Did Last A actually happen?

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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby Bagheera » Thu Apr 27, 2017 3:46 pm

<points at Asuka> I don't know, but I'm betting she's not wearing those bandages just for kicks. There's a lot about that scene that doesn't make a helluva lot of sense.
For my post-3I fic, go here.
The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law. -- Akane Tsunemori, Psycho-Pass
People's deaths are to be mourned. The ability to save people should be celebrated. Life itself should be exalted. -- Volken Macmani, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra
I hate myself. But maybe I can learn to love myself. Maybe it's okay for me to be here! That's right! I'm me, nothing more, nothing less! I'm me. I want to be me! I want to be here! And it's okay for me to be here! -- Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Yes, I know. You thought it would be something about Asuka. You're such idiots.

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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby Reichu » Thu Apr 27, 2017 6:28 pm

StrokeMeGoat: There's a reddish overcast in the final scene that affects a lot of the colors. It tints the irises of Asuka's eyes so that they look slightly brown, for instance. In contrast, the stain under the nail is a silvery gray (vs. a dark reddish brown).

I honestly wonder if it's supposed to be rust at all. The best lead I can find at the moment is this page, which discusses iron staining in wood. Perhaps the discoloration produced by the nail contacting the board was washed onto the cross.
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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby StrokeMeGoat » Wed May 03, 2017 4:32 pm

View Original PostReichu wrote:1)There's a reddish overcast in the final scene that affects a lot of the colors. It tints the irises of Asuka's eyes so that they look slightly brown, for instance.

2)In contrast, the stain under the nail is a silvery gray (vs. a dark reddish brown).

1) That's a good point to bring up I hadn't thought of, but...

2) The image is a bit too low resolution for me to be comfortable definitively saying that stain is grey. I'm sure if you use a color dropper in photoshop the hue that shows up is going to be more greyish than reddish brown, but when dealing with scenes whose lighting tints and affects the hues of everything in the scene, that's not really a reliable method of determining the color. You have to apply a bit of color sense when trying to determine the actual color (for instance, white objects are going to appear blue when in shaded areas outdoors on a sunny day, but using color sense you can still recognize that object as being white).

That being said, the scene is very dark and poorly lit, to further complicate things. That, and the fact that both dried blood and rust look reddish-brownish, so if we're going to say the stain is greyish, it can't very well be identified as either of those things. I sincerely doubt it's supposed to be something other than dried blood or rust, and my bet is still on rust. It's the most common sense answer, and I really don't think Anno intended for people to be debating if it's the blood of a christ-like figure marked with the stigmata or rust from an obviously rusty looking nail directly above the stain.

Like I pointed out before, nearly a month has passed if you take the phase of the moon into account. This is assuming it hasn't been over a month of course, but there's no real reason to really assume it's been any longer than that. Three to four weeks with some overcast and rainy weather in the mix and humid air, along with it being nailed to what may have been a wet log and with a nail that may have been rusty in the first place makes this a very plausible and reasonable explanation for the stain.

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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby Chuckman » Wed May 03, 2017 6:27 pm

It could even be the shadow of the nail, or dirt that washed off it.

There's no indication in the scene or the narrative of what that mark actually is. It could be anything, and what you see when you look at it says more about you than the image.

Example:

The imagery of the cross nailed to the post recalls imagery of sacrifice; the Christian connotation is obvious, and while NGE has only a gloss of Christianity that can't be truly said to be more than symbolic, cross=sacrifice is such a basic, surface level theme of Christian iconography that someone who looked into Judeo-Christian mysticism enough to pull out symbols like the Tree of Life and know what the Lance of Longinus is, even if it's just exposure to the name, could miss it.

