Do you have any further opinions on Gendo and Shinji having some potentially not healthy views on women?
I'll see what I can come up with.
Gendo uses multiple women throughout the story, but I'm not sure that indicates an unhealthy attitude toward women in particular. He exploits men, including his own son, just as readily.
I find his affairs with the Akagis hard to explain, because he seemed so laser-focused on his objectives, and so averse to forming any close relationships with anyone. Even if his relationships with the Akagis were purely physical for him, it still seems like the sort of thing he wouldn't indulge in... unless he thought it would bring him closer to what he actually wants.
I guess my personal theory is that he didn't seduce the Akagis, but they threw themselves at him, and he played along because he needed their talents too badly to risk pushing them away. Naoko was practically rooting for Yui to die in that accident, so it seems likely that she fell in love with Gendo while they worked together and made her move after Yui was out of the picture. Gendo might have rejected her, but he needed the Magi supercomputer that she was building.
Only after the Magi were completed did he turn against her, calling her a "useless old hag". I think he was counting on Rei to hear him saying it, and used her to provoke Naoko into doing something drastic. Although, considering how important Rei was to his plans, it seems odd that he'd put Rei in such a risky position.
In any event, Ritsuko watched the tail end of Naoko's relationship with Gendo and immediately decided she wanted next. This seems really foolish, considering Naoko's fate, but I get the impression that Gendo is this charismatic enigma, the sort who attracts people to his cause, in spite of his cold and repulsive personality. Maybe Ritsuko thought she could fix him, or she just found him fascinating and wanted a closer look. And so Gendo found himself in the same position all over again, playing along with a new lover to ensure her cooperation with his plans.
That doesn't make him blameless, of course. He saw these women offering themselves to him, and he used their infatuation to his advantage. I guess what I'm saying is that he didn't get entangled in those relationships because he was lonely or horny, or desperate to feel powerful. He just played along with them for as long as they were useful, and then discarded them when they ceased to be useful.
I'd say that probably explains his apparent closeness to Rei as well. They only get along well because he needs her for his plans, and she's willing to go along with literally anything he wants her to do.
But, again, I don't know that this has anything to do with their gender. If Rei were a boy, I don't think it would change much for him. If the Akagis were men, he'd probably still use their attraction to him to his advantage.
Regarding Shinji... man, I don't know.
Yesterday I watched a couple of old Folding Ideas videos about End of Evangelion. Dan Olson was talking about how the movie served as Hideaki Anno's "revenge" against obsessive fans who hated the original ending in Episodes 25 and 26. I think the "revenge" theory of EoE is still open to debate, but I still need to do more research into that. Anyway, Olson was pretty confident about it, since it explains how different Shinji is portrayed in each ending.
In EoTV, Anno used Shinji as a medium to explore his own psychological problems, and the ending is more positive. But in EoE, Anno uses Shinji to represent the emotionally stunted otaku he was so mad at. So in the movie, Shinji never "does anything" or "learns anything". He wallows in self-pity, demands Asuka's sympathy, and strangles her when he doesn't get it. He's a petulant child throughout the whole film, and the misogyny is on full display.
Olson explains that Shinji is useful for this sort of thing because he started out as the standard anime protagonist: a blank slate that the audience could project their own identities upon. By the end of the TV series, Anno could easily turn Shinji into his alter ego, and use him to express his own anxieties and fears. And when the otaku rejected this, it was like they wanted Shinji back the way he was so he could be their avatar instead, Anno granted their wish, making EoE-Shinji a representation of all of their worst qualities.
And that's an interesting interpretation, but what frustrates me is that it basically leaves no room for Shinji to be a character in his own right. He's just a vessel for whatever Hideaki Anno wants him to represent. If Anno is feeling introspective, he'll make Shinji in his own image. If he's mad at the otaku, he'll turn Shinji into a straw man.
And that makes it hard for me to really talk about Shinji's attitude towards women. Early in NGE, he basically behaved himself and seemed to prefer keeping his distance from girls, if only to avoid any awkwardness. Misato and Asuka kind of brought him out of his shell a bit, and then in EoTV he seems to rely on them to help him figure out his damage. In EoE he seems desperate for a woman-- any woman-- to make him feel happy, forever. If he can't have that, he'll either go limp or throw a fit.
I don't know what the throughline is with Shinji. If I understand commentators like Dan Olson correctly, there is no throughline with Shinji. He's just a placeholder for one psyche or another. Still, I suppose he's defined by the loss of his mother, and there's always this lingering temptation for him to think he can just retreat from his problems and take refuge in a woman's embrace. Early on, he's reluctant to accept Misato's hospitality and compassion, maybe because he can't believe it's genuine. Later, he starts to appreciate her more, and then he begins to take the women in his life for granted a bit. In EoTV, he pulls back from that mentality, but in EoE he sinks deeper into that false hope that a woman can make him safe and whole.
Am I making any sense here? I'm not sure.
