Aeon Flux at E3

Yup, he was there. I wasn't.

But my boss was and says he got me something.

Won't know till my boss is back next week.

Very excited....

Thanks in advance Peter!!!

The remastering of the episodes is proceeding slowly, painstakingly. As a matter of necessity, I'm being forced to rewatch every bit of footage repeatedly, endlessly. Edits, lip sync, color continuity. Digital effects to add some polish-- but there's a limit. Aeon and Trevor are almost never drawn correctly. Pointing out the flaws is defensive; to pre-empt complaints of sloppy execution. To the purists: the original broadcast versions were never the product as they were intended. They are just the tangible artifacts forever shortchanged and emasculated by a process engineered to deliver the best quality product as a last resort only.

We recorded the commentaries for most of the episodes. We sat in a booth and watched them, trying to say relevant and interesting things. I realized how quickly 22 minutes pass. Often, in my desire to avoid explaining/ interpreting for the audience, I fear I may have said too little and left the impression there wasn't that much to analyze.

Some lingering thoughts, while they are much in my mind...

I love Thanatophobia. Aeon is at her best in that one. I was reminded recently what had impelled me to write that story. Since early adolescence, I was obsessed with the striving for total freedom from control as a narrative theme. All my high school creative writing seemed to focus on it. Not freedom from control-- but the process of striving for it. It's probably the most used Macguffin in science fiction movies. THX1138, 1984, Brazil, Logan's Run, The Matrix, Star Wars, etc.; the heroes are rebels fighting for release from oppression. Usually, the stories end just when the hero achieves his precious state of freedom-- or in the downbeat versions, when they fail to escape. But what happens once that freedom is attained? What kind of life awaits? (Most of these rebels will likely succumb to another form of control. The Zion council hierarchy, the Jedi order.) Aeon Flux embodies the hard reality of living that supposed dream. She begins her journey where THX, Logan, Neo, Luke end theirs. Thanatophobia is the examination of the striving and the truth of what that goal entails. As often as not, Aeon's commitment to it will result in error and tragedy, but she'd have it no other way. It is the essence of the character and I'm mentioning it now, because a new Hollywood science fiction movie will be coming out later this year..

(I'd appreciate it if these postings remain here. Please do not copy and paste my quotes on other boards. Thanks!)

... Michael Bay's The Island.

I have to say this post has intrigued me for days. It brings up something I've never considered.

To focus on the act of striving for and not the actual achievement of freedom. So different a view it begs consideration.

Barb, rereading my post, I realize that it may be unclear what I was saying. Again, my elliptical mode of expression backfiring. Actually, what I was proposing was that it is very usual to focus on the striving. What is different about AF is that it does instead focus on the achievement of freedom.

To clarify:
My early writing was motivated by an adolescent urge for liberation. I mention my early writing to indicate what I have tried since to surpass, not to emphasize a continuity of focus. But I realized after a while that to focus on the striving and not the state of being free is to avoid answering the issue. Using freedom as a Macguffin is effective (everyone says they want freedom), but the limitation of a Macguffin is that it is something desired, not that it has any intrinsic value.

I find that most rebel/hero stories don't usually answer the question of how the hero handles being free, because once that goal is reached, their stories end. Aeon Flux was conceived as a possible answer. She isn't STRIVING to be free. She IS free. But to remain free of all control, she must forever rely on her own authority, her own morality, her own judgment, her own capacity for error.

In Thanatophobia, the two states of striving for vs. having freedom are contrasted in Sybil/Onan vs. Aeon. Onan, once attaining freedom, finds he is not up to the challenge of being Aeon's peer. In fact, his tendency for submission is precisely exploited by Aeon to try to convince Sybil to give up her own striving. The dynamics of a "controlling" sexual relationship reflects the broader domination/ submission of "controlling" political relations. The instinct for relinquishing self-control is in the end just as strong as the yearning for freedom. In other words, the essence of Aeon's character is NOT about the striving; it is living the "dream" of freedom itself.

(And that's the kind of analysis you will mostly not hear on the commentary tracks.)

Intriguing direction. I wouldn't call the dreaming of liberation adolescent at all.

Star Wars, so fabulously executed is a little on the one dimensional side for me.

Like the old joke 'what would you get if you played a country song backwards' What would Aniken Skywalker get if he played the Revenge of the Sith backwards? He'd get back his job, his ship, his friends, his wife...Backwards and forwards the concept is simple.

Aeon living the dream of freedom is a beautiful one, but also a complex one. You can't 'play it backwards' because it's deeper than gain or loss of something tangible. I'm still thinking about the concept, actually.

Monica seems free in a rebelious light where as Bregna seems to rely on it's dictatorship to remain in control of supposed freedom. It has always occured to me that the story falls on the old proverb: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

This is what led me to believe back in the day that Aeon's "crossings" weren't only to serve purpose but to also clear her conscience and reassure herself of certain "chosen" freedom.

That's an interesting way to look at it. I've always admired the characters of both Aeon and Trevor because they have absolute identity, and are confident in it, but I havn't ever before really tied that to the eternal war waged for freedom. If you know who you are, and you act accordingly, then you are truely free regardless of the circumstances and envirement.

I'm not quite sure what you intended on by Aeons persuasion of Sybil. What I got from it is that Aeon tryed to keep Sybil from crossing the line to test her true freedom, one from Aeons persuasion, but I'm not quite sure why she would do so or what to get from that.

Interesting new way to look at it though. Thanks.

Interesting, I see it now. I guess I always felt it, but your putting it into words, Peter, was pretty potent. Few of us are probably willing to give up all control from external sources, because it'd be damn uncomfortable. This is no doubt what Trevor is playing upon to maintain his power (and his conscience... oops, I said a dirty word). Aeon leads a life few would imitate, if they knew the truth of her situation. It's funny, as a kid watching this show, I wanted so much to be like her in some ways, powerful and in utter control of her life... but I think now that to live her life would be a tortured one.

More thoughts, since I'm high on caffeine and the talk has got my mind flowing...

Watching Trevor's Bregna, I always thought that I wouldn't necessarily mind being potentially observed at every moment, in itself (though I might fear what that surveillance could lead to...) and to this day I feel a bit ambiguous about the subject whenever issues of "privacy rights" come up in the news. If you're doing something, why feel the need to hide it? (Well, I can think of some cases, but...) I suppose I have to side with Trevor on this one. But then... Is the freedom to act in front of the camera without shame or inhibition one of Aeon's notional freedoms, hard to achieve in our reality? May be.

I was rewatching Riddick: Dark Fury the other day, and Peter, I wondered if working with the character (though I realize the story was pre-written) felt in any way similar to your approach to Aeon, inasmuch as they both seem to work within the same sort of "freedom framework." I also wanted to let you know that someone was still watching this and enjoying the hard work you put into it.