evangelion (NGE!) is an endlessly interesting piece of media with how fandom interacts with it.

it calls to question whether such a thinky existential work necessitates equally thinky pieces of response (analyses, character study), for us to truly explore/understand it.

i’ve actually been thinking that there are two categories of media: the first being media made for fandom (e.g. characters are malleable and “half empty” and able to be filled in by the fandom), and the second being media made to be looked at from afar.

NGE falls into the 2nd-

which is fascinating! it is pretty self-contained, like smoke in a glass box. its characters are so completely characterised, and its world is so tightly built. it’s hard to reach in.

you’re less “consuming” it as media and more... looking at it. observing.

i think NGE could be likened to art, a little, in its removedness? distance from the viewer? as opposed to fandom media, where it thrives off engagement with its viewer.

yadda i don’t even know where i was going with this thread except for NGE good and interesting