all that is solid melts into air ✮

[achilluos]

Introduction post ☟

Hello, I’m Montana. I’m 20 years old, Indigenous, and use he/she pronouns. Also a Marxist-Leninist and a student of political science, unfortunately. Will be confined to academia for many more years..

My primary intellectual commitments are to Marxist and decolonial political philosophy. I am also interested in philosophy of science and technology. 

Interests Les Misérables, Quatrevingt-treize, War and Peace (and most other Tolstoy works, especially Polikushka), Soviet cinema (Big fan of Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Yuri Bogatyryov), Elisabeth das Musical, the Iliad, Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Liszt (Yes, the composers) and much more.

For animanga, I like anything by Riyoko Ikeda (Rose of Versailles, Oniisama e, Claudine, Orpheus no Mado, etc), Revolutionary Girl Utena, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Mobile Suit Gundam (UC), Heart of Thomas, A Cruel God Reigns, Sword of Paros… amongst many more.

Tags #yappenings #webweaving

Socials I have an art blog. I am antynous on most platforms, except for artfight and my private instagram

I also implore you to follow my lovely husband.

I am open to asks of any kind.

[professionalfriesfryer]

[helvediqa]

hes not going anywhere

[helvediqa]

omnipresent

[chytrylis]

some redraws for old times sake

[kitamars]

fulfillment (or lack thereof)

[helvediqa]

building up

[geospiral]

Sunrise/Sunset

[achilluos]

on the topic of elisabeth and rgu, the thing aside from death and patriarchy that i feel connects the two so much is the unrealiable storytelling and idolisation. in kitsch the musical holds the audience and says hey you know this is all made up right. you know that you will never ever know the truth and all iterations of this story try to be dramatic for financial gain and the people you find so cool and tragic were complex and also awful, right. you know its weird to buy souvenirs that show a privileged nobility and tragedy, Right. its one of my favourite songs in the musical !!! and it reminds me so much of how rgu makes a point of how narratives can be Just Made Up and audiences should never give in to the allure of fairytales. all of the iconic imagery in rgu feels like it doesnt want to be marketable because you cant separate it from the suffering, because it refuses to give in to kitsch

I apologize for such a late reply, but I completely agree! Both RGU and Elisabeth depend on this very direct criticism of their own romanticized aesthetics and how much of it is just completely constructed for these grand and harmful narratives.

Ohtori is built around fairytales and the romanticization of suffering. A significant amount of the architecture in Ohtori is based on neoclassical architecture, quite literally creating a space that glamorizes the violence of the past to uphold this fairytale fantasy, which is, of course, only an imitation of an imagined and artificial past. Actual classical Roman and Greek architecture was vibrantly painted. The common myth that everything was white comes from 19th-century white supremacist narratives within classical archaeology. The “classical” and pale look of Ohtori makes everything feel timeless, normal, masculine, etc and like the duelling system and princes/princesses have always existed. But just like that myth of white antiquity, it’s all artificial. This is connecting the system of Ohtori to these great myths. However, by the end, we understand that Ohtori is not timeless and normal, it is something that is not necessary and breakable. Once these performances begin to fail, through Utena’s refusal to fully embody the “prince” and Anthy’s resistance, the system starts to collapse and reach its inevitable death.

It is so similar to how the life and death of Elisabeth is to comment on how the 19th century itself was destined to collapse. Her "romance" with Death follows the conventions of a typical “princess” love story (just like in RGU!) but it is quickly dismantled, revealing not just the reactionary nature of glamorizing historical figures, but also the broader idealization of the 19th century as a whole. Elisabeth originally represents everything that is glamorized about the 19th century, she is romantic and lives a dramatic fairytale-like life, the story being presented as something to be desired and commodified. Similarly, Utena frames her memory of meeting a prince as this glamorized memory that inspires her to become one, when in reality she saw Anthy’s eternal suffering. Elisabeth takes the premise of this “romantic” story and reframes it within the broader context of how violent this is and how the foundations of the 20th century’s violence, nationalism and antisemitism within Europe was formed in the same era that is so heavily romanticized. It actively takes this princess narrative and makes the audience confront the reality of what that century was and how complicated and awful these figures really were. It is so similar to what RGU does! I always loved how it so directly engages with the audience on this in kitsch as well!

[achilluos]

I forgot I made Chigusa call Nemuro that I am losing my mind

[achilluos]

Evil and intimidating Nemuro Miimorial hall

[tourniquesence]

had an opportunity to draw some kozue/shiori recently… so I did

[hellspawnmotel]

lalah

[achilluos]

My Shiori mii is so beautifully delusional

[kitamars]

i’ll give my life to end his

[achilluos]

YOU’VE SET MY HEART AFLAME HE SAYS

[achilluos]

Hello little Anthy why are you so cute even