86: When do ideals become more than empty words?

 

Hey, it's me, ya boi. Back for another fire track. Not gonna lie, I was extremely happy with the positive response I received with my last essay on dramatic irony and with yet another conclusive episode of 86 this week, I just can't hold back on writing another essay anymore. I ran through the concept of thematic arc last time so let's just jump into it this time. This week's thematic arc is on the concept of ideals. Or more specifically: When do ideals become more than empty words?

I crafted this question back in episode 4 due to our dear uncle Milize, who I will let speak for himself.

Ideals are ideals specifically because they are unattainable. Those who continue to seek them is foolish and cowardly, don't you think?

The first time I heard these words, I jumped out of my chair, red with anger. Those two sentences almost seemed laughably ironic to me. I thought: "how can you call someone who is chasing ideals cowardly, isn't it you who gave up so easily the cowardly one?"

I think I had that reaction because I personally love ideals. In fact, I think it is because humans chase grand ideals that the world continues to evolve and it is because us people chase personal ideals that we can have hope that our actions matter.

And that is where the basis of my question comes in; When exactly do our ideals matter? When is it no longer just flowery, 'foolish' words like what Uncle Milize stated and when does it become something tangible and meaningful?

The Republic, A Hopeless Romantic

I think many has come to realize that Lena actually symbolizes the idea of flowery ideals. Not a surprise since the show spares no little effort to beat her into the mud for it. To simplify things though, I will refer to such an ideal as a romantic. Not because I ship Lena and Shin (to which I do, like fan-girl kinda do), but because romantic can be defined as such: of, characterized by, or suggestive of an idealized view of reality

And having an idealized view of reality is all Lena is. But don't let me be the one that convinces you on this point though. I think our friend r/Vaynonym will do a much better job than me on that aspect. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/EightySix/comments/n91izq/spoilersessay_86_lena_systems_of_oppression_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2%20x&context=3

Instead, what I want to focus on is how the Republic of Alba is itself a hopeless romantic too. One of the most prominent symbols for their romanticism is in its statue of the queen that would often pop up, which the show has graciously done my job for me with one beautiful contrast.

    The surface beauty

                                                                      

    And the ugly beneath                                                             

Uncle Milize said it best himself: Freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice, nobility. Look at the real world, those beautiful things are nowhere to be found in the republic.

But I don't want this to be a point about how ideals will never be met cause people will always be shit. Like our dear Vaynonym also stated, you can be someone horribly stuck in a broken system and yet still put in admirable effort to break out of it.

We’re all complicit in interlocking systems of oppression that ruthlessly fuck over our fellow human beings and we’ll probably never in our lifetime manage to be even net-neutral in terms of our impact on other people! [...] None of the above factors should stop anyone’s desire to be a Good Person in the slightest – but it should put our own efforts to do work on ourselves in perspective, I think.

Why I choose to frame it as hopeless romantic is because despite failing to meet their own ideals, they actively put in effort to continue failing. What do I mean?

Take for example their complete military incompetence. They have completely disjointed divisions; They know that the Undertaker is actively making some of the Handlers commit suicide, so what do they do?

Research division: Hey, can you like, help us bring the Undertaker here so we can dissect his brain?

Transport division: Err no, fuck you, he smells.

Like what?! Bitch, people are dying here, not even the 86, but your own people. And you are going to turn a blind eye because you don't want your car to smell? Notice the "turning the blind eye" point, cause they certainly don't lack in that department. Like look at this joker right here.

Yea you, you thought I forgot about you didn't ya? But just because you only appeared for like five seconds doesn't mean I'm not gonna call you out on your bullshit! Like this joker is presumably the military police of the republic, the one who sends people to the gulags because they say controversial shit. But what does he do when Lena is out here tearing their propaganistic education a new one?

He pisses out! Like holy hell dude, I know I'm not supposed to laugh but the first time I saw this, I almost rolled on the floor. This dude's only job is to talk shit about other people and yet he can't even do that well -- That, my dude, is someone who is capital letter INCOMPETENT.

Instead of actually doing their job, they are more focused on false purity. They spout about beautiful words like "zero fatalities" and won't even activate the mortars for war efforts. Their reason: Activating mortars would need our own soldiers to go out onto the battlefield and they may die. Forgive me for asking, but the last I checked, soldiers put their lives at risk for their people, not just play strategy games in front of the PC. Then there is the entire philosophy of the military now, which seems to be, "following the will of the people" as uncle Milize tells Lena after she requests the mortar. 

