Shinji Character Analysis

Improved Essays
The concept of masculinity has long been rooted in attempts to quantify men on a spectrum consisting of specific characteristics associated with impassiveness, aggression, and control. In Freud’s proposition of defense mechanisms, he suggests that men escape from their emotions and feelings as they have learned to interpret these cues as threats to their male identities . Shinji’s passiveness is a misperception concerning his lack of masculine bravado. He leaves a negative impression on viewers due to his awkwardness, excessive lamenting about his misfortunes, and the unwillingness to pilot Unit-01—all of which equate a character that is easy to manipulate, but difficult to sympathize with.
Despite the disparaging nature of Shinji’s personality,
…show more content…
At the end of episode 6, Shinji rushes to Rei’s entry plug (20:30:00) and sheds tears of joy and relief (20:51:10) rather than frustration. These tears are associated with nurture and are a rejection of masculine standards recognized through Misato’s realization of Shinji’s need for emotional expression and his projection of concern on to Rei. Shinji’s freedom to express his nurturing identity can be attributed to the events at the end of episode 4, where Misato finally comprehends his inability to effectively communicate his frustrations and attempts to reconnect with him by arriving at the station. Misato’s realization reframes the need in supporting a spectrum of ideas that are cognizant of multiple masculine identities that do not uphold aggressive and dominant character traits. These hidden identities along the masculine spectrum, such as queerness and nurturing for example, are oppressed. By reestablishing his connection with his emotions, Shinji continues this practice of nurturing and emotional encouraging with Rei, when he urges her to smile with tears still in his eyes, shattering expectations of masculinity in relation to accepting feminized identities associated with emotional …show more content…
For the Otaku who are overwhelmed by their insecurities regarding their masculinity, perhaps the message Anno is attempting to convey to his audience is the need to challenge other men on patriarchal and sexist ideologies, rather than following a regime that is conclusive of the hikikomori lifestyle.
The universe of Evangelion exists as a space that allows for more complex explorations of masculinity within the medium of anime and manga. The influence of hegemonic masculinity consists of aggressive, dominant, and oppressive characteristics that are stunted because of a lack of emotional presence. If society could accept different perspectives of masculinity, perhaps the fans who religiously follow the series, would develop a lifestyle that is emotionally and socially stimulating, and Shinji would no longer be stigmatized for his overly emotional

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a young mongoose who washed up in a garden after a storm. He fought a “great war” to protect a small English family in an indian bungalow. Nag and Nagaina two fierce cobras who ruled this garden. Rikki fought and killed both of them along with their eggs. Rikki was protective, brave and curious while he was protecting the family and garden from the cobras.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Just as in Miss Representation, Tough Guise 2 evaluates the effect of a toxic gender hierarchy portrayed in American media. However, this documentary focuses more on the male experience and how constructs and scripts of masculinity can affect them throughout their lives. While girls contend with images of Barbie Malibu as the standard of feminine appearance, boys are shown a GI Joe with biceps that measure even larger than Dwayne Johnson’s as the ideal standard of physical masculinity. Additionally, the numerous manners in which violence is encouraged in men sprouts from everyday media like TV shows, ads, and video games. It promises men uncompromising control, dominance, and power over others in life, defining these traits (among others)…

    • 1671 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    On an asphalt baseball field in Brooklyn, two teams from local Yeshivah schools meet. At first, it just seems like a baseball game between two Jewish high school teams. But the game quickly turns into a holy war when the caftan and ear lock wearing Hasidic team begins to taunt and bully the less conservative “hell-bound sinners” on the other team. Hate boils as Danny Saunders, the leader of the Hasidic team, purposely hits a pitch right back at the pitcher, crushing his glasses and landing him in the hospital for a week. This is how Chaim Potok 's book The Chosen begins.…

