Quote:
Originally Posted by NinjaYali
Setting: I'm a bit iffed about the whole confusing alternate history (let's just say B.Franklin's descendants won't be happy). And why a ultra-nationalistic government would be so embracing of Italian culture.
Other issues: Well the school episodes annoyed me but they were useful in setting up for something major later on. Also, I do think that there is a strong anti-American subtext in this show since for starters...
1. Japan is undergoing a great economic time
2. Soldiers from the Americans come and invade, subjugate citizens to secondary status
3. Military wants to continue to fight on in hopeless odds but fail (interesting note: Some officers after the bomb was dropped in Japan wanted to stage a coup on the emperor and continue the fight).
Not to say there's anything wrong with that since I firmly believe in not criticising any form of entertainment on subtext and regardless the mecha fights were entertaining. And hey, anti-Americanism in anime is ok since I'm a little Anti-American myself.
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My overall impression of the series was quite different.
Thus, I strongly disagree with that opinion (in bold) as it takes away from the very heart of what makes Code Geass stand out alone from most other anime.
I don't see Code Geass as anti-American at all, if by "american" you're referring to the United States of America.
If however you're thinking of the americas as a whole, then I can see how Code Geass could possibly come across that way.
Britainnia itself encompasses nearly 1/3 of the world much like the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics did, and much of South America is Socialist, so there is some credence to your view if we are to assume that Nationalist Socialism is the prevelant ideology of Britainnia (which it is in part).
It is clear that Britannia is more akin to the governments of dictators like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and the other Totalitarian Socialist-pigs of Central and Southern America.
The regimes of Stalin, Mao, and Hitler are what Britiannia was modeled after in Code Geass.
The Eugenic overtones of Social-Darwinism alone (in Charles' speech in the first season) clearly show this.
(From Episode 6 of S1, "The Stolen Mask")
All men…are NOT created equal! Some are born smarter, or more beautiful, or with parents of greater status. Some, by contrast, are born weak of body or mind, or with few, if any, talents. All men are different! Yes, the very existence of man is discriminatory! That's why there is war, violence and unrest. Inequality is not evil. Equality is! What became of the EU, who claimed that all are equal? It is in constant conflict because its tenets go against human nature! The Middle Eastern Federation, which harbors similar sentiments, is constantly mired with sloths! But our Britannia is not like them! We put an end to wars and evolve with every conquest! Britannia alone looks forward and moves forward to a better future! The death of my son Clovis is yet more proof that our empire is evolving. Fight! For the future rests in the hands of its ruler! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!!!!!
That speech is in direct contrast to the Declaration of Indepence of the United States which states;
...We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among those are Life, Liberty, and the persuit of happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governemnts are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...
That's the polar opposite of Charles' speech.
Much of old Chuck's speech also mirrors
Mussolini's Fascist doctrine.
A self appointed (through the barrel of a gun) ruling Oligarch like Fidel Castro or a terrorist like Che Guvera, did kill innocent women and childen in gulags like those of the La Cabana consentration camps.
The Nazis of Germany are infamous for their camps and mass killings, as is the USSR in the
Katyn Massacre and
Ukrainian Holocaust.
Britannian did the same thing to the Japanese in Shinjuku and the other Japanse ghettos.
Look at Cornelia (in episode 7 Attack Cornelia), she went ahead and had people mowed down because she believed they were conspiring with terrorists in Saitama ghetto.
That reminds me of
Tiananmen square when the Communist Chinese murdered student-protestors with tanks because they dared to disagree with the party-line.
We saw a lot of that kind of Totalitarian oppressive attitude in the Britannian leaders of Code Geass.
Look at the second episode (The White Knight Awakens) where Clovis makes a mockery of the mass murder he has ordered in Shinjuku, then goes back to the party he's having without missing a beat.
It shows he cares nothing for people of Japan or their lives.
I'm sure it can be argued he got that way due to his upbringing.
Speaking of which, look at Charles' complete disregard for humanity with the Ragnarok connection.
That kind of thinking is dripping with Scientific-Socialist and Fascist dogma both of which stem from Nieztche, Hegel, and Charles Furrier's ideas of Utopia through the merging of all mankind into one collective being.
None of which has ever bore any fruit, well maybe a few, Furrier certainly was one--Oceans of Lemonaid my ass
In contrast to Britannia we have Lelouch, and his Black Knights.
From the very begining Lelouch says,
"Its not me who was wrong. It was the world."
Okouchi also makes a direct attack on Maoist-Socialist philosophy when he has Lelouch state to the KGB/KVD/SS trooper-wanna-be in front of him,
"What's wrong? Why not shoot? Your opponent is just a schoolboy. Or have you finally realized…the only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!
That flys in the face of Mao's "All political power comes from the barrel of a gun" statement.
Mao and his cohorts were not prepared to be killed like Lelouch was.
That's what the writer is trying to say here, that all dictators, no matter who they may be, are cowards. From the captain of the local secret police all the way up to the chairman of the party, or in the Case of Code Geass, the Emperor, they are nothing but stinking yellow-bellies.
Lelouch forms the United States of Japan in R2 in order to free Japan (which is simply a benefit for the Japanese people as his real intent is personal).
That's a direct parallel to the creation of the United States of America.
Okouchi might be scolding the US for becoming too much like the former Soviet Union (and I would agree we are), but I see nothing that denigrates or derides our Constitution and its Bill of Rights or the Laissez Faire Capitalist system we were supposed to have (but never did thanks to Alexander Hamiliton).
Code Geass is a superb series BECAUSE it points out, through its fictional world, the truths of the "isms" and "ologies" of the Real World.
It weighs them, measures them, and points out the simple fact that any system which is Totalitarian is found to be WANTING.
In addition, Okouchi and Taniguichi show us at the very end of the entire series, with Lelouch's final act (Zero Requiem), that Lord Acton was right:
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely
Code Geass is a fantastic anime (even with its problems, which I will not go into).
However, I see nothing in it that takes away from the founding documents of the United States or the principles of Liberal-Capitalism.
Corporatism, well now that's another matter, for another discussion, at another time.
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