The Use of Komm Susser Todd

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Director Black
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The Use of Komm Susser Todd

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Postby Director Black » Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:13 pm

Staring at the beginning of the movie. The hospital scene; Nerv blows up; Misato and Asuka die; Rei has grown giant and transported, Shinji, currently on the brink of destroying everything and everyone in the world while on his own mind fuck mind trip, into her body; and at the end of it; right after Shinji chokes Asuka, what do we get?

A pop song.

The climax of Eva is set to a pop song translated out to 'Come Sweet Death'. In it's own twisted way, it makes sense that for humanity going through Instrumentality, as everyone on Earth is being tanged into LCL, they have their guidance to superficial happiness set to music that's been criticized as superficial by many people.
Anywhere Can Be Paradise as Long As I Have the Will to Live...

...after all, I am Alive, So I'll Always Have the Chance to Be Happy.

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Re: The Use of Komm Susser Todd

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Postby Sykes III » Wed Nov 02, 2016 3:12 pm

It's not without precedent.

Probably the most famous example is the use of "We'll Meet Again" at the end of "Dr. Strangelove", which is probably the first big "apocalyptic" movie in Western cinema. At the end of the film as all the atom bombs drop and everyone is killed, this old nostalgic romantic song plays. What gives it ironic power is the lyrics: We'll meet again/Don't know where, don't know when/But I know we'll meet again some sunny day, and of course it's the end of the world so that's entirely not true.

"Komm, susser Todd" gains the same power. The musical structure of the song is very poppy -- I've heard it compared to the Carpenters, to The Beatles, etc. But the lyrics! Sweet Shogouki, the lyrics fit right in with the themes of NGE and EoE in particular. And ultimately, it really captures what the movie is trying to say. By talking about such negative, hard, painful things in usch a light and "pop song" way, it tells us something:

That ultimately, this movie isn't going to be about rejecting reality and retreating into eternal near-death nothingness. That Shinji's growth, understanding, and indeed happiness, is going to be predicated on accepting "all the hurt and pain" of the real world.

Another movie I've seen pull the same trick is 2000's anime Metropolis by Rintaro, which also ends with a massive, cast-murdering explosion set to Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You". So it's a common trick, because the contrast between the two creates poignant irony in an audience member, but EoE does it especially well.


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