    • 2428 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "Tough Guise 2" featuring Jackson Katz starts by pulling on viewers heartstrings with news reports on recent shootings. These were such significant and traumatizing events from not too long ago. These shootings are still an incredibly big deal, even today. Jackson Katz makes a rather valid point when he says that maybe we need to stop focusing on the wrong details. He then continues to explain how men may be the sole problem behind these aggressive actions.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Plague of Progress: Mishima’s Characterization and Views of Westernization A common misconception is that change always equates to progress, yet sometimes change can strip a society of its fundamental characteristics. Japan endured similar events, surrounding World War II that resulted in an increasingly Westernized country that lost it’s integrity and beliefs. In this allegorical novel, The Sailor who fell from Grace with the Sea, Yukio Mishima uses the characters Fusako, Ryuji and Noboru whom symbolize the different states of Japan to illustrate the plague of Westernization and convey the value of tradition in Japan. Primarily, Fusako embodies modern Japan with her obsession with foreign goods and focus on economic growth, which conveys…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although, as she gets older, she begins to question those morals and the lines between what she believes is right and wrong begin to blur. Marji is fortunate to grow up with both genders that strongly believe…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Attebury suggests that one should watch the men ‘when no women can rescue them from their own messes’. There are times when the narrator of The War of the Worlds and Juan find themselves without female companionship or feminine substitutes nearby. When men stand on their own, masculinity may be compromised in front of danger and alienation. Patrick Parrinder points out that ‘the humanist conception of the universe has been shattered by the Martian invasion’. Amongst the confusion and fear during the attack, the narrator shows a gradual build of masculinity when he is alone.…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the reading “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code”, Michael Kimmel critics what it means to be a man and the “Guy Code” they are expected to follow. According to Kimmel, masculinity is a problematic social construct that invokes behaviors that men tend to follow unconsciously. The unconscious behaviors that men tend to follow is know as the “Guy Code” that is passed down to them when they were young. Kimmel claims that boys follow the “Guy Code” at a young age because they don’t want to be considered gay or in masculine.…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thousand Cranes Analysis

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This particular component expanding to the male stereotype as a whole, given Kikuji is the only major active male in the text. This given by, "Japanese... in those books, smoked, took a bath with his son which is a common custom in Japan, came home late from working so hard, and was a man of few words," (ED447502 page 11). Kikuji clearly breaks from all of these expectations. He has no son to bathe with, he never smokes, spoke frequently and often without forethought, and his work schedule was never elaborated upon. Similarly, he met the criterion of Japanese stereotypes of women in the sense that he was, "practical," (ED447502 page 11).…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He blames men acting out with violence on the loss of masculinity in our culture and concludes that a revival of masculinism is what will curb the tragedies he believes are a result of this. He urges men to find pride in the traditional traits that make them inherently…

    • 2174 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In ¨Talking to Boys the Way We Talk to Girls¨ Andrew Reiner describes how the way parents treat and talk to their children based on gender affects the way men and women embrace their emotions in the future. Reiner claims that men are inherently forced to suppress their emotions starting at a young age, while women are more in touch with their emotions because parents were more accepting of girls expressing their feelings. Between physical affection and verbal affection, boys do not receive the same amount or type as girls do. This permanently affects the way that each gender interprets how expressing emotion is socially acceptable. Reiner uses examples of real life situations and proof from research to educate the audience of the root of this problem.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    On Female Identity Analysis

    • 2369 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Judith Kegan Gardiner writes in On Female Identity and Writing by Women that “[f]emale identity is a process and writing by women engages us in this process as the female seeks to define itself in the experience of creating art” (361). Elaine Showalter takes the case further in her discussion of gender differences in determining “whether sex differences in language use can be theorized in terms of biology, socialization, and culture; whether women can create new languages of their own; [and] whether speaking, reading, and writing are gender marked” (252). She concludes that insufficient evidence exists in the dialogue between the genders, that language is not codified by sex and therefore cannot be regarded excepting “styles, strategies,…

    • 2369 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Personally, I found the film The Mask You Live In very eye opening. It focuses around how young boys are taught to portray their assigned gender and how they carry the lessons they are given into manhood. From as young as six years old, a boy is taught not to show emotion; that crying and hugging and any public displays of affection towards friends or loved ones in too feminine and unmanly. Boys learn to watch their father figures and associate them as the ideal role model for masculinity. When a father shows aggression towards a woman who then starts to cry, a young boy would not initially know what to make of it, and would possibly then associate violence with being manly and strong emotions as weak and girly.…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Tsukuru Character Analysis

    • 1573 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Murakami presents three contrasting examples of masculinity via Tsukuru, Aka, and Ao. The reader is able to dissect each form of masculinity, understanding flaws each form possesses as well as strong holds. Murakami, addresses dilemmas within the male psyche in relation to the complexity of male sexaulity and desire. The novel examines the anxiety behind the retention of claiming a definitive and heterosexual attraction, a discussion much needed for the understanding of oneself, as well as the understanding and acceptance of…

    • 1573 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is simply naïve to disregard the overwhelming influence that the media and literature has had over the public over the past century and more precisely, in our youth. As a society, we constantly twist ourselves to fit the mold presented to us through various media outlets (e.g. TV, movies, magazines, advertisements, etc.) and in literature we encounter in our lives for a multitude of reasons. Throughout time, men have been presented to fit very traditionally masculine traits based on a preconceived narrative as to what it means to be a man and how to present oneself in order to be perceived as manly by others. Media and literature have branded a hyper-masculine image of men that has in time become what is expected for young boys to follow––be it relayed to them or not.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays