Internal Clock, Municipal Orrery

rgu sideblog | she/her | main is @absinthe-and-alabaster Let the medieval age return to life! In our souls! Our spirits! Our flesh! Our eyes! Our hands! Our blood and breath! Come to life! Medieval age! The whole of that time! In our rooms! Our clothes!

[internal-clock]

rgu sideblog | she/her | main is @absinthe-and-alabaster

my amvs are tagged #my amvs or watch them here

content warning for everything in the show

[coleslaught]

Forgotten best friends moe...

[saionjeans]

I actually think the lack of race politics is probably the weakest factor in rgu (as well as the fandom) bc like. the dynamics of patriarchy are in fact inextricable from the logic of colonialism in many ways? and so it makes me feel crazy that everyone in ohtori is always like “let’s kill the one brown girl we know with knives for no reason” and then nary a single fan is like “this is surely not motivated by any sort of visual signifier of alterity that she may be assigned by a racializing gaze” and in fact some of them are even like “everyone who wants to kill her is right for that probably bc she’s evil”

[saionjeans]

@pseudotsugas yes exactly ! really well put

[thewitchofwonders]

revolutionary girl utena + sunrise by the ocean - vladimir kush

[cihuiwugao]

I tried making something by hand.

[onionstar123]

I was a living computer back then.

Duthil Novaes (2011). The different ways in which logic is (said to be) formal // Golumbia (2009). The Cultural Logic of Computation // Resnik (1997). Mathematics as a Science of Patterns // Erscoi et al. (2023). Pygmalion displacement. When humanizing AI dehumanizes women // Tasic (2001). Mathematics and the Roots of Postmodern Thought

[shih-na]

Summer outfits for them 🫒Anything to get Wakaba out of that ugly school uniform

[achilluos]

Reblog by @nodutra19 · 1 image

💬 8  🔁 58  ❤️ 197 · RGU fans are incapable of actually reading what the creators, including the director Kunihiko Ikuhara and the mangaka Ch

I'm linking the reblog here because op has reblogs disabled, so I couldn't respond in the original thread. My disagreement is with the reblog's arguments, not op's post. I wanted to break down why I don't think this interpretation holds up.

Once a piece of media exists, it acquires meanings through the conditions in which it is produced, circulated and received. Not simply through what its creators consciously intended. A creator can intend, or not intend one thing while the work reproduces structures they never consciously recognized.

RGU is about cisheteropatriarchy but there are many aspects of it that exceed Be-Papas stated intentions. Anthy is very clearly coded as South Asian, and even if those design choices were made for aesthetic reasons, that doesn't mean the finished work cannot engage with questions of racialization in relation to patriarchy. For example, it would be reductive to argue that Anthy's position as a racialized South Asian girl in a Japanese school has no significance simply because Ikuhara didn't explicitly state it was intentional. We should not reduce the meaning of media to the psychology or intentions of individual authors. Ideology works behind the backs of individuals. Social contradictions appear in cultural production whether or not the artist consciously wills them.

I also want to address the appeal to Todd Cronan and the reading of Olympia. Clark did not "begin" racial readings of Olympia in 1990 as race was already a huge part of the painting's 19th century reception and has existed for quite a while in scholarship. That is not as relevant though. The the overarching claim from Conan that was quoted, that "every centering of racialized subjects" has the function of displacing class is incredibly reductive. It doesn't follow from the evidence he presents, and it overlooks a substantial body of scholarship that understands race as one of the historical mechanisms through which capitalist exploitation has been organized, rather than as a distraction from class. It sets up a false opposition between race and class. Race isn't some autonomous force floating above material reality, but neither is analyzing racialization equivalent to abandoning class analysis. Race is an ideological category produced through specific historical and material relations. Analyzing racialization can be an analysis of how ideology organizes labour, property, colonialism, exploitation, etc. Laure herself demonstrates this. She isn't simply "a Black subject." she's a Black domestic worker in 19th century France. Asking why the servant is Black, how colonialism produced this labour relation, and how race structures domestic labour is not replacing class with race by any means. This is analyzing how class is historically mediated through racialization. Capitalism has never operated through class in the abstract, it has always organized labour through concrete historical forms such as colonialism, slavery, patriarchy, and racialization.

