Thread by @ShatteredXLV

Lost in the Forest: The Cautionary Tale of Attack on Titan

#aotspoilers, as always!

INTRODUCTION

“We’ve gotta get the children out of this forest, at the very least. Or else the same thing’s just gonna happen again and again…”

Controversy and Attack on Titan have always had a close-knit relationship.

In its early days, there were claims that Isayama was stringing along a narrative of pro-imperialism, with a side of nationalism to wash it down.

And, when that didn’t stick and the story developments piled on, the “fascist!” descriptor was added to the list.

Out of context, it’s not as out there as the idea of a series with a literal uprising of the former monarchy being nationalistic in diction.

There are, after all, heavy allusions to World War 2, including internment camps, extensive war-crimes and...much more.

But that only remains and stays in the same state as its allusion if you are unwilling to engage with the story and the themes it encompasses.

The case can be made, in opposition, that Attack on Titan is the one series that warns against xenophobia, fascism and nationalism as a reaction to the downtrodden or those that are different from your own.

For instance, one of the most prominent motifs in the series happens to be the idea of the world being a type of “forest” we must leave, a clear allusion to the cycles of hatred and understanding.

A consistent motif that extends even to the final pages of both endings.

While some will insist on a reality of the series’ proclivity for nationalistic rhetoric, by taking the full work and its endings in a closely knitted context, you can arm yourself with a vision and ideals that are much different than a surface level descriptor.

ESCAPING THE FOREST (The Positive Event)

“But…when they see us all together like this…they’ll have to want to hear about our story…”

When considering the ending of manga/anime or work of art – it is important not to slip into viewing just the singular, instead looking at the full picture.

Everything that came before the ending matters just as much as the ending. And this especially applies to Attack on Titan.

In the aftermath of the Rumbling, Armin and the rest of the Alliance are established as ambassadors for peace with the nation of Paradis, which has now all, but started a full on sprint towards nationalistic, fascist rhetoric.

It is in this moment that a light might as well have shined on the stories’ themes, spawned out of one of the final exchanges of dialogue in the entire series, laid so crucially out by Armin and Annie.

Humans are creatures with their own mindsets, ideals and senses of agency.

Yet it is that very core of identity and sense of self that differentiates one of us from another.

So an important part to take away from such an exchange is that the idea of a utopia on Earth is utterly impossible, exactly because of those minute differentiations.

But because we differ so much from one another…because we might have different goals, points of views or ideas as to what true peace looks like, does that mean we still cannot pursue the path towards it?

Absolutely not!

Ideas that encourage fascism or xenophobia will never cease to exist in the world because although they play into the cycle of hatred, they are still spawned from the being of human and society.

Even so, however, that doesn’t mean that we cannot try to reach towards a better tomorrow – a period of understanding, empathy and appreciation for the common similarities and differences in our fellow man.

In about 50 pages, Isayama caps off an idea that he's touted through the soul of the narrative – in order to avoid paths of destruction, adults must shoulder the sins of the past and keep our children “out of the forest”. That is, of course, one of the main positive alternatives.

But sometimes just hearing a character talk about the negative consequences of destructive paths isn’t enough.

To truly understand Attack on Titan’s stance on fascism and “remaining in the forest”, such a reality must be shown…

ENTERING THE FOREST (The Negative Event)

“Conflict will never vanish…”

In the year 1949, George Orwell wrote and published the prolific and prophetic novel “1984”, a book detailing the extents of fascism, totalitarianism and the hold those can have on world-society at large.

The idea I want to focus on here is the picture it paints of a future under Big Brother.

Try though the protagonist might, the Party is reinforced at the end of the story as an unbeatable system that effortlessly flaunts the power to make use of one’s fears and dark inhibitions.

It is able to manipulate and scare the individuals below into a staunch and steady nationalism and love for Big Brother, even at the cost of their own individuality and free thought.

It’s important to mention the ending of “1984” here because its ending is the perfect example of what one would call a cautionary tale, or -- a story used to warn the reader of a problem or a danger.

And it’s also important to recognize that the basis of a cautionary tale is to expose mainly two scenarios within the narrative – a positive event that should happen and a negative event that will happen.

In the case of “1984”, the positive event is the possibility of a revolution in the form of the Proles (the majority) in taking back power away from the Party and Big Brother (the elite minority), which makes the negative event all the more alarming and disheartening.

In *our* story, the positive event is the possibility of escaping the forest and Armin/The Alliance leading the charge in uniting the world to attempt this.

But, with the inclusion of the extended pages, the true manifestation of the narrative’s thematic layering comes to light.

The destructive bombing of Paradis, brought on by an increasingly fascist environment years into the future, shines through as our defacto negative event.

While Mikasa, Armin and the Alliance are able to escape the cycle of hatred, Paradis and the Jaegerists become stuck in the growth of the forest.

Much like Floch and Eren at their ends, the military force of the island is unable to appreciate the smaller joys that life brings and what can be gained from an environment of understanding.

So Paradis falls to ruin, under the control of those who are unable to move on from the past and live beyond the lines of the trees.

There are plenty of other reasons why the extended ending propels Attack on Titan into the status of a masterwork, but the biggest of them all stands to be the delivery of a cautionary tale to its audience.

A tale that works on all levels and shows the real danger of walking on a path of destruction, rather than building.

Trying to thrive in the forest, rather than leaving it.

CONCLUSION

“People won’t stop fighting each other until the human population is down to one or less.”

“Context matters.”

As I look around at people both inside and outside of the fandom, this is a phrase that I continue to come back to.

Maybe it’s a problem with artistic discourse in general…or, even, our modern *social* discourse.

But it’s important to take every moment in a work of fiction and art in its full context, rather than solely detaching it like pieces in an unappreciated puzzle.

This is especially the truth with Attack on Titan: Looking at the series from a surface exterior, with moments disjointed, all you may see is a series that “exalts genocide” and “encourages fascism”.

But if one just looks a little closer, they can find something…more.

That “more” being a deep dive into human behavior, connection and the benefits to understanding one another.

Or it could be a dark look at the nature of humans pushed to their most selfish and uncaring, even to the point of self-destruction and abandonment.

Through his work of art, Hajime Isayama shows us that while there may not be easy ways to “escape the forest” and that it might even be harder to understand someone that is different from you, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth trying.

It is better to empathize rather than destroy.

Understand and communicate rather than hate and shut others out.

That’s exactly why, of course, “context matters”.

And especially why I find the discourse surrounding this aspect of the series so very draining.

But the irony of it all isn’t lost on me: in the end, a series that speaks out caution against the desire to not seek understanding…is misunderstood in full by its detractors.

[END]