From: fleggett@vicstoy.UUCP (Fred Leggett)
Subject: Re: Gundam 0083
Organization: vicstoy: Public Access Unix, Orlando, FL
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 09:03:55 GMT

In article <1akuh3INNbn7@network.ucsd.edu> rcfg@chem.ucsd.edu (Fahey group) writes:
>Although military otakus among staff (0080 in particular) put lots
>of German military flavor in making up Jions, Jions are NOT
>Nazis. Giren Zabi was a Hitler-like figure in his methods and ideals
>but he doesn't represent the entire Jion and he's possibly the
>worst case of Jion (well, he killed even his father). 
     Indeed!  Hmmmmm.  I dunno, that seems rather weak when you have
Char Aznable, chronically regarded as the keeper of the true Jion
flametorch, deciding to plunge Earth into an artificial ice age.  Yes, I
know that's probably a cliched argument, but this Char worship (not by you,
Tonghyun, just in general), IMO, is absolutely frightening (on a very real
level).

>Books on Gundam describe Jion soldiers as noble warriors. Even when
>their lives were miserable during the guerilla warfare on Earth, they
>didn't turn into the bands of robbers. However, the Federation soldier
     Who wrote these books?  Authors high on Jion ideals, opting to
concentrate on what might be only a handful (percentage-wise) of bad
apples within Federation ranks?  Or writers who may've been aligned with
the Federation, but willing to provide a balanced outlook?
     What's missing here are motivations.  *Why* was Jion created?
*Why* was it necessary for spacenoid to "unshackle" themselves from
Earthnoid influence?  *Why* do these people look and act terrifyingly
like Germans when Germany's greatest military claim to fame was the Nazi
war machine?  *Why* are these people dropping colonies on hapless
civilians?  *Why* is Delaz letting someone as loathesome as Cima
continue to wear a Jion uniform?
     I've gotta be honest with you here.  My first REAL exposure to
Gundam was "Char's Counterattack" (subbed - I'd seen 0080, but unsubbed
and without script).  So I've got some rather big bones to pick with the
"Jion cause".  I don't really mean to be vociferous with this
follow-up.

>The relationship between colonies and the Federation government is like
>that of the empires in 19-20th century and their colonies. Those
>who remain on Earth consider spacenoids to be second class citizens and 
>colonies exist to serve the Earth's needs. Already most of people living
>on Earth are those belong to the privileged classes since all others
>were FORCED to immigrate to the space. And those privileged ones refuse
>to immigrate to the space while the Earth is dying due to the pollution.
     This really doesn't make any sense, though.  You spend
multi-gazillion dollars (or yens) to build these space colonies, then
send the dregs of society to live in them?  And these look like fairly
nice colonies.  You'd think they'd be grateful, actually, since most of
'em seem to hate Earth and everything associated with it.

>Considering these factors, it's natural that the spacenoids wants to
>liberate themselves from the Federation. Coming from a country that has
>suffered from savage colonial rule, I can understand the feelings of 
>spacenoids.
     I dunno, I just don't see it.  You don't make war on people unless
your differences are incredibly huge and irreconcilable.  To me anyway,
the Jion cause is currently suffering from a massive credibility
crisis.
     Hmmmmm, come to think of it, that's not the only reason why wars
occur.  Bullying nations attempting to fulfill some sort of manifest
destiny, or just desiring to pillage a neighboring country can also be
cited (yes, you can bring up the systematic and deliberate massacre of
the Native American population if you wish).  I *presume* Jion is not
working off either one of these concepts (although Char seems to ascribe
to the former principle).

>0083 and Lightning Hathaway are not told from the perspective of the 
>Federation. The Feds are the bad guys (I'm NOT talking about pawns
>like Kou or crews of Albion, but the Federation government) in these
>Gundam.
     Well, I keep hearing about how 0083 is "told from the perspective
of Jion".  But does that mean anything in and of itself?  Sure, it's a
notable break from tradition, but it also makes for a much more
interesting story slant.  And Gundam seems to need some revitilizing
after what I hear is a disappointing F91 film.

>BTW, AEUG stands for Anti-Earth United Government (Anti-Federation)
>and the Feds are the bad guys here. And Jamitov Hyman (The leader of
>Titans) is the Feddie version of Giren Zabi.
     Yes, I know.  My point was that the majority of stories told thus
far have *not* come from the Jion perspective.  That seems to be
changing with the advent of 0080 (kinda/sorta) and 0083, but they've got
a lot of catching-up to do.

-- 
Fred Leggett - fred.leggett@oau.org
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