The_Motherly_Figures_in_Galaxy_Express_999

Set in a high-tech future in which humans learn to transfer their consciousness to mechanical bodies, Rintaro’s 1979 film, Galaxy Express 999, highlights Hoshino Tetsuro’s journey to obtain a mechanized body that will give him the ability to live forever. His desire to obtain a mechanical body increases after he witnesses the mortality of life when Count Mecha and other trophy hunters murdered his mother. Rintaro uses limited animation, especially still framing, pan shots, and zooms to help create a film that describes Tetsuro’s nostalgia and longing for his deceased mother as he develops a relationship with Maetel, a conniving but sympathetic robot who is a spitting image of his mother. Employing these limited animation techniques also helps Rintaro in developing Tetsuro’s internal conflict between what it means to be human or a machine. While the film depicts Tetsuro searching for and killing Count Mecha to avenge his mother’s death, it more importantly shows Tetsuro’s process in realizing how material wealth and immortality takes out the humanity and dignity in people. The beginning of the film portrays Tetsuro attempting to get on Galaxy Express 999 in order to reach Planet Andromeda, where it is said mechanical bodies are handed out to humans who seek them. After running away from the police for stealing a one-way train ticket, Tetsuro meets up with a beautiful woman, Maetel. She probes into his recent memory with a “dream sensor” and uncover’s Testsuro’s yearning for a motherly figure through the tragic story of his mother’s death. The audience is introduced to Testuro’s mother through various camera techniques that seem to accentuate the elegance and curvature of her body. For example, when Count Mecha murders her, the wind blows her coat off-screen to reveal her long, brown hair and naked body. The camera zooms out from an extreme high angle to picture her full body in the snow and then moves to a pan shot of the vast terrain. These two camera techniques do not simply extend the film to make it longer in duration; rather, the zoom out shot signals to the audience that the body will play a significant role in the development of the film and the pan shot helps to portray the sense of emptiness in Tetsuro’s life. This sequence shows and accentuates the figure of the human body and Testuro’s motherly absence because they provide the groundwork for the overarching theme in Galaxy Express 999, that is the yearning for a motherly figure. Tetsuro’s need for a motherly figured is fulfilled in the following scene. When Tetsuro wakes from his sleep, he peeks into the shower room and witnesses Maetel talking on the phone. Perhaps what shocks him most is her physical resemblance to his mother and Tetsuro expresses this astonishment by saying “Mother'” as if Maetel is his mother. The audience first views Maetel’s naked body through a tilt up shot that starts at her feet and moves up to her head. Although her long blonde hair covers her body, the tilt shot invites the viewers to analyze her body as it relates to Tetsuro’s mother in the previous scene. Rintaro’s purpose is to evoke nostalgia from Tetsuro about his mother but also to trick the audience into believing that Maetel, with her long blond hair, is Tetsuro’s mother in disguise. Upon reaching Maetel’s head via the tilt shot, she turns around and the camera pauses in a close up position of her face. This still imaging technique, along with the tilt shot, are essential to illustrating that Tetsuro made a connection between the two bodies. The still image of Maetel’s face, although simple in nature, amplifies the mood and feelings that Rintaro wants the audience to experience. Thus, the static pose, as Chi Hang Li states in The Complete Guide to Anime Techniques, “heightens the tension in the scene” and claims that “no amount of intricate animation will convey this more efficiently.” The effectiveness of the tilt shot and the still image, is assisted by the well-considered composition of the onscreen elements. The shower scene is one that effectively uses a still image to give the scene a certain amount of intensity and curiosity that would otherwise be difficult to express through typical frame-by-frame animation. Simply, Rintaro would not portray Maetel’s body through the tilt shot and her face as a still image if he did not want the audience to establish a connection between the two women. Therefore, simplifying characters and images through these camera techniques are effective tools for portraying feelings and emotions. Similar camera techniques are employed in subsequent sequences to reiterate Tetsuro’s nostalgia for his mother. Before, Tetsuro and Maetel make a brief stop at Pluto, which according to Maetel is called the “Faltering Planet” because this is where the “chill of the frozen souls” are kept, Maetel attempts to keep Tetsuro warm from the frigid temperature. Maetel wraps Tetsuro in her coat while the camera focuses on Tetsuro’s eyes and then it makes an eye-line match cut to focus on Maetel’s eyes. This camera technique is best used to show that their eye contact evokes a special kind of feeling between the two characters. It is easy to jump to conclusions and say that Tetsuro and Maetel are falling in love but this is not the case. While Maetel seems to take on the motherly role for Tetsuro, the connections and feelings are merely superficial because Tetsuro is still attached to his biological mother and Maetel only serves to represent her. The following camera techniques coupled with a voiceover and a flashback amplifies the superficial connection that is generated between Maetel and Tetsuro. The camera starts from the aisle of the train and pans over to show the two characters wrapped in Maetel’s coat. Next, the camera zooms in and fades into a flashback of Tetsuro and his mother in the same position when they were caught in a snowstorm. Tetsuro says through a voiceover, “Sometimes when we were caught in a snowstorm, my mother would warm me up like this.” The voiceover is utilized to reveal information that could not necessarily be understood without explanation. The voiceover and the close up shot of Tetsuro and Maetel’s eyes take the audience into their inner subjectivity, revealing such mental processes, such as thoughts and emotions. These limited animation techniques thus help the audience further cement the emotions that Tetsuro conjures around Maetel. While on Pluto, Tetsuro meets the caretaker of the Grave of Ice, Shadow, but he does not feel a sense of nostalgia for his mother as he does with Maetel. Although she seems to be an attractive female figure, Rintaro does not portray her through similar camera techniques because there is a fundamental different between the two female characters. Rather than the still and close up shots to accentuate Shadow’s bodily characteristics, Shadow is illustrated through long and medium