August Beta Banner - Elfen Lied and Klimt
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Are you honest the charactersanime almost look like they belong in those pictures ?
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
Hey Eddie,
You’re not the only one to admire Elfen Lied’s Op. I’ve seen other people proclaim it as a "masterpiece."
Actually I think the Elfen Lied artists were probably trying to show where they took the placement of figures from for their final Goodbye Scene, which is fine as an homage to Klimt’s work. But it didn’t work, because no direct reference was made to Klimt in the credits, or in the anime itself, except the use of his images in the Op, which had Elfen Lied character design replacing his figures (that really goes against the integrity of both an artist’s vision and his/her image). It would have been better if they just used the original Klimts, especially because the designs on some of his figures have meaning.
Even if they were trying to show a connection between their story and Klimt, there was no reason to choose Klimt. The attraction of a femme-fatal is timeless and shown in many works. Why pick Klimt? It doesn’t help the timeline. Klimt is from the late 19th to early 20th century. Elfen Lied is present day, or maybe near future. The characters weren’t even shown as having a connection to Klimt’s work or ideas, especially since most of the characters had more of an attraction to Lucy when she was Nyu, or a remembrance of her as a child, the opposite of a femme-fatal.
Klimt’s elaborate patterns point out the flatness of their own character design (just as Fragonard’s fabric would, if they were to use him).
Truthfully I can’t judge their original idea, because I don’t know exactly what it was. I can judge the final product though, because it is a visual work. From what I see, all I can tell is; Klimt was used just because he’s pretty. There is art made to be just fun and visually appealing, like Fragonard. Not that it’s OK to use Fragonard … but why use Klimt? Klimt called himself a symbolist. His work is supposed to have deeper meaning, that’s why the Op seems like it’s more than it is, but Klimt’s proclaimed ideas (blathered at me in school) don’t match with Elfen Lied, so the Op is a cheat.
The thing is, Irmgaard is right, it can’t really be an insult to Klimt’s work, because he is too big. But the Op can be an insult to Anime in general, because the show is an Anime, and the images are too directly copied from Klimt (which is why I’m mad). I like Melville’s Moby Dick, but if I took whole chunks of dialog and changed the character names, it wouldn’t make his thoughts mine. If some of Melville’s descriptions were put into another story, and the descriptions didn’t match with the feel of that story, the fact that it was taken would be even more apparent, and it would look even worse for anyone who did such a thing.
The other thing is, it’s not the first time an Anime/Manga artist has been inspired by Klimt, so that idea isn’t new either. Amano claimed the same thing, but "D" never wound up directly in a Klimt (at least not that I know of).
The fact that it moves slowly only helps to point out what it is, and I wouldn’t want to see that done to any other artist’s work.
You’re not the only one to admire Elfen Lied’s Op. I’ve seen other people proclaim it as a "masterpiece."
Actually I think the Elfen Lied artists were probably trying to show where they took the placement of figures from for their final Goodbye Scene, which is fine as an homage to Klimt’s work. But it didn’t work, because no direct reference was made to Klimt in the credits, or in the anime itself, except the use of his images in the Op, which had Elfen Lied character design replacing his figures (that really goes against the integrity of both an artist’s vision and his/her image). It would have been better if they just used the original Klimts, especially because the designs on some of his figures have meaning.
Even if they were trying to show a connection between their story and Klimt, there was no reason to choose Klimt. The attraction of a femme-fatal is timeless and shown in many works. Why pick Klimt? It doesn’t help the timeline. Klimt is from the late 19th to early 20th century. Elfen Lied is present day, or maybe near future. The characters weren’t even shown as having a connection to Klimt’s work or ideas, especially since most of the characters had more of an attraction to Lucy when she was Nyu, or a remembrance of her as a child, the opposite of a femme-fatal.
Klimt’s elaborate patterns point out the flatness of their own character design (just as Fragonard’s fabric would, if they were to use him).
Truthfully I can’t judge their original idea, because I don’t know exactly what it was. I can judge the final product though, because it is a visual work. From what I see, all I can tell is; Klimt was used just because he’s pretty. There is art made to be just fun and visually appealing, like Fragonard. Not that it’s OK to use Fragonard … but why use Klimt? Klimt called himself a symbolist. His work is supposed to have deeper meaning, that’s why the Op seems like it’s more than it is, but Klimt’s proclaimed ideas (blathered at me in school) don’t match with Elfen Lied, so the Op is a cheat.
The thing is, Irmgaard is right, it can’t really be an insult to Klimt’s work, because he is too big. But the Op can be an insult to Anime in general, because the show is an Anime, and the images are too directly copied from Klimt (which is why I’m mad). I like Melville’s Moby Dick, but if I took whole chunks of dialog and changed the character names, it wouldn’t make his thoughts mine. If some of Melville’s descriptions were put into another story, and the descriptions didn’t match with the feel of that story, the fact that it was taken would be even more apparent, and it would look even worse for anyone who did such a thing.
The other thing is, it’s not the first time an Anime/Manga artist has been inspired by Klimt, so that idea isn’t new either. Amano claimed the same thing, but "D" never wound up directly in a Klimt (at least not that I know of).
The fact that it moves slowly only helps to point out what it is, and I wouldn’t want to see that done to any other artist’s work.
j/kHmmm 
… think “Lillium”…
Elfen Munch.
(hey, she’s on a pier!)
But I don’t remember Macaulay Culkin thrown into “The Scream” followed by several other Munch works in succession (but then I haven’t seen "Home Alone" in over a decade). Even if he were stuck in Munch, that would be parody, not to be perceived as something to be taken seriously, unlike Elfen Lied and Klimt
.
"Home Alone’s" use here is like that last Goodbye scene in Elfen Lied, mentioned above, with the Elfen Lied characters, in their clothes, on their backgrounds, going through the poses shown in Klimt’s famous paintings
as opposed to Elfen Lied’s Opening 
.
But then again, Elfen Lied had humor, like the buffoon Tokyo University grad getting her head ripped off
.
Maybe it is satire
.
It’s just that I don’t think any fan of the Elfen Lied Op would call it a joke, nor do I think they were intended to… but I could be wrong.
… think “Lillium”…Elfen Munch.
(hey, she’s on a pier!)
But I don’t remember Macaulay Culkin thrown into “The Scream” followed by several other Munch works in succession (but then I haven’t seen "Home Alone" in over a decade). Even if he were stuck in Munch, that would be parody, not to be perceived as something to be taken seriously, unlike Elfen Lied and Klimt
."Home Alone’s" use here is like that last Goodbye scene in Elfen Lied, mentioned above, with the Elfen Lied characters, in their clothes, on their backgrounds, going through the poses shown in Klimt’s famous paintings
as opposed to Elfen Lied’s Opening . But then again, Elfen Lied had humor, like the buffoon Tokyo University grad getting her head ripped off
. Maybe it is satire
. It’s just that I don’t think any fan of the Elfen Lied Op would call it a joke, nor do I think they were intended to… but I could be wrong.
, just similar in style. And similar in the way it gets stuck in your head 
... I was humming it for weeks...... 
)