#thinking abt the role of pseudo-fatherhood w/in the framework and metacritique of the show ….. and it spiraled into this of course

[saionjeans]

akio isn’t actually anthy’s father but due to his age, status, and power, he acts as a pseudo-father to anthy (and others), mimetically performing patriarchy without truly embodying the primary patriarchal role (although approximating it to functionally the same effect). this idea of the Mimesis of Patriarchy is in fact the mechanism upon which the entire Narrative (which is to say, akio’s frame) is predicated, from the shadow girls to the projections from akio’s phallic panopticon tower to the entire discourse of dueling that is ostensibly the primary stage upon which the show’s telos is reached—although of course this idea is illusory as well, a more palatable mode of violence serving to distract from the true violence upholding the narrative.

the notion of illusion acting in conversation with and artificially upholding modes of power is a key theme of the show. the matter of projection, performance, trickery, and masks is illustrated symbolically; the modes through which the text facilitates these ideas pervade every mechanic of its storytelling, most notably through everything about the shadow girls, as the shadows (on the cave walls) of performers in a choral role (often imparting digestible yet not particularly trenchant moralistic fables, both vague enough to provoke, yet shallow enough to maintain order). mimesis as a form of hollow power underscores the entire framework of ohtori and what it signifies.

the point being that the roles we feel we have no choice to inhabit within an agreed upon status quo are ultimately illusory, held together through a collective logic enforcing them for no other reason than that the collective will must go unchallenged. there are no real rules set in place that a girl cannot wear a boy’s uniform, that a girl cannot leave her abuser, that a girl cannot love another girl. but these rules are nonetheless enforced through more covert social codes that uphold themselves for no ontological reason besides the expectation that they must be.

the very world itself is the coffin, the egg, the dueling arena of mist and shadow. akio counts on the mimetic integrity of his maintained performance to continue to enforce his power, and anthy’s final act is to reveal the artifice of his semblance of power once his players no longer choose to continue participating, once they realize that the conditions they have been forced to accept are actually unacceptable. by simply leaving, by stepping out of frame to an existence beyond her coffin, she shatters the facade that presents the site of her abuse as being the entire world, as all there is and all that can ever be.

the metanarrative actively critiques its own mimetic mode not only to undermine akio’s constructed drama, but to remind us of the larger purpose of storytelling, beyond one singular framework. dios is an illusion, a cave shadow, but so is akio. he is not patriarchy itself, he is a sign, and patriarchy is the signified. the fact that he is not really a Father, but anthy nonetheless likens him to one, reminds of us this fact. the world of ohtori is a fiction, both literally and figuratively. the shadows on the cave walls are projections, the systems we uphold are arbitrary, the narratives we construct are illusory. akio may not be a real father, but he plays one on tv.

#u #akio #anthy #shadow girls #analysis #manalysis #this was supposed to be 2 sentences. as always #thinking abt the role of pseudo-fatherhood w/in the framework and metacritique of the show ….. and it spiraled into this of course