I just re-watched gundam wing, and i can't express how underated the political message, and the overall message is. From the different alliances, charachters, such as Trieze who's provides us with many tangible quotes. Each group has their own agenda, and each want peace in the end. From the constant senate meetings, to thoughtful monologue speeches, it gives tremendous insight.
I think also the theme with Zero system is thorougly missed. It asks us the question, "who is your enemy", with mulitple revelations it sometimes exposes the enemy as ourselves, or it gives nothing to imply certain battles are meaningless.
I think if you overlook how indestructable the gundams are, and excuse some of the battles, Wing represents an excelent thought provoking work of art.
Political tone in Gundam Wing underated?
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Escaflowne22
- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:25 am
Political tone in Gundam Wing underated?
- Imagination is the only real weapon against reality
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Ryu Saiba
- Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:39 pm
But of course it would, but then people wouldn't watch it. So the higher ups decided that they could use the political undertone as a sort of subliminal messaging system where the fighting distracts the viewer and then is hit by the overall effect of the show much later. Like
"Oh I get it now!"
"Oh I get it now!"
Courage isn't the absence of fear. It is the presence of fear, yet the will to go on.-Martin Lawrence, Black Knight.
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wing_goddess
- Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 3:14 pm
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Heero_Yuy84
- Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2002 12:47 pm
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Well...part of that all depends on who you ask about it really.
To some, the political messages are one of the first things they notice.
The difference, however, is that not everyone would call them underrated.
Rather, when one compares them to earlier Gundam works, one sees the philosophies of Wing are the stuff of pure idealism at best, and more often than not, would fail miserably with actual people.
The biggest example of this comes in the end of Wing, where the triumphant form of politics is pacifism. Almost anyone can tell you that, in the long run, pacifism is prettymuch political suicide.
Also, many of the other characters, you'll find, aren't exactly new territory in Gundam...some of the big comparisons being the obvious:
Zechs Merquise being based off Char Aznable
Dekim Barton being based off Haman Khan (with Mariemeia replacing Mineva Lao Zabi)
Treize Khushrenada is, for all respects, the Wing equivalent of the entire Zabi clan (Gihren's political charisma, Kishiria's deviousness, Garma's looks & connections, and the connection to Mariemeia serves as Dozle's part)
White Fang is an almost carbon copy of Neo-Zeon (right down to 'when all else fails, drop a huge chunk onto earth')
and
The Preventers wind up becoming a sort of Londo Bell equivalent
Overall, I wouldn't say they're overrated since that would suggest they had more merit to them...most of Wing's politics and character agendas are stuff they borrowed from the early Universal Century titles
(Besides, for all intents, the show's two main marketing points were the pretty cast and the fancy mechs, as such, I don't think they were too concerned about the politics)
To some, the political messages are one of the first things they notice.
The difference, however, is that not everyone would call them underrated.
Rather, when one compares them to earlier Gundam works, one sees the philosophies of Wing are the stuff of pure idealism at best, and more often than not, would fail miserably with actual people.
The biggest example of this comes in the end of Wing, where the triumphant form of politics is pacifism. Almost anyone can tell you that, in the long run, pacifism is prettymuch political suicide.
Also, many of the other characters, you'll find, aren't exactly new territory in Gundam...some of the big comparisons being the obvious:
Zechs Merquise being based off Char Aznable
Dekim Barton being based off Haman Khan (with Mariemeia replacing Mineva Lao Zabi)
Treize Khushrenada is, for all respects, the Wing equivalent of the entire Zabi clan (Gihren's political charisma, Kishiria's deviousness, Garma's looks & connections, and the connection to Mariemeia serves as Dozle's part)
White Fang is an almost carbon copy of Neo-Zeon (right down to 'when all else fails, drop a huge chunk onto earth')
and
The Preventers wind up becoming a sort of Londo Bell equivalent
Overall, I wouldn't say they're overrated since that would suggest they had more merit to them...most of Wing's politics and character agendas are stuff they borrowed from the early Universal Century titles
(Besides, for all intents, the show's two main marketing points were the pretty cast and the fancy mechs, as such, I don't think they were too concerned about the politics)
*Resident shameless Gundam fanboy*
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Zero
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Heero_Yuy84
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OK...first thing off the bat, which manga are you referring to?
Both Wing and the original MSG have several manga incarnations to them.
If you're trying to suggest there's proof in there that Zechs's unusual similarity is just coincidence, I've yet to see anything in the manga or anime to suggest that...
I mean...let's look at the two characters' backgrounds
Both the sons of politically influential leaders who were killed in their prime and had their families scattered. (The only difference here being that, while the Peacecrafts were taken out to shut up their pacifist approach, the Zabis had Zeon Deikun killed (theoretically...this is never confirmed) to use his goals to better push their bid for power.)
Both then took on masks (and red uniforms...at least with Char this made since, not nearly so much for Zechs) and inflitrated the group that destroyed their family so they could gain revenge
After they had avenged their families, each then spends some time as one of the 'good' guys
Then, both decide to switch sides, yet again (Char because his time in the AEUG caused him to see things that made him become disillusioned about the people of Earth, and thus he took it on himself to punish them for taking the planet for granted. Zechs just gets his brain warped by a computer.) and then form a group that tries to render Earth an uninhabited waste.
I'm sorry...but there's enough of a parallel I really don't think it was just a coincidence
Both Wing and the original MSG have several manga incarnations to them.
If you're trying to suggest there's proof in there that Zechs's unusual similarity is just coincidence, I've yet to see anything in the manga or anime to suggest that...
I mean...let's look at the two characters' backgrounds
Both the sons of politically influential leaders who were killed in their prime and had their families scattered. (The only difference here being that, while the Peacecrafts were taken out to shut up their pacifist approach, the Zabis had Zeon Deikun killed (theoretically...this is never confirmed) to use his goals to better push their bid for power.)
Both then took on masks (and red uniforms...at least with Char this made since, not nearly so much for Zechs) and inflitrated the group that destroyed their family so they could gain revenge
After they had avenged their families, each then spends some time as one of the 'good' guys
Then, both decide to switch sides, yet again (Char because his time in the AEUG caused him to see things that made him become disillusioned about the people of Earth, and thus he took it on himself to punish them for taking the planet for granted. Zechs just gets his brain warped by a computer.) and then form a group that tries to render Earth an uninhabited waste.
I'm sorry...but there's enough of a parallel I really don't think it was just a coincidence
*Resident shameless Gundam fanboy*
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Zero
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