But read behind the subtext, following the will of people means to fight a winning war. It means to stop the legion, which Shin has warned, is an actual GOT white walker type of shit that uses dead brains to fuel their army; A threat the military is not only incompetent to face, but willfully ignorant about. So in the end, it is not just about the will of the people, but the public image of the military isn't it?

The military isn't the only culprit though, the entire society is. Silver hair, blue eyes are the superior race; All physical, superficial traits. Women are expected of marriage since young; You have seemingly compulsory balls (it being a duty for the Milize family to attend), Lena's mother prodding her to marry, and Annette hooking up with the young and the old as if age is just a number and jail is just a room. Social purity is at work here. You marry when you are young and beautiful. It's the social image to uphold.

There is also a somewhat silly dessert motif going on too. With a lot of focus on the artificiality of the ingredients in the republic, all of which are often seen to be monopolized by the 86 in the outskirts; Real eggs and milk as they put it. As for evidence, I don't have a good screenshot so here is Lena being cute about it.

This is what a hopeless romantic is. You ignore all the ugliness that is beneath you so you can savour the chiffon cake and pudding. You only choose to look at what is beautiful, what is pure, what sings nice lullabies to you. Ever wonder why the handlers get so fucked up when they hear the voices of the dead? It is because for all their life they listened to so many nice lullabies that they don't even have an ounce of emotional fortitude to bare the ugly truth -- Empty words as ideals.

So once again, is it truly hopeless? I mean Lena does tries. In episode 7 she even does a meaningful gesture of sneaking illegal fireworks to the spearhead squadron. However, even she herself seems to be aware of her helplessness; In the end, she wasn't even privy that the spearhead squadron were all destined to die, as she so painfully learnt at the end of episode 7. Her ideals may be justified with a little more blood, sweat and tears, but in the end, it is nothing more than just slightly less emptier words, consolatory "thou has made a valiant effort" stickers that Gura likes to give.

So then once again: When do ideals become more than just empty words?

The spearhead squadron, ideals from blood and dirt

I cried watching this scene. Not because of the beautiful fireworks but because of how damn admirable those ideals are. And yes, they are ideals. They are personal ideals where one can have hope that their actions matter. But are they filled with false purity like the republic, or are unattainable like what uncle Milize said? Well, sit down kiddo, let me tell you a beautiful story.

I am sure everyone can agree that the spearhead squadron spares no extent of destroying false images. After all, they are all going to die the next day so why bother. One quite literal example is the meeting between Shin and the fresh out of oven spearhead members. 

The girls asked about the origins of Shin's name to which Shin showed them the scar around his neck. Their reaction: "Lol, that's cool bruh. Let's make the next six months a good one". Shin smiles as well, appreciating that they neither prodded him too much or treated it too seriously. How would the Alba's react to things like scars I wonder -- Oh, oh that's right... That seems to be the entire premise of 86 isn't it?

What about the romance? This may be more of a meta point but look at how much more respect romance is treated between the Albas and the spearhead squadron. With the balls in the republic, Annette will straight up call guys her age childish and Lena would describe it as "party with stuffy dress and high heels". With the spearhead squadron, you get both a charming and cute side-ship with a tragic and poetic conclusion between Anju and Daiya. And who else to attest to the honesty of relationships but our good man Shin. This absolute chad called her girl cause she was MIA just to check whether she is alright.

Now I get why reddit discussions for this episode couldn't shut up about Shin x Lena. This duo has a healthier long distant relationship than actual couples. Also, I totally didn't bring up this romance point because I simp for Lena in her black dress.

On a much more depressive note, what about death? Our dear Alba's has shown us that death can be completely negligible with a "eww he smells". But for our spearhead squadron, they partake in their own ritual.

The spearhead squadron partake in a moment of silence, where they simply respect and mourn for the death of their comrades. Shin plays the role of the reaper, giving a swift yet sincere send off which everyone finds peace in. Their ideal of "bringing the processors along to the final destination" is the only thing that gives meaning to all their fighting. "Don't forget me" after all, is probably what allows them to sleep in peace at night and play games the next morning. There was even the juxtaposed symbolic meanings of fireworks in episode 7; One was just a flashy lightshow of extravagance and superficiality, the other was a proper gun salute. Simply look at Theo to understand just how much weight and respect goes into their death rituals.

With his outburst against Lena, Theo, like he puts it, "tainted Kaie's death." 

This is what I mean by ideals that are more than just empty words; They are respected, with a proper ritual and a disdain by Theo for disturbing such a ritual. They are flowery but they aren't exaggerated, with the way they described it as "final destination", which lends more sincerity than the "zero fatalities" crap. And they actually mean a damn to those that believe in them. What do the Alba's gain from their statues, symbols and social unions other than the fact that that is what is regurgitated by society to make themselves look good? The spearhead squadron believes in Shin, they believe in the final destination, because believing gives them hope even in death. It allows them to carry on fighting and carry on dying for their comrades. 

