Effects of watching Lain

[stdio.h]

I have been subjected to Seriel Experiments Lain (no thanks to my sister.)

Personally, I felt the messages were very tough to recieve, and proved nothing. Although, maybe something such as Seriel Experiments Lain is not supposed to be Crystal Clear... is there something you are supposed to get out of Lain; don't you dare tell me "no."

[Drizzten]

I personally didn't get a life-affirming lesson from Lain. I did feed on the idea of "everyone is always connected." I think the story is important due to the time we live in. The changes the Net/Wired have caused to mass communication is taken far too much for granted and the power there has still yet to be harnessed, IMHO.

There were some parts about Eiri and his self-imposed "godhood" that I liked and took to heart. I need to watch it again (you'll say that often, believe me).

[stdio.h]

I don't think I would have the patients or the time to sit through Lain again.

[Dryden-san]

What were you expecting it to prove? Evangelion had a message too, but it didn't 'prove' anything. I think the most important messages were the ones about memory, but what I got out of the series was great sympathy for Lain's plight. I really felt sorry for her, poor kid.

[stdio.h]

Originally posted by Dryden-san
What were you expecting it to prove? Evangelion had a message too, but it didn't 'prove' anything. I think the most important messages were the ones about memory, but what I got out of the series was great sympathy for Lain's plight. I really felt sorry for her, poor kid.

That is not what they wanted you to get out of it....well not specifically.

[Drizzten]

What do you think they wanted viewers to get out of it? Specifically. :)

[Poiupp X]

Maybe Lain was never ment to be one of those "Here's your moral, enjoy" shows. If anything, it's thought provoking. Nowadays, that's more than enough. The mere fact that stdio.h felt there must be more (thus, having thought about it) proves it. Sure, there are little lessons one might take from Lain if one were to dig deeply enough. Thing is, even with those the viewer him/herself has to figure out on their own.

[katiedid]

one of the cool things that i "got" from lain is the idea that we show different aspects of ourselves in different situations (like irl and on the net, or the wired, if you will).

and that even though the aspects make up the same person, we are perceived differently by everyone because of the specific aspects they see. and the way they see us and remember us, helps make us who we are.... to them....


*wonders if anyone will understand that fully* i have a hard time explaining things.... :o

[heart havok]

maybe the meaning was to make the audience think.. and use their minds.. and traverse possibilities in life that most have never even considered. perhaps it was to tell us a story of prophecy, or a theory of human memory, or story based on scientific data in "real" life that most overlook. for example, the ideas of Dr. Timothy Leary, Douglas Rushkoff, John C. Lilly, and Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, Jr.

perhaps it is designed only for those who have the patience to look into all the symbolism and meaningful things that are hidden within the series.. because all the meaning within the series extends far beyond the minds eye.

Lain is for the thinkers.. those who can appreciate information, moral, and the values of possibility and metaphore.

such as life.. the meaning is to find meaning.

[EvilgoatmanSanosuke]

I just saw ep. 11 of lain...

Its very convoluted, and I don't think theres any one "lesson" like we're used to being spoonfed... the unanswered stuff is there to make you think about whatever the point in the series is wanting you to think about... not just saying stuff like "computers are bad" or "God is good"... and on top of that it doesn't use excessive violence to get its message across (not that thats a bad thing, the gore in the kenshin oavs drove the message home hard, but thats a whole nother ballgame.)
I guess you can see different messages from the show... you can look at it basically any of the ways everyone here has and get something new out of it each time... to me thats what has me hooked on it... its making me want to think, to see what I'm missing...
~Zac

[MDWigs]

"(American viewers) won't understand this. I don't want them to understand this. This work is based on the sensitivity and values of the Japanese people. America is different from Japan. The work itself is sort of cultural war against American culture and the American sense of values we adopted after WWII. So I want American people to react to this work."

"The message is, Things are simple."

- Ueda Yasuyuki, producer of lain, responding to, "What do you think American viewers will think of lain?" and, "Is there a message to the show?" Taken from an interview published in the October 1999 issue of Animerica.

[Drizzten]

That's an interesting quote. I tend to think I understand a decent-sized chunk of the anime. Maybe not all of it, but enough to try and act like an authority. heart havok is even better. But I can see his reasoning about the "cultural war" he's talking about.

[iwakura]

This is difficult, if not impossible to put into words.

Lain is somthing to experience at the sub-conscious level. There are several levels going on.

* There is the Sci-Fi/X-Files/Aurthur C. Clarke's Childhood's end story line
* There are the surreal images specifically created to perturb you
* There is the zen -vs- Blade Runner aspect much better done than in the pop movie "the Matirx".
* There is the "war on western culture" metaphore which makes sense when you look at how the father/mother/and duaghter roles play out.

All three of these tug at each other and can be quite disturbing at times. The show freaked me out at times.