#and i don't keep track of celebrity gossip (loosely-used term)

[number1villainstan]

I speedran unlocking utena 2(TM) apparently, because my experience of watching RGU for the first time was:

StuCo arc: lmao look at this fool saionji. get fucked Black Rose arc: ...he looks so happy with Wakaba... Akiopocalypse arc: Saionji Kyouichi is my favorite character of all time. He's lashing out in the same way I would lash out if I was in his situation, if I had never learned the coping mechanisms I did, if I had had shittier parents, if I hadn't been raised a girl, etc etc etc. My sincerest wish is for him to be genuinely happy and connected post-Ohtori. I would kill for him. I would die for him. I would live for him.

But then again, I've always had a Thing for angry and/or cheated antagonistic characters, and also as a trans man with anger issues like--I Get It (at least Saionji's deal). And then of course there's the fact that I have a Bachelor's in Public Health, which is a field that is All About thinking about the larger societal problems you mentioned and how to fix them! We call it 'systems thinking' and it's one of the most important concepts/skills in the entire field, and quite frankly I think systems thinking should probably be taught to everyone in like high school at the latest, because it is so critical to understanding the systems we live in and how to separate those systems from individuals in your head.

On the less-personal analysis side, though, this idea:

how easy it is to hate them as individuals! and how that’s just another way we ignore the larger societal problems!! if the issue is touga and saionji and miki, then it isn’t the circumstances that put them there.

is really really good to me, because it touches on the 'systems thinking' you mentioned earlier, and because it also ties into the motif of the Swords of Hate. Hatred is usually caused by fear or long-lasting pain, and is usually directed at the someone or something that the person in question thinks is causing their pain--and in this case, the person who's actually causing pain (Akio) shrouds the methods of pain in secrecy and normalcy and presents Anthy as the scapegoat, so those Swords of Hate attack her instead. The Swords of Hate most obviously represent the hatred of women who fail to live up to misogynistic standards ("she deserved to be raped, look at what she was wearing" "why doesn't she stay home and take care of her kids like a good mom?" "ugh she's so ugly, why doesn't she lose weight/put on makeup/shave her legs") and arguably also represent the hatred aimed at people who don't fit into the gender binary for whatever reason (i.e. accusing a black woman of being a man and other instances of misogynoir, because the gender binary at least in our Western culture is also rooted in racism; transphobes of all stripes casting trans women/MtX people as evil brutish predators and trans men/FtX people as "confused little girls"; talking about butches like they're automatically brutish and predatory and rude because they're masculine when they're not "supposed" to be), but given that this is Revolutionary Girl Utena and every single metaphor in it is pulling quadruple duty it could also absolutely refer to the hatred of privileged men for not living up to reasonable ethical standards--not because said hatred isn't justified, but because it's unproductive and harmful.

Jennifer Coates, in her 2016 piece I Am A Transwoman. I Am In The Closet. I Am Not Coming Out., discusses the effects of cissexist antimasculinity on herself and in society in general, including this gem:

Have you noticed, when a product is marketed in an unnecessarily gendered way, that the blame shifts depending on the gender? That a pink pen made “for women” is (and this is, of course, true) the work of idiotic cynical marketing people trying insultingly to pander to what they imagine women want? But when they make yogurt “for men” it is suddenly about how hilarious and fragile masculinity is — how men can’t eat yogurt unless their poor widdle bwains can be sure it doesn’t make them gay? #MasculinitySoFragile is aimed, with smug malice, at men—not marketers.

The attitude she describes here is common in feminist and queer spaces, but it's just another iteration of the patriarchal gender binary, especially gender essentialism and oppositional sexism: women (who are innocent by virtue of being women) are influenced by patriarchal marketing strategies (or hiring policies or housing availability or the fashion industry etc etc etc), but men cannot be influenced by patriarchal marketing strategies because men are the opposite of women, and if they are not influenced by marketing then they must be doing all the influencing. And it creeps further: women's issues are Important, which means that men's issues must be Not Important because men and women are opposites. Stick 'trans' in that last sentence and you get the mindset that came up with the TMA/TME binary, or combine it with the transphobic assumption that gender is defined by genitals and you get a major part of TERF/SWERF ideology. A lot of otherwise progressive people do this because they haven't fully deconstructed their beliefs about gender, or because they have failed to conceptually separate individuals and populations from societal systems, and it prevents them from seeing the common humanity and common struggles between people of all genders.

Revolutionary Girl Utena, on the other hand, doesn't do this. At all. It recognizes that Touga's and Kozue's hypersexuality are both trauma responses, that Wakaba's and Saionji's jealousy each come from similar circumstances, that Anthy and Touga are practically the same person wearing two different masks. It paints the role of 'princess' and the role of 'prince' as equally reductive and equally bad for the person enacting them. It's why the twin triumphs of the show have nothing to do with punishing or hurting Akio--have nothing to do with hate--and instead have everything to do with solidarity and self-love. It's why Saionji--who arguably hates the system the most out of the entire cast, bar Anthy--only starts to find the right direction when he lets go of his jealousy and takes Touga's olive branch. It's why Akio whacking a sword at those doors does nothing, but a swordless Utena's tear allows her to open the door to Anthy's coffin and give her the strength to love herself enough to walk away.

Because ultimately hatred can do very little to make the world brighter, better, or less oppressive. Because systems of oppression are systems of hatred and division. Because liberation can only be achieved through compassion and solidarity.

(Even if you fucking hate the dude you're trying to work with.)

see the thing about rewatching utena is that the first few watches are for hating the male characters bc it’s SO REAL and they do suck.. but then you eventually get to a rewatch where you unlock utena 2(tm) where you realize how easy it is to hate them as individuals! and how that’s just another way we ignore the larger societal problems!! if the issue is touga and saionji and miki, then it isn’t the circumstances that put them there. the beauty of the fictional nature of rgu is that it allows us to more deeply analyze the very common negative traits and behaviors of the characters and deconstruct them in a more productive way than just “oh these guys suck we have to punish them” idk maybe it’s just the prison/punitive justice abolitionist in me but i don’t think it’s practical to solve every issue where someone sucks by just like writing them off and getting rid of them??? idk i’ve lost the train of this post but the real ones get it!!!!!!!!