I don't disagree with Cronan's broader criticism of liberal identity politics. But that doesn't invalidate every analysis of race, nor does it mean race and class are mutually exclusive categories of analysis. Race is an ideological category produced to organize and justify material relations of exploitation. Analyzing racialization, therefore, isn't "reifying race" by any means.

And, responding to this, "If we're really to draw any analysis by this flimsy reference, then Mikage must also be a prostitute given that he assumes the pose and place of the woman staring intently at the viewer who is coded as being a prostitue."

This is not how intertextuality works. References don't require every symbolic element of the source image to transfer entirely. If they did, no artistic allusion would function. Nobody argues that because RGU references fairy tales, every character literally occupies every role or inherits every attribute from those stories. The visual quotation of Olympia is interesting because the composition is reworked to expose different ideological relations. In Manet's painting, the white prostitute dominates the composition while the Black servant stands behind her. Although the servant is visually indispensable, she literally completes the composition, she is denied full subjectivity. Her labour facilitates Olympia's position as the object of desire, while she herself remains peripheral and historically overlooked. Nemuro/Mikage occupies Olympia's position as the central object of exchange. Why? Because he is reduced to a "living computer,” a role historically associated with feminized labour. Before electronic computers, "computers" were human beings who performed calculations, and by the late 19th and 20th centuries this work was overwhelmingly carried out by women. Their labour was valued as repetitive and endlessly reproducible. It was indispensable to scientific production but was rarely recognized as intellectual work in its own right. Just like Olympia, he becomes a commodity whose value lies in what can be extracted from him. Its not a far stretch to connect the line of "lets use him as much as we can" in reference to Nemuro to the later frame of Nemuro as Olympia. However, unlike Olympia, whose famously confrontational gaze returns the viewer's look and disrupts passive objectification, Nemuro closes his eyes and turns away. He does not confront the viewer as a subject but exists as an object to be acted upon, his labour already appropriated by the system he sustains. Mamiya, despite occupying the servant's position within the composition, meets the viewer's gaze. Once Mamiya is revealed to be Anthy, this becomes especially significant and a very interesting choice. Although Anthy occupies the structural position of the servant, she inherits Olympia's direct, confrontational gaze, compelling the viewer to acknowledge the racialized figure whose labour sustains the entire fantasy of eternity at Ohtori. Anthy endures exploitation, abuse, and so much more, yet it is precisely her position that maintains everyone else's illusions. Like Laure, Anthy's labour is indispensable while remaining structurally erased. This gaze does not translate into power, just like with Olympia, rather, the composition exposes the contradiction that the very figure who the system depends on is erased by it.

None of this requires claiming that Be-Papas consciously intended every aspect of this reading, nor is it the only one. I do not think anyone is arguing that RGU depicts these issues perfectly. It only requires recognizing that works of art can absolutely reproduce ideological contradictions beyond the intentions of their creators and that visual references and allusions generate can effectively generate new meanings, none of which is delusional to discuss.

[awkwardtuatara]

wait no of course the parallels between Utena trying to rouse Anthy and Wakaba trying to rouse Utena aren't about power, although the differences may stem from their respective power dynamics, it's about their intention. Utena is still trying to "turn" Anthy into a "normal girl", impose her own view upon Anthy, which is especially ironic coming from her. It's a matter of her own pride and self-aggrandizement. But Wakaba genuinely wants Utena to be her authentic self, without pushing that view onto her, so even though she also wants things to return to "normal", her reasoning actually works. Basically Utena says "I can fix her and make her happy," while Wakaba says "I want her to be happy as herself."

Wakaba recalibrates the standard of what a healthy friendship actually is, after this background simmer of baseline dysfunction over the past few episodes, which in turn reminds Utena that she wants to help Anthy because it aligns with her principles of how she herself should act, not because she can "fix" Anthy. So after Utena wins the duel to restore her true self, she doesn't completely disregard Anthy's difficult position as the Rose Bride, but she does ask her not to follow the script. She wants to be her genuine self, and help Anthy find a space where she can be more genuine too. Her motivations don't have to be completely altruistic to be healthy.

[internal-clock]

i think they should put shiori in one of those multifandom character rap battles, it's where she belongs

[kallistoi]

[image description: a still from revolutionary girl utena showing shiori holding out an orange rose with the caption, “miracle deniers be like ‘believe in facts and logic and they will know your feelings.’”

two edited stills of shiori standing in a classroom. in one she says, “you really are… a poor little meow meow” and in the other, “you really are… my #WomanCrushWednesday.”

edited text reading, “unlike other notable black rose duelists, shiori is an authoritative disseminator of narrative signs: she speaks in public, controls discussion, and operates as a weaving narrator of her own story (3.125ff.).”

an edited screenshot of a tumblr post. the original post a photo of a person kneeling by a row supermarket shelves. the person has shiori’s head edited over theirs and the cans on the shelves are labelled, “orange rose,” “miracles speech,” “rose bride dress (purple),” “juri’s sword,” “loitering pointedly in front of the shadow play stage,” “locket w/ photo of herself in it,” “????’s fencing blade.” the groceries already in her cart are labelled, “like at least 12 java finches in varying states of aliveness.” the photo’s caption is edited to read, “shiori takatsuki gathering supplies (’props’) for her art. an edited comment reads, “lmao that b***tch she loved mimesis.”

the same image but the original photo is a still of shiori leaning against a locker in the fencing locker room.

a still of shiori in the nemuro hall elevator with the caption, “images, they consume me.”

an animated heart locket gif that opens to reveal the photo of shiori in juri’s locket and the text, “because i can’t make you realize how i feel.”]

✨ fucked up abhorrent little meow meow memes (½) ✨

[kallistoi]

[image description: four versions of the meme of a car swerving into an exit. the car is labelled “shiori” and the sign on the left reads, “process your childhood best friend’s crush on you by having an honest conversation with her, interrogating your own internalized homophobia, and finding healthy ways of coping with your deep-seated inferiority complex.” the sign on the right that the car is swerving towards reads, 1) “f/f/m fencing team triangulation,” 2) “evil elevator therapy,” 3) “pull a fucking sword out of her chest,” 4) “‘i’m a car now too’”]

✨ more fucked up abhorrent little meow meow memes ✨

[internal-clock]

listing to music on shuffle in the laundry room waiting for my laundry to be done and Mitsu no Knife comes on. now picturing black rose duelists having their breakdowns with rows of washers and dryers in the background

[app1ep1i]

💗🌹💗

[augustameretrix]

[ssjkamui-digitalphoenixug]

Let's continue the analysis and talk about utenas house. This house is a real house in tokyo.

This house belonged to Yukio Mishima, a famous japanese novelist post World war 2, who almost got a nobel prize and later committed suicide after he failed a REVOLUTION to return the full Power of the Monarchy. (So in a way, he wanted to restore the powers of the prince.😅) Mishima was also famously gay but at first tried to hide his homoeroticism as an appreciation of Heroic masculinity. He detailed this aspects of his life in his autobiography Confessions of a mask. According to some Bonus Material, that book was an influence on Arisugawa Juris character. (Who in the series hides her lesbian Feelings for Shiori.) Interestingly, the book also Talks about Jeanne Dark and because Juri is basically Utenas variant of Lady oscar,, there is a small connection here as well.

