Code Geass
Jan. 10th, 2009 06:29 pmI picked up the first volume of Code Geass at B&N today, and I think I'm going to fall into the category of people who found the bizarre nationalistic tone of it offputting.
Just to sum up the setting, for people who aren't familiar with the series: It opens in the year 2010. Britain has conquered Japan, forced all Japanese into ghettos and stripped them of national identity and name, referring to the country only as "area 11" and the people as "eleveners."
Mind you, I'm not in principle opposed to using fiction as thinly disguised allegories, or commentaries about current events. But if they're going to do that it would be nice if it were an appropriate commentary, or a real current event. As it is it just comes off as... pretty offputting.
I stopped reading at the point where the Japanese students threw a protest about Britain having rewritten all their history books with propaganda, because... yeah. Bit of cognitive dissonance there.
Just to sum up the setting, for people who aren't familiar with the series: It opens in the year 2010. Britain has conquered Japan, forced all Japanese into ghettos and stripped them of national identity and name, referring to the country only as "area 11" and the people as "eleveners."
Mind you, I'm not in principle opposed to using fiction as thinly disguised allegories, or commentaries about current events. But if they're going to do that it would be nice if it were an appropriate commentary, or a real current event. As it is it just comes off as... pretty offputting.
I stopped reading at the point where the Japanese students threw a protest about Britain having rewritten all their history books with propaganda, because... yeah. Bit of cognitive dissonance there.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}