You want to know what makes ideals empty words? It is when you can escape. Lena was given a chance to escape her ideals in episode 4 where Shin tells her that no one will judge or blame her if she doesn't remember their name. Lena's response: "Still I am tired of running away." This alone, made her ideals more than empty words.

The spearhead squadron is even more extreme. From the beginning they knew, that they were destined to die so long as they had their spearhead name. From the beginning they knew, that they were fighting just to protect the same very pigs that spits on them. From the beginning they knew, that the idea of revenge was so enticing to them. From the very beginning they knew, and thus the spearhead squadron has no reasons to fight, and all the reasons to escape.

What do they actually do though: 

Freedom - They fight, because one day they may truly be free and reach the final destination.

Equality - They fight, because despite knowing the worst faces of the Alba and the 86, they also know of the rare kindness they receive from the very same Alba and 86.

Brotherhood - They fight, because as long as the one next to them continues to live and continues to die, someone still needs to accompany, to mourn, to remember them.

Justice - They fight, because even if scum treats you like scum, doing the same makes you no better.

Nobility - And they fight, because of pride. Because rather than die giving up, they want to die fighting. Because even if you know you are heading to the gallows, you can choose how you are going to climb up there.

Choice - That is what makes ideals more than empty words. That is what makes ideals matter. When you have all the reasons to choose the easy way out, but you choose otherwise. You choose to fight, you choose to struggle, you choose to scrape for meaning in a meaningless world, and you will continue scraping, even if your nails fall off and all there is is dirt.

Those beautiful things are nowhere to be found in the republic huh? Then why am I crying uncle Milize? Why the fuck am I crying?!

Where do we head from now?

Honestly, I can't believe what I am witnessing. I am almost 7 episodes into an anime and all it has been doing is just setting up. Setting up promises like their inevitable meeting, setting up the world of the republic and the 86, setting up character motivations and ideals.

And any anime can do that. It can spend 50 episodes setting up their villains etc. But what many fail to do that 86 succeeds in is to give a conclusion to each of these set ups. This is why I love thematic arcs. I had such a conclusive, cathartic release not just in episode 3 but in episode 7 now. And, its all set up, there hasn't even been but a hint of the actual climax! Forgive me for this comparison but I can't help to compare this to Vivy who has been confusing me the hell out recently as I am 8 episodes in and I still can't figure out what the point of the show is. Viewers call it hiding their cards to the last moment, but why? Don't hide it, I want to see it! I want to celebrate all the good that you have to show! I don't need to understand the entirety of the show in its first three episodes. But goddamnit, I do at least want to understand aspects of what you have to offer, even if all you are doing is offering only but a fragment of it, just like what 86 has been doing.

I love this show. Period.

Afterword

Hope y'all enjoyed reading this essay. It was extremely fun for me to write. But this segment afterwards will be completely unrelated to the show so you can click off now if you want.

So I received a question a few days back that asked me how I manage to write my essays. The person expressed concerns about not paying enough attention to shows and also not having strong enough language etc to write an actual essay. So I will just talk a little about my thinking / writing process which will hopefully be of help.

First of, what kind of essay do you want to write? There is a difference between just wanting to write down your thoughts and dissecting/presenting an essay. If you just want to write down your thoughts, no matter how small they are, then its easy -- Write. Write and write and write. I don't know whether literature classes are taken all across the world, but in Singapore, I took lit classes from secondary school to junior college. One of the first basic skills they taught us was how to annotate. On a book, annotating would be like if you see a character punching the other, you can jot down with a pencil on the side that says either "ouch, that's gotta hurt" or "Billy punching Tom symbolizes world violence". Either way is perfectly fine and one shouldn't always feel pressure to think about grand concepts. Even the most inconsequential quips can be annotated, so long as it increases your viewing experience and enjoyment. 

This is how I annotate / take notes for 86. Though my purpose was more so for analysis.  

All I do is just note down the things that happen and maybe place a little of my thoughts here and there. And feel free to draw a million circles and connect a million arrows, it doesn't have to make any sense to anyone but yourself. At this stage of the annotating process, it is more like you are pasting your brain onto paper and literally inputting data by writing it down, if that analogy helps.

