From the outside looking in...
(The following concerns the Anime character Lucy from 'Elfen-lied'. Possible spoilers for those who haven't seen the show. However, you wouldn't know what I mean anyway...)
Lucy. A diclonious. A lifeform with immense psychic capabilities. She could pulverize everything and anything within 2 meters of her, and is near indestructible from all attacks except those of her own kind.
In the first 15 minutes that she was shown, many had died. The format in which she was displayed brings in memories of both the 'Alien' trilogy and the 'Species' movies.
Indeed, those who are hunting her down, treats her as such. Discussions about Lucy amounst her enemies involves arguments about her capacity to kill, and how dangerous she is if Lucy was to be let loose in the human population. Discussions about her DNA springs to mind, how she would replace humanity all together...
Yet, none had talked about her as a person. No one questions the classic argument that Lucy, as a horror-movie monster, should be out there with the intent to breed and displace the human race. A few even crazier people, infact, WANT her to do so, and had facilitated her escape from the Lab.
No one asked what she wanted. No one considers the possibility that Lucy might have HUMAN thinking, and is not remotely relying on instinct. Why whould she want to have sex with random strangers? Why would she want to conquor the world when she barely knows what it's like to be free? Spending half-a-dozen years in a lab where they torture her as a requirement for the experiments they do, Lucy was not happy when she let loose. Understandably, she cut her captors down like grass on a lawn. However, what else had she done since then?
Bantou, the psychotic soldier, incurred her wrath when he kicked and injured her alter-ego, Nyu. One has to keep in mind that, though Lucy tortured him, she was merely granting his wish of fighting a strong opponent. The fact that he challenged her to a duel that was way out of his league is his own problem. (Lucy's line 'are you having fun yet' while she slowly crushes his eye-balls was a comeback line from Bantou saying her not fighting back was 'no fun'.)
In the Nana VS Lucy fight, Lucy gave her rouge worker-bee plenty of chances... She was prepared to let her go with her limbs intact if Nana steps down. The puzzling line 'I never killed anyone before' was something unexpected. This is worth investigating.
(hypotheticals from now on...)
There was a time that I considered Lucy a public health hazzard, and had to be put down. (That view did not last long.)
However, after Lucy was given enough time to explain herself, I am beginning to understand. She is not a Socialpath, who doesn't care about right or wrong, nor is she a Psychopath, who don't know the difference.
In fact, she treasures life as much as any of us. We are all familiar with good people who are Vegetarians, Vegans, or what not. At the far end, there are those who treats life as so sacred, that they would appologize to an apple before they would eat it. (unfortunately, I don't know the official name of this dietary lifestyle. It however does exist.)
Plainly each of us has to place priority of how far we are willing to go in sanctifying life-forms. I am a meat-eater, and will remain so for as long as my Canine teeth are still in my mouth. But what about Lucy?
She appears to limit her compassion to those she knows on a first name basis. Kouta, his childhood friend, and the homeless girl (Mayu) were all known to her as Nyu's family. The fact that Lucy bothered to remove Mayu from the combat zone ALIVE while fighting Nana shows that she doesn't want 'people' to get involved.
In the end, she has morality. She merely treats strangers the same way we treat a snail on the footpath. We might avoid stepping on it if we are careful, but no biggy if we are in a rush and it just happens to be under our feet.
There is more, about Kouta and Lucy's childhood... but that's for later entries.
Lucy. A diclonious. A lifeform with immense psychic capabilities. She could pulverize everything and anything within 2 meters of her, and is near indestructible from all attacks except those of her own kind.
In the first 15 minutes that she was shown, many had died. The format in which she was displayed brings in memories of both the 'Alien' trilogy and the 'Species' movies.
Indeed, those who are hunting her down, treats her as such. Discussions about Lucy amounst her enemies involves arguments about her capacity to kill, and how dangerous she is if Lucy was to be let loose in the human population. Discussions about her DNA springs to mind, how she would replace humanity all together...
Yet, none had talked about her as a person. No one questions the classic argument that Lucy, as a horror-movie monster, should be out there with the intent to breed and displace the human race. A few even crazier people, infact, WANT her to do so, and had facilitated her escape from the Lab.
No one asked what she wanted. No one considers the possibility that Lucy might have HUMAN thinking, and is not remotely relying on instinct. Why whould she want to have sex with random strangers? Why would she want to conquor the world when she barely knows what it's like to be free? Spending half-a-dozen years in a lab where they torture her as a requirement for the experiments they do, Lucy was not happy when she let loose. Understandably, she cut her captors down like grass on a lawn. However, what else had she done since then?
Bantou, the psychotic soldier, incurred her wrath when he kicked and injured her alter-ego, Nyu. One has to keep in mind that, though Lucy tortured him, she was merely granting his wish of fighting a strong opponent. The fact that he challenged her to a duel that was way out of his league is his own problem. (Lucy's line 'are you having fun yet' while she slowly crushes his eye-balls was a comeback line from Bantou saying her not fighting back was 'no fun'.)
In the Nana VS Lucy fight, Lucy gave her rouge worker-bee plenty of chances... She was prepared to let her go with her limbs intact if Nana steps down. The puzzling line 'I never killed anyone before' was something unexpected. This is worth investigating.
(hypotheticals from now on...)
There was a time that I considered Lucy a public health hazzard, and had to be put down. (That view did not last long.)
However, after Lucy was given enough time to explain herself, I am beginning to understand. She is not a Socialpath, who doesn't care about right or wrong, nor is she a Psychopath, who don't know the difference.
In fact, she treasures life as much as any of us. We are all familiar with good people who are Vegetarians, Vegans, or what not. At the far end, there are those who treats life as so sacred, that they would appologize to an apple before they would eat it. (unfortunately, I don't know the official name of this dietary lifestyle. It however does exist.)
Plainly each of us has to place priority of how far we are willing to go in sanctifying life-forms. I am a meat-eater, and will remain so for as long as my Canine teeth are still in my mouth. But what about Lucy?
She appears to limit her compassion to those she knows on a first name basis. Kouta, his childhood friend, and the homeless girl (Mayu) were all known to her as Nyu's family. The fact that Lucy bothered to remove Mayu from the combat zone ALIVE while fighting Nana shows that she doesn't want 'people' to get involved.
In the end, she has morality. She merely treats strangers the same way we treat a snail on the footpath. We might avoid stepping on it if we are careful, but no biggy if we are in a rush and it just happens to be under our feet.
There is more, about Kouta and Lucy's childhood... but that's for later entries.