://venezuela.elmilitante.org/imagenes/articulos/punho_arichuna.JPG
http://pspesquerda.no.sapo.pt/imagens/pspe-p.gif
http://jaleoandalucia.50webs.com/imagenes/punho.jpg
http://www.planetaeducacao.com.br/novo/imagens/artigos/diario/poder_estudantes.jpg

And a KGB agent:
http://www.surm.ee/GIF/KGB%20major%20Surm04.JPG

Notice that sometimes the hand is olding some kind of tool, and the iron is a tool, and red, a color tha we see so much in this episod, is the socialism color.


Well I hope I was clear in my teory, and this is wide oponed for discussion =]
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Postby bucky » Sat Dec 01, 2007 4:46 am

hmm... it is an interesting theory, but also hands/fists are pretty common symbols in general, as is red, so i'm not sure how much to read into it. the "communism" of MM and the "capitalism" of haruko would feed in to my own theories about traditional japanese versus stereotypical american values (you can read my fat post in the "terminal core" thread)... communism's ideals of "for the good of the group" fit those of traditional japan, and the selfish, fending-for-one's-self so characteristic of capitalism perfectly fits american individualism (also, it can be argued that america's religion is capitalism... yaaaay comparative government/econ class!)
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Postby Soldat J » Sat Dec 01, 2007 4:56 am

Ninamori wears a red shirt that says USSR in one of the episodes, probably 3.
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Postby Curry armagedoom » Sat Dec 01, 2007 1:19 pm

Yes, she wears a russian uniform in episode 5, during the shoting game, and we can clearly see that each characters is representing a nation in the war.

Naota dad uses nazi cloths, I imagine if canty is representing america, and Haruko attitude to just throw Naota into the fight without doing nothing is pretty american too, I need to see it again to formulate more.
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Postby dennis20014 » Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:08 am

Ah very nice lol never thought of it like that, though I did see those messages, so I guess I did think of that.. nvm lol
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Postby Aequitas » Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:19 am

Curry armagedoom wrote:Yes, she wears a russian uniform in episode 5, during the shoting game, and we can clearly see that each characters is representing a nation in the war. .


He was really dressed as a German Nazi. Cant you see the swatzica? Russians were not the axi's in WW2.
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Re: FLCL and Socialism

Postby god of FLCL » Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:48 pm

Curry armagedoom wrote:I was watching the end of episode 6 and something called my attention.

The giant arm that trys to get the iron in the end of the episode, The iron and the red lights itself, remembered me of socialism simbols. I was thinking about it, and even Medical Mecanica purpose gits the teory, beacuse they want everything flat, equal, with no lowers and highers, just plain flat, just like socialism ideals.


Hmm... an interesting idea one little problem Nazi Germany was Communist not Socialist Russia was the Socialist nation involved in WWII but enough semantics

this is a little deeper that being symbolic for that ideal its that they wanted to make everyone not think for themselves so they can be easily controlled (those wrinkles are how you think)
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Postby Joey_Destructo » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:32 am

Canti would have to be Italy or Japan or something, because he was on Kamon's side. And whichever one he is, who's the other one? Probably Canti is Italy, and Haruko is Japan, after all she pushed him into it like Pearl Harbor pushed America into the war. And Russia did help out America like Kitsurabami helped Naota-sort of. I dunno. Kind of interesting but it's a little loose. If that part was meant to be about the war then it's a loose metaphor and doesn't perfectly match. By the way that part really makes very little sense to me. I don't understand what's up with the guns, are they real or not?!

P.S. Did this thread make anyone else think "Hey! Godwin's Law!"?
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Postby Psychonaut » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:03 am

Joey_Destructo wrote:"Hey! Godwin's Law!"?


explain? :?

and this is awesome.

I haven't ever thought of this.

Canti = Japan
Kamon = Germany
Naota = America
Haruko = Britain? what country aided America :? I said britain because it also ties in that haruko is the "mother" of naota...
Ninamori = USSR, shirt
Gaku + Masashi = ? :?

I see the resemblence in the KGB Agent, but other than the actual weight part of the Hammer, I don't see a resemblance from the Hammer and Sickle to the Iron... explain please?

and yes, hands represent a lot.

however the whole countries fighting has a lot of things.

but then what is Kitsurubami... :? wait... Mamimi told Kitsurubami not to shoot, but they still attacked "America" anyway... so maybe Kitsurubami is Japan? :? I'm confused...

I shall write in history class. thanks for keeping me awake tomorrow :D
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Postby Beware the Zodiac » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:39 pm

I just see this as a nice little theory, personally. The fact that Ninamori wore the USSR shirt is striking, but mostly, this whole show is. Gainax is basically known for having relevance in the real world in their shows, i.e. Evangelion, and would thus seem appropriate to place these ideas in FLCL. They purposely based some of the ideas off of real world events, such as Kamon's jacket and outfit being that of the KGB unit, with a swastika patch on there (which also could mean peace in Hinduism, I believe).

It's just cultural references that do not necessarily tie in with the show, but are interesting enough.

Edit: Ah, shit, I forgot something.