If all you want is a way to pen down your thoughts, share it amongst your close friends for casual discussion or simply to remember a few points that is hard to keep track of, then at this point, you can probably start writing your essay. It will be more of the rambly kind though, being as simple as telling others what you like and what you didn't like, providing personal experiences, to maybe basic analysis of just "I think this scene means..." Language also doesn't matter. You just need basic english and maybe google by your side.

If for example you want to write something more coherent, and I will arrogantly on my part use the word "professional", then you need to start organizing the information.

This is me organizing all six episodes of annotations I made into one single paper. Of course at this stage, neatness would be preferable but not a necessity. The important part of this process is to break it down. For example I split the information and the paper into three categories: Information regarding the republic, information regarding Lena, information regarding the spearhead squadron. If you like, you can split it down even further, for example, Lena's pros and cons, or the military of the republic and the rest of their society. At this point, it should still be very self-serving, this paper only serves to help you organize your thoughts and only you need to understand it. And thus ends the brainstorming process. 

Now we enter the next phase, the actual essay writing. Before you immediately jump into whatever you find interesting, it is important to ask yourself this question first. What is the main point you are tackling?

I'll give you a bad example. This is my recent essay on Zombieland Saga; I didn't really have a main point but I still really wanted to gush about how good it is. In the end I still broke down the essay to three main things that I love about ZLS, which makes it organized, but because I didn't have that main point, all it is in the end is just a more refined version of a rambly essay.

https://zxcaderu.blogspot.com/2021/05/a-love-letter-for-zombieland-saga.html

Another bad example, just a few days ago I wrote an essay about how I am very confused about Vivy. This turned out to be one of the worse essays I ever wrote because I didn't really have a main point to begin with. The entire thing was just me asking questions I have no answers to, being confused about a lot of things, becoming way too emotional towards the end and not even carrying out the promise of "analyzing" that I made in my introduction. It was fun to write (and I mostly did it in a desperate attempt to scrape together a theme) but needless to say it wasn't a very good essay.

https://zxcaderu.blogspot.com/2021/05/vivy-is-very-confusing-send-help.html

What however, made my previous essay on 86 much much better was because I begun the essay very early on with a question, which was: how do you form trust with someone you have never met or seen. Why this is important is because every word I write afterwards, if I ever feel lost or feel like I am getting out of point, I will just look back at the question and ask myself: "Does this sentence that I am writing ultimately serve this question that I am answering?"

Of course you don't always need to set up a question for yourself to answer. Many good essays can break down an entire series without doing as such. But what you will notice is that almost all essays with a question becomes good, with the sole reason being the hyper-focus that you will write with afterwards. To me, it is even more powerful than writing with a theme like for example "irony", which is still incredibly broad and like I have mentioned, might just become an essay where you list down good evidences but don't have that big question to tie up your essay in a nice ribbon.

https://zxcaderu.blogspot.com/2021/05/86-have-you-ever-heard-of-my-friend.html

Lastly, here is some more general advice: Don't be afraid of starting an essay even if you don't have that big point. I actually wrote my dramatic irony essay without having any big point or question in my mind. All I had in my brain was: "This scene fucking rocks." To which I decided I will write an essay specifically complimenting the ending scene of episode 3. It is from there did I start mulling and pondering even more, while in the process of writing as well mind you. So literally the act of writing made me figure out more shit, which I then put down onto my essay, and finally I was like: "Hey! I can make a thematic arc / question about this!" To which I edited my entire essay, added the entire segment of thematic arc in the beginning and then proceeded to finish writing my conclusive statement.

Needless to say writing is an extremely flexible process which is why I will tell everyone who says they don't write because they don't have their "big point", to just write first. It may suck, it may be messy, it may not be any good. But who knows what kind of five-course meal your brain will cook up during the process itself.

Though if you are wondering what was the process of writing this essay though: I had the question cooked up ever since episode 4 and I was actually just waiting for a conclusive episode about ideals to drop before I jump into it. If you'll ask me, this is best kind of thinking process to have, which is why all the grueling process of annotating and organizing is important beforehand. (I say grueling but annotating and organizing information is quite a brainless thing and you can literally do it within watching the episode itself if you write fast enough)

So there you go, here are roughly the process and tips I have towards writing. Oh and lastly, just have a lot of fun. The last hurdle a lot of people have is that they are scared that people judge their essays badly or their language is too bad to be presented. I had thoughts like this before, but sometimes you just need to learn to care less and just enjoy the writing process. In that sense it can even be entirely self-serving. (Hell, I wrote essays a few years back even when I know literally nobody reads it) Throw in some quips and jokes, personal anecdotes are welcome, gush about things if you want to gush about things, and overall, just have fun.

And like what my reaper dad says: PEACE!