I've just posted a new video, 10 minutes long, exploring interesting similarities (as well as some obvious and/or subtle differences) between the popular anime show Neon Genesis Evangelion and Twin Peaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGLWNVG9e3Q
I would like to use this thread to encourage discussion on the topic. I've heard the two come up together before and the Venn diagram of their fans seems to overlap. So far the only mention I can recall on dugpa is BlackMoonLilith comparing the performances of Megumi Ogata in End of Evangelion and Sheryl Lee (they are surely two of the top screen screamers of all time, that's for sure).
Neon Genesis Evangelion & Twin Peaks - what are the links?
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Re: Neon Genesis Evangelion & Twin Peaks - what are the link
I love the comparison, as strange as it initially sounds. Both shows are among my very favorites, shows that really eat away at you and keep you coming back over the years.
Both have very effective imagery and strong mise en scène. Both Lynch and Anno have a general overarching plan but are willing to follow their muses. I don't know if there is anything in the mythology of Evangelion that came about as accidentally as the creation of BOB, but at the very least the revelation that Adam was actually Lilith and that humanity spawned from Lilith was a last minute addition.
The last episodes of Evangelion were constructed in a similar creative fashion as the black lodge sequence: abandoning the original ideas and coming up with creative solutions to convey what his characters were going through with whatever was at his disposal- in his case recycled art and voice over. Of course this was born from a lack of budget rather than a dislike of the material, as the existence of End of Evangelion shows (although EoE is possibly more cynical than it otherwise would have been if he hadn't received death threats for "ruining the ending of the series," which he himself was proud of).
There's something about the both of them being such flawed series that makes them more compelling- learning about the troubles in production are just as interesting as reading theories about the series themselves. This coupled with the fact that they leave you hanging in such a bleak point- Shinji and Asuka on the beach after facing the most harrowing apocalypse ever portrayed in a movie, and Agent Cooper replaced/inhabited with doppelganger/Bob (not to mention the bleakness of Fire Walk With Me). It's this lack of real closure that brings me back.
End of Evangelion and the last episode of Twin Peaks are my most watched points of their respective series- the doubling down on the darkness and the haunting imagery are very appealing to me.
Both have very effective imagery and strong mise en scène. Both Lynch and Anno have a general overarching plan but are willing to follow their muses. I don't know if there is anything in the mythology of Evangelion that came about as accidentally as the creation of BOB, but at the very least the revelation that Adam was actually Lilith and that humanity spawned from Lilith was a last minute addition.
The last episodes of Evangelion were constructed in a similar creative fashion as the black lodge sequence: abandoning the original ideas and coming up with creative solutions to convey what his characters were going through with whatever was at his disposal- in his case recycled art and voice over. Of course this was born from a lack of budget rather than a dislike of the material, as the existence of End of Evangelion shows (although EoE is possibly more cynical than it otherwise would have been if he hadn't received death threats for "ruining the ending of the series," which he himself was proud of).
There's something about the both of them being such flawed series that makes them more compelling- learning about the troubles in production are just as interesting as reading theories about the series themselves. This coupled with the fact that they leave you hanging in such a bleak point- Shinji and Asuka on the beach after facing the most harrowing apocalypse ever portrayed in a movie, and Agent Cooper replaced/inhabited with doppelganger/Bob (not to mention the bleakness of Fire Walk With Me). It's this lack of real closure that brings me back.
End of Evangelion and the last episode of Twin Peaks are my most watched points of their respective series- the doubling down on the darkness and the haunting imagery are very appealing to me.