Gungrave and Wagner's Ring
Jan. 22nd, 2012 02:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labingiIt is time for a Gungrave post in honor of my latest rewatch. This time, another literary analogy, Gungrave’s intriguing echoes of Wagner’s Ring.
In particular, Brandon shares some notable themes with Brünnhilde. Both are highly skilled, powerful, moral people in the unenviable profession of bringing death to designated individuals. Despite their personal power, both are absolute servants to the will of the “Father.” Both come from a family/culture in which betrayal is the highest crime. Both are required to take lives they would rather save. Both run into conflict between their duty and their heart. Both fall from the grace of the family by following their hearts.
Of course, there are differences too. For one thing, Brandon’s story has two layers where Brünnhilde’s has one. Brünnhilde, in a nutshell, defies Wotan (her father, the king of gods) to try to save the life of his son, Siegmund, whom duty required Wotan to kill. For her pains, she is cursed with mortality, eventually hooks up with Siegfried (the hero), and after his death, purges the curse on the Ring by riding into his funeral pyre.
Brandon has two Wotans and two Siegmunds/Siegfrieds. Let’s take the easy one first. Brandon is supposed to be a servant of Millennion (latterly represented by Harry/Wotan), but since Harry has turned out to be something of a psycho, Brandon becomes an enemy of Harry’s Millennion to save the heir to Millennion (Mika). This places Mika in the role of Siegmund but also of Siegfried, the young “hero” whose coming marks the birth of a new, better order.
(I’m actually okay with Mika as Siegfried. Both are a bit silly and ultimately incapable of getting the job done, the chief difference being that the Ring undercuts this reality by assigning to its rather bewildered boy massive, pounding hero music. /rant)
This layer of Brandon’s narrative, however, is surrounded by a similar structure played over a broader stretch of years. Here, Brandon is the servant of Big Daddy’s Millennion (Wotan) and the “rebel” whom duty must dispose of is Harry (Siegmund). In this instance, Brandon--with some conflict--takes the opposite tack from Brünnhilde, finding morality on the side of duty. However, in the final act, this reverses. Brandon chooses to fight the restored (soon-to-be-Mika’s) Millennion to save Harry. He doesn’t characterize this as a moral choice (he considers it immoral), but it is the choice his heart has to make. He can’t ultimately choose to kill Harry any more than Brünnhilde could choose to kill Siegmund.
Their reasons, however, are different. Brünnhilde chooses to do what she feels is right out of love; Brandon chooses to do what he feels is wrong (on one level) out of love. The centrality of this life-defining relationship likens Harry to Siegfried, not as the foretold hero but as the love interest. Brünnhilde’s final words as the flames lick higher are for Siegfried: “Selig grüsst dich dein Weib”: “Joyfully, your wife greets you.” Her love for Siegfried is, finally, what defines her life. Just so is Brandon’s love for Harry.
Brünnhilde is a character of towering strength and importance in the Ring: she quite literally saves the world. Yet she has no leitmotif. There is no Brünnhilde music, only Brünnhilde in relation to others: to Wotan, to Siegfried, to the Valkyries. Her self is defined entirely relationally. This is, of course, because she is a woman. Brandon is not a woman, but his personality defines him in the same way. There is no Brandon in isolation from others. There is only a weighing of different loves and different obligations. These choices shape his identity.
In Die Walküre, Brünnhilde asks her father, “Wer bin ich, wär’ ich dein Wille nicht?”: “Who am I were I not [the instrument of] your will?” This could be said to be the core question of the saga: what is the relationship between duty, selfhood, and self-determination. To invoke Harry’s (and Nietzsche’s) hobbyhorse, who are you once you’re free?
Brandon states that he doesn’t know what freedom means (and since his chief window onto the concept has been Harry, one can hardly blame him). So who is he if he is not the instrument of Millennion? His answer, like Brünnhilde’s is ultimately personal and relational: he is the one who chooses Harry MacDowell.
In particular, Brandon shares some notable themes with Brünnhilde. Both are highly skilled, powerful, moral people in the unenviable profession of bringing death to designated individuals. Despite their personal power, both are absolute servants to the will of the “Father.” Both come from a family/culture in which betrayal is the highest crime. Both are required to take lives they would rather save. Both run into conflict between their duty and their heart. Both fall from the grace of the family by following their hearts.
Of course, there are differences too. For one thing, Brandon’s story has two layers where Brünnhilde’s has one. Brünnhilde, in a nutshell, defies Wotan (her father, the king of gods) to try to save the life of his son, Siegmund, whom duty required Wotan to kill. For her pains, she is cursed with mortality, eventually hooks up with Siegfried (the hero), and after his death, purges the curse on the Ring by riding into his funeral pyre.
Brandon has two Wotans and two Siegmunds/Siegfrieds. Let’s take the easy one first. Brandon is supposed to be a servant of Millennion (latterly represented by Harry/Wotan), but since Harry has turned out to be something of a psycho, Brandon becomes an enemy of Harry’s Millennion to save the heir to Millennion (Mika). This places Mika in the role of Siegmund but also of Siegfried, the young “hero” whose coming marks the birth of a new, better order.
(I’m actually okay with Mika as Siegfried. Both are a bit silly and ultimately incapable of getting the job done, the chief difference being that the Ring undercuts this reality by assigning to its rather bewildered boy massive, pounding hero music. /rant)
This layer of Brandon’s narrative, however, is surrounded by a similar structure played over a broader stretch of years. Here, Brandon is the servant of Big Daddy’s Millennion (Wotan) and the “rebel” whom duty must dispose of is Harry (Siegmund). In this instance, Brandon--with some conflict--takes the opposite tack from Brünnhilde, finding morality on the side of duty. However, in the final act, this reverses. Brandon chooses to fight the restored (soon-to-be-Mika’s) Millennion to save Harry. He doesn’t characterize this as a moral choice (he considers it immoral), but it is the choice his heart has to make. He can’t ultimately choose to kill Harry any more than Brünnhilde could choose to kill Siegmund.
Their reasons, however, are different. Brünnhilde chooses to do what she feels is right out of love; Brandon chooses to do what he feels is wrong (on one level) out of love. The centrality of this life-defining relationship likens Harry to Siegfried, not as the foretold hero but as the love interest. Brünnhilde’s final words as the flames lick higher are for Siegfried: “Selig grüsst dich dein Weib”: “Joyfully, your wife greets you.” Her love for Siegfried is, finally, what defines her life. Just so is Brandon’s love for Harry.
Brünnhilde is a character of towering strength and importance in the Ring: she quite literally saves the world. Yet she has no leitmotif. There is no Brünnhilde music, only Brünnhilde in relation to others: to Wotan, to Siegfried, to the Valkyries. Her self is defined entirely relationally. This is, of course, because she is a woman. Brandon is not a woman, but his personality defines him in the same way. There is no Brandon in isolation from others. There is only a weighing of different loves and different obligations. These choices shape his identity.
In Die Walküre, Brünnhilde asks her father, “Wer bin ich, wär’ ich dein Wille nicht?”: “Who am I were I not [the instrument of] your will?” This could be said to be the core question of the saga: what is the relationship between duty, selfhood, and self-determination. To invoke Harry’s (and Nietzsche’s) hobbyhorse, who are you once you’re free?
Brandon states that he doesn’t know what freedom means (and since his chief window onto the concept has been Harry, one can hardly blame him). So who is he if he is not the instrument of Millennion? His answer, like Brünnhilde’s is ultimately personal and relational: he is the one who chooses Harry MacDowell.
