The Ambiguity of Actions and the Weight of Words

A single thought occupied my mind as I watched Revolutionary Girl Utena: Yes, it's all about symbolism regarding sexuality and gender roles, but the actual messages, the clues on how the viewers are supposed to figure them out, and how to piece the whole puzzle together is amazingly complex. It gave me a greater respect to its predecessor, [url]http://myanimelist.net/anime/10721/Mawaru_Penguindrum]Mawaru Penguindrum[/url], and I do plan on rewatching that beast one of these days. Still, that line of thought still bothered me. Why did I know that I was being told something, rather than it all being a big messy flood of faux symbolism? How was I clued in, and why did it work here? The sensation was similar to having symbolism being plastered all over my face; I know it's there, but I can't see the big picture because it's so in my face. The reason why it worked so well, I theorize, is the association between actions and words. Often, shows that are all about physical and visual expression give way to a load of possible interpretations though the idea of "show, don't tell." The converse, where a show tells everything, give singular answers that leave very little room for interpretation past the meaning behind the said words, as well as words that were left unsaid. They're like a judgement that comes with the weight of a judge's gavel: a heavy sound that declares something absolutely. Simply put, actions are ambiguous, while words are solid. I won't be analyzing Revolutionary Girl Utena because that's a beast I can't touch at the current level I'm at, but I want to look at the idea of actions and words with regards to how they're used in anime. The Ambiguity of Actions Actions, which include any visual method of expression that do not use words, are ambiguous and are open for interpretation, which in of itself leads to a greater myriad of development for characters than simply stating goals and motivations though monologues. Fantastic and crazy interpretations result from this since nothing is explicitly stated, which require detective work to try and piece together what little facts are given. From there, the viewer would probably fill in the gaps and hope that their thoughts match up with the writer's intentions. The Touhou Project is an example of this. The creater, ZUN, gives the characters in his games their basic personality traits and gimmicks, which allow for fans to freely interpret and make up the rest of their back stories and relations of the characters to one another. This leads to deep-seated philosophies, characters fleshed out with flaws and merits, nonsensical quirks turning characters into walking gags, and completely insane interpretations that are worthy of a thousand groans. Disregarding authorial intentions, these types of setups throws canon to the wind and accepts anything and everything, allowing for a great deal of guess work, but that in of itself gives no solid answers. People are creatures that like to group things and have clear, definitive definitions for everything. It's why we try to interpret everything we see in the first place: to somehow arrive at an answer. It's an end result of dialogue, and arguments, and rhetoric. Because of that, there is a need for some sort of hint of an answer to these ambiguities with regards to anime, and that is centered at the trust between the viewer and the writer. Mutual trust between the viewer and the writer. The viewer has trust in the writer that the anime has a point, has a meaning, or has a purpose. One common complaint for an anime is that it's pointless, where events or scenes happen that lead to nothing of consequence. This complaint exists, to my knowledge, because it's a waste of time and emotional investment. If the writer and the anime itself pays no mind to its pointless scenes, then the viewer too also have no obligation to pay attention. The trust must exist so that viewers can enjoy anime without feeling that they are getting cheated out of their experience. Like a romance between two shy people, the writer tries to hint the viewer at their intention, but cannot come out and say what they mean. They want the viewer to continue watching and make sense of their work, but if the writer were to ever confess their intentions, it would destroy the magic of ambiguity, put words to those intentions, and most likely deviate from any expectation that the viewer has due to differences in standing and experience. The viewer wishes to know more about the writer through the anime and learn what the writer wants to tell them, so all the viewer can do is keep watching and interpreting with the hope that there is some sense to what they're watching. This is an interpretation of the relationship between a mystery writer and reader from Umineko no Naku Koro ni, but I believe it could be adopted to writers and readers/viewers in general. One cannot exist without the other, but a greater burden lies with the writers. After all, if a potential crush seems to be hopeless from the start, one would simply move on. The Weight of Words The clarity and absolute declarations of written dialogue and explanations carries a heavy weight. I've heard many complaints on shows for having too much dialogue, or having boring monologues/speeches, or just simply being boring by never engaging in any actual actions. More importantly, with regards to plot, the reveal of an antagonist's motive or the reason for the protagonist's struggles give no more room for interpretation. It becomes stale, boring, drawn out, or synonymous with a lecture. In Fate/zero, Tokiomi Tohsaka and Risei Kotomine were walking in circles around Kirei Kotomine in the first episode, being engaged in a heavy dialogue about the Holy Grail War. At times, talking heads with static bodies is a budget-saving technique. In situations like this, where there's nothing truly interesting that the characters could be doing while being engaged in a necessary dialogue, awkward things like this can happen in a desperate attempt to keep things interesting. At other times, it can prove to be engaging through the presence of witty or dynamic characters. Bakemonogatari excels in mundane and nonsensical dialogues that are, for some reason, clever and unique. I have never seen a discussion about random crap on the radio so interesting before. As a matter of fact, the pointlessness of those dialogues flesh out the characters by making them more rounded and developed. In other words, no other characters, to my knowledge, engages in dialogue quite like the Bakemonogatari characters, and as a result of that, no other characters will be able to emulate the unique dynamics of the Bakemonogatari characters. Words can, of course, also be read into. Hidden meanings, word puzzles, double meanings, lies, half-lies, and words blended with symbolic imagery allows for interpretations just as actions do. However, there's a certain weight that's attached to words. In fact, because words themselves are symbols, they carry meanings that would be commonly understood by the educated masses, which in of itself define both what the characters are describing and the characters themselves. If a character used gratuitous usage of swear words to describe something, we know how we're supposed to interpret the subject that's being described, as well as the nature of the character that's speaking. That also leads to some interesting things such as code words, localized slang, contracts that require reading between the lines, and so on. I would compare the ambiguity of writing to a magic show. It's all smoke and mirrors to hide the truth, or at least one would normally assume. However, if it is truly magic, then there's not much to be impressed about. Given that magic were real, then anything fantastic or dynamic would only be expected. The twists and turns it takes to conceal the truth of fake magic is not only more interesting, but allows for a lot of imagination on both sides. In relation to anime, shows that are ambiguous come with the assumption that there is at least one solid answer as intended by the writer. If the ambiguity is truly ambiguous and there's no real meaning, then that's all there is to it. No interpretation is needed, and the attempt itself is simply flashy writing with no deeper thought. This is why clues are needed, in the form of spoken dialogue, to give the viewers something to work with in the pursuit of a developed interpretation. It's true, actions speak louder than words, but while action gives a wide breadth of possible interpretations, words give a few but solid meanings to reach out for. End Message So, what could be said about "show, don't tell?" What can be done about translating written works into animated form? How can one explain so much depth in a limited amount of dialogue? In a medium not restricted by the boundaries of logic and physics, the visual medium can explore, explain, and show things that extend far beyond common knowledge and common sense. It's the reason why even if I can't understand something I'm watching, I'll at least find ways to appreciate the work the writer puts forth. That, in of itself, is the magic of not simply the visual medium, but the untapped potential of anime. tl;dr - By action or words, there is no single answer to the best way of telling a story or forming a message in anime. That, in of itself, is a single answer and, as I see it, the complexity of storytelling in anime.