Akira was one of the most confusing anime films I have ever seen, but it was very interesting. Even though the movie was hard to understand, it was still good from beginning to end. Akira was basically about a biker gang member named Tetsuo, who gets abducted by the military after he gets hurt by an aged psychic boy. Once Tetsuo was captured by the government, they did experiments on him and he suddenly had psychic powers. Having psychic powers sounds cool, but for Tetsuo to have it was a terrifying thing. This was terrifying because Tetsuo was the weakest member of the group. An example to prove this was when Tetsuo tried to ride Shotaro’s bike. Shotaro is the leader of the bike gang and his bike symbolizes his leadership over the gang. When Tetsuo tried to take it for a spin, he could handle it and the bike end up stopping on him. With that being said, Tetsuo new found power allowed him to feel powerful and useful. However, he becomes out of control and the government tries to restrain him. This causes riots in the city and chaos. In the end, Tetsuo ends up dying because he tried to do too much with his premature powers.
In general, I thought it was wrong for the government to run experiments on children, especially without their permission. This showed how much power the government had over the city as well. Another way that the government expressed their dictatorship was to let the military to run around like policemen. Everyone had little free will and control of their lives. An example of this would be when the military wanted to or did shoot people because they had a gun. Another example that showed how much free will individuals had was when the kids went to the principle office. The coach yells at them and then slaps all of the group members. Another point that was intresting was the kids themselves. They were really rebellious and really didn’t have any authority figures over them except for their school. Since they didn’t have any parents, I think this made them to act that way because there was no true authoritarian figure over them.In closing, I thought that this was a very good movie. Although confusing at first, it really grasped my attention. Akira really showed how corrupt a government can really become. It also showed how the government can really strip a society free will away.
I think that it is a little unclear whether or not Tetsuo "dies," or so to speak. Yes, he physically doesn't exist anymore, but he continues to exist as more of an abstract entity, much like Akira throughout the film. I remember at some point during the film, someone said that "Akira exists in all of us." Tetsuo ends up having the same fate as Akira, so I assume that the same applies to Tetsuo.
ReplyDeleteI agree though with what you said about the adolescents not having any authoritarian figure over them. The bike gangs provide them with that sense of family that they never had before.
I also agree that this movie is a very good example of what could happen given that the government is granted too much power. After all, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.