purpose
For
many people, Red Garden is a confusing and stylistically jarring
title, alienating almost as much as it intrigues. Countless reviewers have
labeled it "ugly" and full of "meaningless singing and crying"
which seems rather unfortunate. As a viewer, I found Red Garden to
be a riveting modern approach to gothic staples and, by association, human
constants. The struggle to survive, the express desire to find purpose and
meaning- Red Garden dealt with it all. I suppose it's not all that
shocking then, that I found myself drawn to Lula over the other cast members.
why lula?
Lula is a compelling character. Her life, her love, her death- every nuance of her story kept me questioning. Characters wielding such well-written emotional clout only come by every so often. It seems that Lula, composed of contradictions, is a perplexing rarity in anime. Not a member of the main cast, not traditionally attractive or emotionally open- yet still important, beautiful and characterised brilliantly.
There is a great depth to Lula and I felt the only way to explore it was through a shrine. Many feel the need to neglect Lula's role in the series or dismiss her cold character almost entirely. Soft Power aims to break through the stigma attached to Lula by presenting pieces that explore and celebrate her. There's a surprising amount to be said about a bitchy corpse who lives in a trailer with her brother, let me tell you.
why "soft power"?
The title of this shrine came from the song "Soft Power" by Ladytron which hints at the impact of political "soft power" (a method by which influence is extended through "soft" means like popular culture.) In its haunting lyrics we hear of manipulation, exploitation, destruction and the abuse of power.
"Broken glass is luxury, friendly fires are alchemy, daylight is the enemy, witching hour, soft power, we're not sleeping at the wheel, the wheel is turning the machine that kills for us.. "
In "soft power" there is no loud or apparent undue force, just steady pressure from behind the scenes. This is the manner in which Lula approaches her charges, manipulating them (with the best intentions) to strive toward a mutually beneficial goal. I admit that this is far from political "soft power" but I like the sense of duality in the title, which appeals to my interpretation of Lula as a being of contradictions. soft implies familiar comfort while power paradoxically implies cold authority. That screams Lula.
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Soft Power was opened on May 27th, 2007. Its fanlisting element is approved by The Anime Fanlistings (+ The Fanlistings.) Graphics have been created in Adobe Photoshop CS2 and HTML in a combination of Notepad/Dreamweaver MX. All images were scanned by Shiori from personal copies of Red Garden merchandise.