What's odd about Misato's cross is its shape. Its "foot" is abnormally short; most crosses are longer on the bottom than the top or the arms, recalling the basic human shape. It's also oddly thick. It recalls the image of the white, doughy, crucified mass of Lilith. The whole image- the cross nailed to a black voide/monlith against a sparkling red field is sort of a summation of the imagery of the show. Contrasted with the final scene itself, the image is a commentary on human nature: All this sturm and drang to come right back around to where we started, with two jerks who can't just fuck it out and get it over with. Ties back to the use of the name Lilith and the Adam/Lilith/Eve folklore that absolves an exasperated absentee God and puts the blame squarely on humans being argumentative jerks.

Or, the nail and the rust stain represent how the arrogance of man undid all the work that went into making Instrumentality a spiritual utopia by trying to force natural evolution. The nail is symbolic of the tool making...

...and at the end of the day, it's ink. It could be a shadow or rust or a blood stain or a scorch mark. It doesn't make a lick of sense for the cross to be there and be intact anyway, the wearer exploded.

I think, truly, that looking for clues hidden in these sorts of details to put a specific time and date on events is seeing the forest for the souls of trees.
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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby Bagheera » Wed May 03, 2017 7:08 pm

View Original PostChuckman wrote:What's odd about Misato's cross is its shape. Its "foot" is abnormally short; most crosses are longer on the bottom than the top or the arms, recalling the basic human shape. It's also oddly thick.


Isn't it just an ordinary Greek Cross?
For my post-3I fic, go here.
The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law. -- Akane Tsunemori, Psycho-Pass
People's deaths are to be mourned. The ability to save people should be celebrated. Life itself should be exalted. -- Volken Macmani, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra
I hate myself. But maybe I can learn to love myself. Maybe it's okay for me to be here! That's right! I'm me, nothing more, nothing less! I'm me. I want to be me! I want to be here! And it's okay for me to be here! -- Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Yes, I know. You thought it would be something about Asuka. You're such idiots.

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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby Reichu » Wed May 03, 2017 8:10 pm

OK, boys and girls, here's the bloody thing in DVD res.

Image

It's rust. Can we move on?

View Original PostChuckman wrote:The imagery of the cross nailed to the post recalls imagery of sacrifice (snip)

Symbolic interpretations are another kettle of fish and not really relevant to the discussion that brought us to this point. That being, well, look at the subject.

The whole image- the cross nailed to a black voide/monlith against a sparkling red field is sort of a summation of the imagery of the show.

You didn't pick up the fact that the entire shot is an abstracted close-up on Misato's chest, turned upside-down? Maybe I should be the one preaching about symbolic content to you here. :p

It doesn't make a lick of sense for the cross to be there and be intact anyway, the wearer exploded.

Yeah, uh... I really think you need to watch the movie again.
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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby Chuckman » Wed May 03, 2017 10:43 pm

I totally missed the abstracted chest in that shot, can you illuminate me?

...do you mean because it's nailed to a black board and she wears a black turtleneck and the red background mimics her jacket? Good catch.
the prophecy is true

Statistical fact: Cops will never pull over a man with a huge bong in his car. Why? They fear this man. They know he sees further than they and he will bind them with ancient logics. —Marty Mikalski

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Re: Did Last A actually happen?

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Postby Bagheera » Thu May 04, 2017 12:09 am

View Original PostChuckman wrote:I totally missed the abstracted chest in that shot, can you illuminate me?

...do you mean because it's nailed to a black board and she wears a black turtleneck and the red background mimics her jacket? Good catch.


And the ground is purple and black . . .

It's quite striking once you notice it.
For my post-3I fic, go here.
The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law. -- Akane Tsunemori, Psycho-Pass
People's deaths are to be mourned. The ability to save people should be celebrated. Life itself should be exalted. -- Volken Macmani, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra
I hate myself. But maybe I can learn to love myself. Maybe it's okay for me to be here! That's right! I'm me, nothing more, nothing less! I'm me. I want to be me! I want to be here! And it's okay for me to be here! -- Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Yes, I know. You thought it would be something about Asuka. You're such idiots.


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