The idea of the wrinkles are how people think seems, to me, ass-backwards. Let's put this in perspective: all adults and people who are older, say 30s, 40s, 50s, etc, they have this amount of knowledge due to age, correct? Well, this knowledge isn't actually knowledge, and you don't think because you have these "wrinkles", like the show states (smoothing out the wrinkles so you can't think), it seems to me like since Haruko is getting rid of these wrinkles, she is ALLOWING people to think, to think freely, without the connection of age-based ideas, and you could know and learn and be smarter than an adult, it's just that the adult has the life experience, not the knowledge. So the idea that Haruko is flattening the planet so you can't think, to me, makes it seem like it's easier to think without the constrains on the mind and the thought process because of those purported "wrinkles".
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Postby Joey_Destructo » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:54 am

Godwin's law states that the longer an online discussion continues, the odds that someone will make a comparison to Hitler or the Nazis approaches 1. That is, the longer the discussion continues, inevitably someone will make that comparison. Anyhoo, it doesn't EXACTLY apply here, but it was close enough.

And like I said before, I think it's more a loose metaphor--not everything fits perfectly.
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Postby FLCLismylife » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:10 pm

Thsi has to be one of the best and funniest theories i have ever read about FLCL (assuming next time the author could spell a little better) But over all i really like the concept. To throw my idea into the mix

The fact that canti changes colors...hmmm wat could that symbolize maybe a changing of sides, i wonder if he is a traitor or something haha
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Postby god of FLCL » Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:50 pm

Beware the Zodiac wrote:The idea of the wrinkles are how people think seems, to me, ass-backwards. Let's put this in perspective: all adults and people who are older, say 30s, 40s, 50s, etc, they have this amount of knowledge due to age, correct? Well, this knowledge isn't actually knowledge, and you don't think because you have these "wrinkles", like the show states (smoothing out the wrinkles so you can't think), it seems to me like since Haruko is getting rid of these wrinkles, she is ALLOWING people to think, to think freely, without the connection of age-based ideas, and you could know and learn and be smarter than an adult, it's just that the adult has the life experience, not the knowledge. So the idea that Haruko is flattening the planet so you can't think, to me, makes it seem like it's easier to think without the constrains on the mind and the thought process because of those purported "wrinkles".



Ok your taking as a metaphor but this one is actually fact the wrinkles are actually the whole of your brain matter (if smoothed out your brain is as large as a pillow case) the winkles are how deferent neural pathways cross synapse pulses witch is how information is stored and transmitted through out the brain if smoothed out this becomes imposable so you can't think also if you can't think your dead but in that capacity Ie the not thinking part is where the metaphor is amaru uses this fact to convey that MM wants people not to think so they can be controlled
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Postby Beware the Zodiac » Sun Dec 09, 2007 5:51 am

god of FLCL wrote:Ok your taking as a metaphor but this one is actually fact the wrinkles are actually the whole of your brain matter (if smoothed out your brain is as large as a pillow case) the winkles are how deferent neural pathways cross synapse pulses witch is how information is stored and transmitted through out the brain if smoothed out this becomes imposable so you can't think also if you can't think your dead but in that capacity Ie the not thinking part is where the metaphor is amaru uses this fact to convey that MM wants people not to think so they can be controlled


You can still be able to process thoughts in your head, even if you aren't dead. You just can't stop thinking and bang! You're dead. In the movie, Johnny Got His Gun, he lost his sight, his hearing, his arms, and his legs, and basically couldn't do anything. He couldn't speak or anything of the sort, but he could still think. He wasn't dead, although he wished that he was.

I don't think that it honestly meant the neural pathways in between the sides of the brain, to be honest. It just pretty much meant a complete metaphor to go along with the show, because the show had to deal with maturity and "growing up". It wasn't necessarily about the neural pathways, or the brain matter.

Honestly, it's just about acting impulsively instead of acting upon rational thought. We, as humans, do not go about on impulsive ideas, and I think that's part of Haruko's reasoning, because she wants to destroy the planet to make amends for the suffocating idealism that we incorporate daily. I just doubt it's really about brain matter and all of that jazz.
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Re: FLCL and Socialism

Postby William » Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:14 am

Curry armagedoom wrote:I was watching the end of episode 6 and something called my attention.

The giant arm that trys to get the iron in the end of the episode, The iron and the red lights itself, remembered me of socialism simbols. I was thinking about it, and even Medical Mecanica purpose gits the teory, beacuse they want everything flat, equal, with no lowers and highers, just plain flat, just like socialism ideals.

I may be wrong at this one, but other thing that called my attention, is that the robot itself, is dressed like a russian KGB agent.

Here are some images of the Socialism simbols:

Doesnt this one resembles the iron itself?
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/dws/images/dws-t-is-one-Communism.jpg

And here are some images of the socialism fist
http://images.stockxpert.com/pic/m/l/la/ladyann/486989_55029348.jpg
http://venezuela.elmilitante.org/imagenes/articulos/punho_arichuna.JPG
http://pspesquerda.no.sapo.pt/imagens/pspe-p.gif
http://jaleoandalucia.50webs.com/imagenes/punho.jpg
http://www.planetaeducacao.com.br/novo/imagens/artigos/diario/poder_estudantes.jpg

And a KGB agent:
http://www.surm.ee/GIF/KGB%20major%20Surm04.JPG

Notice that sometimes the hand is olding some kind of tool, and the iron is a tool, and red, a color tha we see so much in this episod, is the socialism color.


Well I hope I was clear in my teory, and this is wide oponed for discussion =]
Interesting...this caught my attention as well...looks like the creators of evangileon Had more secrets stuck up flcl then it seems...
It somewhat maybe relates to world war two some how...

And socialism is diffrent...its more communistic...
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