/lit/ - Literature

>>11250559
>>11251745
"Change your perception of your self, change the world."
>crossing the abyss by believing you're already on the other side
This is a theme which is present in many stories. Harry Potter PoA is one example (Harry does something impossible because he believes he's already done it), if you're interested in understanding more about it here's an audiobook which is based around the same ideas, meant to create a Gnostic awakening (you'll have to be a pretty weird person to even stick with it past the first vid though, I guess it self-selects for real human beans): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE80D7FD88E490520
So how does Utena pull of that old trick? I'm not going to reveal too much, since it's perhaps one of my favorite aspects of the show, but I'll say that love can impell one to identify with two sides of a gap, and to merge them into one. Part of it relates to possession by a "higher self" (it's literally a prince here), part of it relates to descending into the depths of being, experiencing absolute hopelessness, and then in hopelessness, gaining strength and losing all fear; it's also done multiple times, as many things in the show are.
>the use of illusion and fantasy as a means of inspiration to achieve the impossible
>the faustian drive to incarnate infinity in a finite creation
"The Castle Which Holds Eternity" that will allow the characters to bring about the "World Revolution" is the primary motivating factor for most of the cast; there's some aspect of living a finite existence which is unsatisfactory (as Utena says, "Why do people go on living if they just have to die someday?"). Some of the duelists are looking explicitly for something eternal, one desires a "shining thing" to behold and adore, another one longs for miracles, etc. Attaining eternity is the illusion in this case, and yet it is the drive for that which is impossible that leads to the impossible becoming possible.
>stories that are meant to create a self-referential frame of mind in order to awaken the subject
The story sets up its awareness that its a story in many ways, whether it's the Greek shadow play puppet interscenes, the framing of the screen by a gate with flowers, the recognition that the viewer is searching for the meaning of symbols, amongst other things.

This is a pretty broad level overview of these topics, but I can go further in-depth on most of this stuff. There's other parts of the show that inspire me, such as the insistence on maintaining a nobility of spirit as one ages, the repetition of descending into the self and failing (repetition of failure is used as a means to create a different outcome), the general romantic French aesthetic. More than any of that though is that the show gives the viewer a key and tells tries to teach them to free them from the limitations their mind has placed on reality, which is the main reason why I love this show. That's not even really covering the ending, which deals more with memory.