Decapitations in Q: Meaningful?

[BlueBasilisk]

[Originally titled "Head(less) Cases". - Monk]

Is there some kind of significance behind the bizarre number of decapitations in this movie?

1. Lilith's head
2. The headless Evabominations
3. Central Dogma's wading pool full of skulls
4. The Ayanami series heads in Fuyutsuki's cubbyholes.
5. Tentative Rei chops Mark 06's head off
6. Mark 09 loses its head twice, once each to Mari and Asuka
7. Mark 09 was trying to eat Unit 02's head when they blew up
8. Kaworu's head popping
9. The 12th Angel turns into a copy of Lilith's head for a few seconds

Heads are rolling left and right here. It's brutal and fitting of the imagery of the movie, but feels a little more deliberate. Do the supplementary materials shed any light on this?

[TruthfulLie]

I see it as more of a symbolic nature (like that of rainbows) than anything relating to the mechanics of impacts or plot. Seeing as we only have conjectures and theories about them and don't really know what these things really are and how they relate to one another, the last movie should give us a clearer idea on what they mean.

[Jurrasic]

I think that there are just TOO many skulls, rotting severed heads and brutal decapitations around to be purely stylistic, I am sure they reference or re-enforce -something- but I have no good insights into the snakepit that is Anno-san's mind.

[TheFriskyIan]

I'm pretty sure Central Dogma's Island of Skulls is linked somehow to the headless FoI's, I wouldn't branch them as two separate things.

[Jurrasic]

I'm pretty sure Central Dogma's Island of Skulls is linked somehow to the headless FoI's, I wouldn't branch them as two separate things.

Oh, for certain. I have to admit I am REALLY curious why it was necessary to not only decapitate so many thousands of FOIs but to then render all the flesh (and armour?) off of the heads until the skulls are gleaming white and then dropped down to the bottom of Central Dogma to pile up around Lilith's rotting corpse.

I really hope that gets answered somewhere before the NTE is finished off.

[thegoodson]

There are lots of possible interpretations for the various instances of decapitation in 3.0, most of which apply to central characters. The beheading works as a symbol in two ways: It implies disconnect from one’s rationality/autonomy/self (no head), but also serves as the removal of connection to one’s emotions (no body, no heart, etc.). It depends on whether you’re the head or the body. Does the character lack the ability to control their impulses, or are they completely detached from their physical and emotional desires?

Throughout Q Rei is shown to be a body with no sense of self outside of blindly informed action. She has no personal opinions or thoughts; she simply does whatever is instructed. She is headless in this sense because Gendo does all the thinking for her.

I think the main focus of the wall of Rei heads scene is to drive home the horror of the cloning in addition to Shinji’s destructive infatuation with her. Much like the scene in NGE where the naked Reis smiling in the tank condemned the fetishization of the character, the wall of heads focuses more directly on the horror and replacability of the character. It’s also a mantle devoted entirely to his failure. It’s there to break him.

For Shinji it has more to do with his emotions (heart) over riding his logic (mind). He behaves impulsively, and let’s his feelings guide his actions. It’s sort of ironic that his punishment for losing his head is to literally lose his head. Use it or lose it heh heh heh.

The members of Wille attempt to maintain a utilitarian regard for human life, a mindset that’s necessary for war time engagements, but emotionally cold and disconnected from other people. This repression of emotion is indicative of their actions in the film: the treatment of Shinji, Asuka’s commitment to the mission over her own life, etc.

It may play into the Fruit of Life vs. Fruit of Knowledge differentiation as well. We humans need our heads to function, while the angels are drawn on impulse to perform their actions. The Mark 09 clearly can function without a head, its regenerative capabilities indicative of this animalistic impulse. I think this is why Unit 02’s beast mode is utilized in addition to Anno thinking it looks cool. It’s Asuka indulging the inner beast to quash the Adam’s Vessel, the un-stifled impulse. I think this is further visually asserted when Mark 09 decapitates Mark 06 to release the angel (monster) within. If the FoI’s do turn out to be humans transformed, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ceremonially sacrificed their heads in a direct commentary on how instrumentality will destroy that singular self, that which keeps us separated. A rejection of the fruit of knowledge.

When I see the swarming headless FoI’s I think ants, mindless bodies surging towards one single head, their queen, Lilith. Lilith, the mother of mankind, is also incapacitated by having her head removed, resulting in her body rotting. The FoI’s in the shaft act as foreshadowing for Shinji, a cosmic warning that says “Don’t let your emotions take you over, or you’ll end up dead and headless in your quest for an unattainable goal.” Yet Shinji ignores the headless failures, frozen in mid crawl, Kaworu encouraging "Don't let them weigh heavily on your mind." That's all Shinji really needs, one instruction to ignore the warning signs of impending doom. He won't listen to anyone past that point, a total rejection of reason.

The giant Rei head reflects Gendo’s morbid and misguided Yui obsession, a dream that is not only non-viable but inherently wrong. Similarly, Shinji’s refusal to heed the warnings of everyone around him as he descends into the underworld in the hopes of bringing life from a sea of violent mutilation and decomposition is fundamentally misguided based on the scenery alone. At this point though Shinji is so far gone that all of the images of death only feed his desire to make it all go away.

Kaworu’s situation is quite strange. Kaworu is the opposite of Shinji in that he is (seemingly) entirely selfless. This selflessness is ultimately his undoing; 4th impact shows Kaworu that living for the happiness of others only is a destructive act that will kill you, and for Shinji shows that living selfishly will destroy those around you. Neither of the boys find the balance, and both receive the according cosmic punishment: Kaworu loses his own life for devaluing it, and Shinji kills someone else for overvaluing his own.

But if Kaworu is an angel, shouldn’t he be unfettered impulse? Perhaps it plays into the idea of fate: he is a mixture of parts that could never survive. He attempts to live logically and manipulatively, but he cannot compete with the King of the Lilin, the king of Knowledge. His desire to bring Shinji happiness ultimately blinds him as well, and the universe unfolds accordingly with his head going kablooey. He makes Shinji's life worse because his intent was not pure. But he's smiling at the end. Maybe because he's an angel whose finally free of the human burden of the Fruit of Knowledge.

At least that seems viable for now until Final comes out.

[Monk Ed]

As clever as the original title ("Head(less) Cases") was I saw fit to change it to something more searchable and more understandable at a glance. But I noted the original title in the OP so that its chuckle value can still be appreciated.

[Kendrix]

This has been brought up before in the motifs thread;

I would equate the loss of the head with the loss of control.
Everyonde got played for fools, Lillith and other cosmic entities are getting manipulated, in Lillith's case, she even got a foreighn, controlling object grafted into her neck stump.


...I guess if the classic series was strangulation (the chracters slowly got the life, hope and sanity squeezed out of them"), teh Rebuilds are decapitation (There's a single, swift events that dooms everything else. )

As brains in jars, do SEELE still count as decapitated? The body is gone, but the remainder is not even a full head.

[thegoodson]

As brains in jars, do SEELE still count as decapitated? The body is gone, but the remainder is not even a full head.

Yeah I think Seele definitely counts since a lot of the decapitation imagery is actually more to do with the brain. A lot of the decapitation imagery is about not having a body too, and that figures into Seele's situation especially well.

It seems that everyone in Eva lacks balance, and shit goes very wrong when they lose that balance as represented by body and mind, or the self and others. And the Eva universe usually plays out where those who tip to far one way or the other suffer because of it. Seele fucked themselves as soon as they discarded their bodies and for their brains only. They lost their connection with the outside world to the isolation of selfishness/self preservation, like Shinji floating alone in space.

Seele goes with your point about control too in that even though they seek to maintain it they ultimately cede it to Gendo. Fuyutsuki destroys them with the turn of a switch; disrupting the body/mind equilibrium left them vulnerable to physical action. Gendo has both his body and mind under total control for now, and that's why he succeeds. But if there's any consistency to Eva universe karma, he's bound to get his in the end because his priorities and rationale are shit.

But yes, a good point that every headless thing seems to be controlled by something else, or if they have a head (like Rei Q) they eventually use it and take control of their body. Except for Mark 09, which grows a new head as a symbol of it being overtaken with a new master.

[K40s]

Actually a while back I wrote a post about the connection between Highlander and NTE Q and the decapitation motif.

I'll try to find it...

Edit: found it:
http://forum.evageeks.org/post/595981/Filling-the-gap/#595981

And someone comenting on it in another thread, might have entered a tangent into something relevant:
http://forum.evageeks.org/post/622354/Shinji-Rei-Yui-and-Eva-01/#622354

[Charsi]

"Keep your head above the mayhem..." Funny that.

I find it interesting that an Eva continuing to function without a head clues Mari in that Mark.09 might be an Adam's Vessel. Asuka goes for the head when fighting Mark.09. Then when she ejects, Mark.09 is biting down on Eva-02's head.

So not having your head (but continuing to function) is a trait of Adams. It's... not essential although Mark.09 grows one - for what, convenience? Does this mean Adams are mindless driven bodies? None of the FoI - which seem to be modeled on Eva-01 - have heads either, so what are they? Lilith doesn't have her head and is a corpse.

[thegoodson]

So not having your head (but continuing to function) is a trait of Adams. It's... not essential although Mark.09 grows one - for what, convenience? Does this mean Adams are mindless driven bodies? None of the FoI - which seem to be modeled on Eva-01 - have heads either, so what are they? Lilith doesn't have her head and is a corpse.

Well a lot of my interpretations function on the whole seed of life vs. seed of knowledge thing from NGE, so if that goes out the window who knows (and if its been articulated that way in Rebuild I've forgotten). But Adams and Angels run off an endless energy source as evidenced by their ability to regenerate and shit (the seed of life). Look at Sachiel in 1.11, he has to pause and regrow his shit. But just as science marches on for us humans, so do the powers of the angels/adams, to the point where their whole bodies become cores, instead of just having one or a hidden one like that goofy fucker Asuka killed in 2.22.

The head is representative of this "Fruit of Knowledge" and it's what the Adams go for when on attack with the Lilin just like the Lilin go for the core; it's the seat of what defines the Lilin as a race, as well as the way to destroy them. That's why Lilith rots when she's decapitated instead of growing a new head, and why Mark 09 tries to eat Unit 02's. Its not so much that they're mindless, but that they are reactionary and impulse based. They're driven on instinct towards Lilith. This is also why under the right circumstances they can be controlled by the Lilin. So core destruction is tantamount to destroying the engine that allows them to continually regenerate just like head destruction kills the Lilin.

So when Mari sees that she knows what's up. I think Mark 09 growing a new head is symbolically indicative of a new master taking over. The head is a mouth and eyes only. It's not the defining aspect of them as beings like it is for the Lilin.

It's anyone's guess with the FoIs. Since the head also symbolizes individuality it could be that they were pulled off as a way of showing the destruction of self during Instrumentality, implying an Adam lead event, presumably when the Angel in Mark 06 fused with Lilith. Not sure why they'd be Unit 01 clones though. Still losing the head is a rejection of the seed of knowledge, and becoming entirely core beings is a sign of embracing the seed of Life. It makes sense under those circumstances for decapitation to be a factor in an Adam/Angel initiated impact.