Serial Experiments Lain [Abandoned Thread]

i liked serial experiments lain. but yeah it doesn't explain the concepts to the average viewer. you have to do research to understand the references in the show. but if you like experimental hipster shows serial experiments lain is a good show.

Serial Experiments Lain [NOT BAIT]-[OPEN DISCUSSION]-[MAINTAIN CIVILITY]-[PERSONAL 'OPINION']-[PRANK GONE SEXUAL]-[POLICE INVOLVED]-[GENEVA CONVENTION??]-[JOHN PORK MOMENT]

I don't agree but I can absolutely understand why Lain wouldn't appeal to some people. I think it has a lot of depth: I've watched it an absurd amount of times at this point and I still always notice something new and consider things from another point of view. it's also worth bearing in mind that Lain is a multimedia project, it doesn't begin and end with the anime.

@Enlightened_Anon the term you're looking for is 'moot point'. I could have deconstructed your argument (a thesis, it is not) further, but I didn't feel that it was worth my time. but, since you're keen to have a debate, I'll bite.

Lain doesn't resonate with you, that's fair, but your argument has zero basis: it's your feeling that the concepts weren't explored more in-depth. you have no facts to support that claim. you have no facts to support your claim that "various ideas have been bundled together hastily to craft a semblance of a finished product". if you're going to speak in absolutes, at least back it up properly.

if you took the time to look the show up, you'd see that it's part of a bigger multimedia sphere. there's the PSX game (which is canonical), several books which provide more information and concepts and there's now AI Lain which raises a whole other host of questions. even with something as seemingly benign as the laserdisc sets, they packed a tonne of additional information into the inserts and sleeve art. Lain is something that merits exploration and deep dives, the show is obviously central but that's not where Lain's story ends.

@Leverkuhn when attempting to make a critical analysis of something, it's a good idea to consider the source material as well as adjacent, related material, especially when said material is canonical. Lain is partially a self-contained work, but it'd be remiss to not consider other material that supplements the anime. whether that adjacent material makes it better or not is a matter of subjectivity but it's still important to evaluate if the goal is to make some kind of critical analysis. I didn't mention it to "defend" Lain, I was crystal clear about how I can understand why it's unappealing to some, I mentioned it to potentially provide more context and material for anyone who is interested.

you and I don't see Lain the same way and that's fine--we're different people and subjectivity is part of the fun when it comes to exploring art. I got a lot out of the show but I'm not going to "defend" it nor will I justify my opinions on it: your opinion won't change and neither will mine, so it's an impasse... an inconsequential one, at that. I'm not offended if others don't like it, I just wanted to throw my two cents in: I was hoping to have at least a slightly interesting discussion on it, but that was a tall ask on this site, I suppose.

I only watched it 'cause I loved the opening. Had to slog through the whole thing, then when I finished, I understood nothing, didn't feel like searching up an explanation, and haven't watched it again since and remember nothing. I do remember thinking it had some similarities to Madoka Magica, but that's it. Honesty was really disappointed. I had a similar experience with Ergo Proxy, except I couldn't even finish that one.

@ConstantReader
It is one of those kind of shows you understand more if you see it again years later assuming you had more experiences and have different knowledge and views to some degree than you did before. Though depends when you first saw it, i assume some people wouldnt benefit from seeing it a few times.

You mean you won't even support your own stance ?


Essays aren't intended as works of entertainment they just flatly provide information and an opinion connected to that information. However essays aren't encyclopedias they always assume there is some preexisting knowledge and only give the most basic briefing of anything that starts going off topic.


But it was intended and written to be a multimedia project even though you can get a message just from the anime.


Well no it isn't only about that and you misunderstood that much since the message if any is maintaining balance between the internet and in person social interactions not a completely materialistic focus of the world as you seem to be suggesting. The show is about the nature of man's relationship with technology and their fellow man and how these things interplay with eachother where the tech effects the mind and the mind effects the tech and this brings people together while simultaneously bringing them apart from them not acting like their true selves and deceiving eachother and spreading gossip and lies. Some of that is shown with how there is different Lains. They represent both aspects of herself in an identity crisis from her different personas as well as how different people see her due to how information influences reality such as those seeing her as a goddess. It does suggest importance of friendship and family and other kinds of relationships and what can happen without such as when you see Lain hallucinating, and you have that one weird guy that was going around with a head mount display totally immersed in technology not meet a good end, or how Lain's sister just ceased to exist in any meaningful way, how Lain doesnt really have a very close relationship with her parents only able to at most connect with her dad through a shared interest in computing and that this kind of stuff is what made her mentally unstable to begin with.

The alien wasnt meant as a literal thing. It was to help drive in a message about information. The Roswell crash was mentioned prior bringing up the notion some modern technology was reverse engineered from alien technology but that wasnt the point, the point was about disinformation. It was talking about fake and biased news effectively and how information true or false can become our experienced reality. Also Lain hallucinates that was shown early in the series with her seeing steam come off her hands.



It is meant to have dual meanings where you can interpret events as real or not real is irrelevant because in every case it is real for Lain.



How so? It had people literally dying because of their obsession with it and it did show it can be used as a tool to communicate with people anywhere and give you access to information at the tip of your fingers.


And? Pointing out the problems of that isnt meaningless. Though i wasnt talking about journalism only but like how that one version of Lain spread rumors about Alice for example.


I never said it was dissociative identity disorder necessarily. It is more likely along the lines of online personas, different aspects of the psyche (possibly ego, id, superego) and creations of rumours and peoples subjective interpretations. This seems to be what you didnt get how a big theme in the show is about how information influences reality and it also shown in the game too so it is definitely the case. People can act online in ways they wouldnt in person since sometimes they use it as an outlet. You also have to keep in mind it is implied Lain possibly isnt even human to begin with which is shown in dialogue with her dad late in the series so you dont have to assume she has to closely match existing mental illnesses it could be a bug in program or multiple versions of her exist trained on different data.


As i already said technology can act as a distraction or it can enhance communication as well as distort it. For example communication with text alone you lose information from body language and facial expressions. You could have a bunch of people right next to eachother but not communicating with eachother from only looking at their phones which makes sense for strangers but this happens with friends and romantic partners too. It had a lot of ideas going at once too many to express in full depth explicitly but you do see these things just it isnt obvious at first glance.

Youre taking things too literally but like I said it covers repeatedly how information is what creates subjective reality and that information is spread influencing people's thoughts and actions. When people are connected to eachother on a global scale it means people dont only act only as individuals but begin thinking like a massive hive mind and there has been real research into this these days i recall hearing about. Not sure if i can find the papers on it at the moment. Anyway like in the show it is thought this is like an evolution of mankind.

@traed It's almost like Lain is a work of art and not a textbook.