Does anyone know the purpose of the cinematographic motif of fans that surround Kaji and Misato? In episode 21, Kaji's death takes place in front of a giant fan

The next shot depicts a cross behind him, created by the fan

Then, a fan reappears in episode 25, twice, during Misato's instrumentality as Shinji watches her having sex with Kaji.

The scene is repeated in EoE, but this time, Misato's feet are visible and Shinji's holding her cross.

Lastly, there's a real image of a fan in episode 26 that's shown while Misato tells Shinji that he doesn't have a logical reason to be insecure:


Edited lightly to remove unneeded spoilers around plot details and add spoiler tags to enormous images. -Reichu

"Air" - maybe???

More seriously, maybe it's the cross designs motif itself??

SawItAtAge10 wrote:"Air" - maybe???

More seriously, maybe it's the cross designs motif itself??

That's a great point to bring up about the episode title, do you have any further ideas for what it could mean with this interpretation:
Unit 1 is dried with a giant fan after killing Kaworu. Bearing in mind that there's actually a cross behind Shinji in the shot of him seeing Misato having sex in EoTV (they had him hold the cross in the EoE shot because Misato's feet are covering the cross in the background, emphasizing its importance), the fans are made significant by their repeated association with the cross. Since Kaworu is Christlike, it makes sense that unit 1 would be fanned down after killing him. It's just Anno's way of depicting people escaping from suffering (it connects to why the post-2nd impact world is trapped in a constant state of heat through summer), and it also adds significance to why Shinji is so disgusted by seeing Misato have sex, since sex is used as a motif throughout Eva (see: episode 20's "do you want to become one with me?" scene) to represent the merging of souls, or individuals dissolving their AT-fields around each other. The cross in Eva signifies suffering, which, according to Eva, is bred by the divisions that people experience from their AT-fields, and Shinji's ultimate decision in EoE is to embrace suffering and grant souls the potential to restore their AT-fields, becoming human again.

Edited lightly to remove unneeded spoilers around plot details. -Reichu

Just an FYI, guys: This is an in-depth discussion forum for an anime that's over 20 years old. You don't need to spoiler any of NGE's plot details.

Eva-01 is in a giant shower being washed down at the end of episode 24. Notice the rain coats.

At the risk of being that guy... is it even necessary that fans have symbolism attached to them now?

The fan in Misato's room has a perfectly valid reason to be there: it's perpetual summer and really, really hot. That's why she's often in such light clothing outside of work. It gets tied in with the cross symbolism in End of Evangelion sure, but the original TV version doesn't do anything with the fan other than "it's there". Possibly just as an establishing detail of the room.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

The fans represent a watchful eye over these events that are otherwise private, IOW the eyes of the audience (the fans! get it???). In the case of Kaji's death, the audience is the only witness. More significantly, in the case of Misato and Kaji's sex scene, both Shinji and the audience are being exposed to an otherwise intimate and private moment between the two, tying into the themes being explored in that scene which involve Shinji seeing somebody he knows committing sexual acts in private. In this moment Shinji and the fan are one in the same, as the story is addressing both Shinji and the audience at this point. The last example you share is a direct conversation to the audience.

Specualtion ofc, but i'll give it a shot:
Misato depends on Kaji's validation for motivation. When he dies she is unable to do anything and cnnsequently doesn't really do anything when she clearly needed to intervene with Asuka, who in turn Shinji relies on for validation rendering him insecure. When the fan stops spinning is when Misato tells him he doesn't have a reason to be insecure. Misato's telling Shinji how to break the cycle, so the fan stops spinning.

At the risk of being that guy... is it even necessary that fans have symbolism attached to them now?

The fan in Misato's room has a perfectly valid reason to be there: it's perpetual summer and really, really hot. That's why she's often in such light clothing outside of work. It gets tied in with the cross symbolism in End of Evangelion sure, but the original TV version doesn't do anything with the fan other than "it's there". Possibly just as an establishing detail of the room.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Yeah see, this here is why I subscribe to death of the author. You don't need to prove or assume intention to analyze how a narrative element is developed over time. The fan is spinning and it spins in different scenes which use the devices of Misato and Kaji in different contexts. The fan itself changes over tie from being functional to not functioning as well as being seen with different angles.

In our own stories we can draw from this kind of development to give more for whoever, reds, watches, or listens to what we're making. What Anno intended doesn't really matter. The elements of the craft do. This is why we do analysis.