shots. Later, Tetsuro learns that Shadow is a machine and that her beauty is unnatural so this makes her incapable of being a motherly figure for Tetsuro. The conflict between humanity and machines is also present in this scene. Shadow grieves over her loss of humanity as she reveals to Tetsuro that she remains faceless. In fact, the close up shot is used to provoke a different type of emotion than the close up shots of Maetel. It also aids Rintaro in portraying the uncanniness of Shadow’s mechanical body. Shadow then snatches Testuro’s arm and pulls him close to her as if she wants to sleep with him because this is her way of regaining her humanity. Soon, Maetel quickly intrudes and saves Tetsuro from Shadow’s evil plan. Maetel says “becoming a machine was your choice…It’s not his fault you lack the courage to choose between a machine body and limited human life.” Since Shadow is a machine and did not understand the consequences of choosing eternal life with a mechanical body, Rintaro cannot film her in the same manner as he films Maetel. Rather, Rintaro illustrate Shadow through camera techniques that makes the audience feel more distant and less sympathetic toward Shadow than to Maetel. For example, the zoom out shot is employed when the audience sees Shadow grieving over her human body and once more when Shadow looks up at Galaxy Express 999 as it is departing Pluto. This limited animation technique is intended to make the audience feel less connected, and perhaps make them feel more distant, from Shadow. All of these camera techniques, medium and close up with zoom out shots, demonstrate how Rintaro attempts to portray Shadow and her personal conflict with a decision that she cannot reconcile while also introducing the conflict between humanity and machines. The interaction between Tetsuro and Shadow is the first time Testuro learns of the disadvantages to transforming oneself to a mechanical body. Shortly thereafter, Tetsuro is introduced to Claire, a machine-woman made out of crystal-glass. The audience is introduced to Claire in the same way that Maetel was introduced: tilt up shot from the feet that culminates in a still image of her face. Therefore, the audience can conclude that Claire will represent a more sympathetic and positive character than Shadow. Claire mentions that it was her mother who decided her body should be glass and that she is working on Galaxy Express 999 to save money to reclaim her human body. Claire did not make the decision to have a mechanical body and she is doing everything in her power to regain her humanity. In Shadow’s case, however, her personal decision to become a machine haunts her in her everyday life. Claire’s character is actually very dynamic because it not only shows an individual who is trying to regain her humanity, but she is also a love interest for Tetsuro that Maetel cannot fill. Tetsuro blushes and chokes on his speech when talking to Claire, which signify natural, human reactions when a male child sees an attractive person of the opposite sex. Perhaps this film was just one of the 1970s anime films that catered to middle-school boys who were at a time in their lives where they begin to develop an interest in girls (Poitras, 51). This reaction is heightened when Claire places her “see-through” hand on Tetsuro’s realizes the difference between what is human and what is not. He is not only shocked at the difference between his human hand and Claire’s uncanny hand, but he is also shocked by Claire’s actual touch. Therefore, Claire’s image and phsycial appearance forces Tetsuro to rethink his original desire for a mechanical body. A mechanical body is not only uncanny but it also takes away the value in humanity. Testuro finally avenges his mother’s death by killing Count Mecha but also learns that eternal life is not always about happiness. Testuro has another epiphany and declares that it is because “life is limited that people try hard to live and to feel for others, and that is what creates kindness.” Since Count Mecha was a machine with eternal life, he did not value life and could not feel any kindness toward humans. Testuro then vows to destroy the Planet Andromeda so that no one is able to become a machine. Testuro and Maetel finally arrive at their final destination but Testsuro quickly learns that the planet is called Planet Maetel and that Maetel is actually a machine. Furthermore, the ruler of the planet is Queen Promentheum and is Maetel’s evil mother. The Queen controls the planet by entirely mechanized human components and the confrontation between Testuro and the Queen reveals that Maetel’s mission was to bring him for that purpose. Although the audience may think Maetel is a conniving character whose feelings toward Testuro is fake, the close up shots of her face coupled with silence actually informs us that she feels remorse for her actions. Tetsuro doesn't understand why he has been betrayed by Maetel, but Maetel actually has plans of her own: she attempts to destroy the mechanized civilization with the help of her father, Dr. Ban, whose consciousness resides in a pendant around her neck. There is a sequence of zoom-in shots of Maetel’s face when she explains her intent to destroy the planet and this technique helps Rintaro increase the intensity of the confrontation between her and her mother. Maetel explains that she does not want to live forever because it brings eternal torment and destroying the planet will ensure once more that life may have value. After Tetsuro throws the pendant into the core of the planet, the planet begins to erupt. Testuro pulls Maetel from a near-tragic fall and then the camera pauses on the two of them while holding each other’s hands through a medium shot. The camera then zooms into Testuro faces to capture his bewilderment and he says, “Your hands are so warm, how can you be a machine'” The camera turns to Maetel and employs the same camera technique while she explains, “My body is your mother’s, Testuro. I am a copy of your mother in her youth.” Although Maetel deceived Tetsuro, the mere that fact he saves her informs the audience that he still feels a connection to Maetel and the zoom in shots on their faces only adds to this feeling. The conversation also tells the audience why exactly Tetsuro is so attracted to Maetel: her body is clone of his mother’s body. The limited animation shots that perpetuate the human body thus inform the viewers that Tetsuro learns the difference between what it means to be a human or a machine. The still framing, tilt and pan shots, and zooms help depict Tetsuro’s thoughts and learning processes while also developing a unique relationship with Maetel, who in the end Tetsuro discovers is a machine but is disguised with a human body that is a clone from his mother. More importantly, Tetsuro learns that machines become evil as they loose their humanity and takes it upon himself to end the production of mechanical bodies.