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SEX_CROSSED

                                               January 14, 2010
                                               May     12, 2012

  In the original Macross, the enemy is
  the Zentradi, who are insanely focused       MACROSS
  on warfare to the point where they
  have no other interests, including
  sexual: they keep genders segregated
  and use some sort of asexual
  reproduction technology.

  We might be inclined to say that "they
  have a war-like culture", but the line
  taken in the series is that they have
  *no* culture.

  This sets up some extremely
  goofy schtick, where
  they're stunned by their        MACROSS_THEME
  first encounter with music,
  the cute/sexy singing of
  Lyn Minmae (or whatever her        Reminiscent of the
  name is), they're paralyzed        attitude toward sex in
  by the sight of men and            Forbidden Planet.
  women kissing, and
  ultimately they're seduced                 Though with Forbidden Planet, the
  by earth culture.                          fantasy appears to be a woman so
                                             innocent as to be both an easy
                                             target and a guaranteed virgin.

                                                       FORBIDDEN_PLANET
In a lot of anime-- or older
anime, anyway-- everyone seems
astoundingly sexually innocent
(even the supposedly old and
experienced)...  as is common           The "easy target" fantasy is often
in much fiction targeted at             satisified simply by having underage
the young.                              girls be the love interest.

Maybe the appeal is that everyone
on stage is even more awkward and
easily confused than you are, you
anti-social nerd, you-- a burlesque      Myself, when I was a kid, I just
of the condition of much of the          found this sort of stuff deeply
audience.                                embarassing and painful to
                                         watch... Nothing was worse than a
                                         sitcom being condescending about
                                         oh-so-cute "puppy love".

                                             Even something like the
                                             (admittedly brilliant) Woody
                                             Allen movie "Play it Again Sam"--
                                             where you're supposed to laugh
                                             *at* the main character's social
                                             ineptness-- that was unwatchable
                                             for me.

                                                            Far better the
                                                            Marx Brothers,
                                                            where you laugh
                                                            with them at the
                                                            rest of the world.



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