THIS POST CONTAINS THEMATIC DISCUSSION OF SEVERAL GUNDAM SERIES. I DO NOT SPOIL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS, BUT I DO DISCUSS CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS AND MOTIVATIONS.
Many of the conflicts in the Mobile Suit Gundam metaverse, global, interpersonal and inner, have speciesism as their catalyst. The Universal Century (UC) contains the Oldtype/Newtype divide, while the Cosmic Era (CE) plays host to the dispute between Naturals and Coordinators. The speciesism in Gundam is often a human prejudice directed towards the more-human-than-hue-man (guitar riff) folks, but human beings are also the object of prejudice by the group considered to be an advanced species.
I am currently watching Gundam SEED for the first time, and I am struck by the speciesism, specifically how different it is from that exhibited in the UC, which SEED is meant to be re-imagining. In this post, I will contrast the strain of speciesism exhibited in the Oldtype-versus-Newtype relationship with that of the Natural-versus-Coordinator relationship. I want to touch on how each is integrated into its respective story, the roots of the feelings/beliefs associated with each, and the psychologies of the participants in the previously-mentioned relationships.
Suggested Soundtrack for Reading – Kenna “War in Me”
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