Mishima also wrote his magnum opus, the Sea of Tranquility tetralogy. This book has themes if cycles, illusions, princes and revolutions (in multiple ways to interpret.)

One of the biggest metaphors of the book is the idea of the prince as an amoral figure. (Inspired by Macchiavellis book the prince, where the title, the prince, is also a symbol for Lucifer. And in Utena, akio is connected to the morning star. Because the morning star appears close to the sunrise, in ancient times, he was called the light bringer, e.g. Lucifer.)

This series of four books describes history as a cycle/revolution of four ages with each book depicting one age and one season of the year.

The book was influenced by Buddhism. The protagonist in the book, Honda, wants to save his friend Kiyosaki who is trapped in a cycle of revolution, rebirth and suffering.

In the first book, Kiyosakis suffering and death come from him loving a girl named Satako, but Satako being forced to marry a psychopathic, abusive prince. The first one already has themes which remind on Utena.😅

The second book depicts Kiyosaki as a revolutionary who wants to restore the glory of the Monarchy because he fears the influence of megacapitalists on Japanese society and morals. Honda wants to save him from his death.

In the end, its stated that Growing societal nihilism and apathy destroyed the possibility of heroism in society and this is why his Revolution failed. As I already said, Utenas opening Rinbu Revolution touches on exactly these themes.

The third book has one plot element certain parts of my Readers will find interesting and maybe funny. (Especially the crowds with a certain blue and pink flag on their page.😅)

Because in this book, Honda travels to Thailand, meets Kiyosaki again and sees he is now a woman (!).

He was reborn as a Princess in Thailand and later, they start a sexual relationship. Later, she dies due to being bitten by a snake and her death was foretold in visions.

In the last book, Kiyosakis "final reincarnation" now becomes a villain and an abuser and deceiver lead by hatred, lust for revenge and lust for Power, who frequently manipulates and harms women. He is also called a fallen prince and a fallen angel. (This final Reinkarnation strongly reminds on Akio. But it also reminds on Anthys brief betrayal in the end of the series.)

Interestingly, Honda realizes that him trying to save Kiyosaki and his reincarnations was a mistake and he was unable to save him. And while in past, he thought he acted out of a divine mission, he now realizes that this was delusional and selfish desire clad in romantic stories of Heroism. Just like how in Utena , she and many other characters have the same realization.

In many of mishimas books, temples and other places become quasi mythical, dreamlike, heavenly places of desire. This reminds on Dios castle.

[internal-clock]

i originally just put this in the tags but it became very long so i will put it in the body of the post itself.

i knew about the house already. its certainly a bit uncomfortable for Utena to be living in the house of a far-right ultra-nationalist. but i think like other ideas in the show rgu is doing its sort of criticism of concepts in the roundabout way that it does, like with the whole night on the galactic railroad & self sacrifice references.

the student council (and touga especially as their leader) are the ones concerned with “revolution”. Utena isn't at all. in fact she repeatedly rejects that idea. she's concerned about Anthy, and it's ultimately what sets her apart from the other duelists. i think others have written much better analyses of “revolution” in the show than i can say here (like for example this post).

at the same time its very obvious that RGU sees Mishima as a (tragically) beautiful figure. returning to a glorified past (even though that past is an illusion) is both a pillar of fascist ideology, and what "qualifies" someone to be a duelist in the show. the line Mamiya says to Mikage about “a heart that longs for eternity can be considered beautiful” comes to mind (though "eternity does not exist in this world"). everything is beautiful in RGU, even the things that are illusory, regressive, awful, painful, and not the answer to the characters' suffering

[vilmublue]

Okay, but Touga singing No One Has Anything to Tell (Nanibito mo Kataru Koto Nashi) in the old Utena musical goes kinda hard.

For those wondering, this is inspired by Takarazuka Revue theatre so all characters regardless of gender are played by women.

[jellytheteawolf]

Hello Chuchu!