I had an odd experience recently where, by coincidence, I consumed two pairs of media related by theme. First, late last year I began reading the book Lexicon by Max Berry. This was a book that I’d picked up cheap at a used bookstore, drawn by the blurb about people who were exceptionally persuasive. Like many voracious readers I had a book backlog and so didn’t get around to reading it until sometime after purchase, and then completing it got delayed by the holidays. In early January, I finished it, found the ending a little sudden but well earned (so many books drop the ball at the finale,) and then set it aside. A few days later I’m poring through my backlog of movies (so much cash has been tied up in DVDs and Blu-Rays which, I am ashamed to admit, I may never actually watch). Among them was a relatively obscure anime film titled Genocidal Organ which I remember picking up at a local anime convention some years back, based on a blurb I didn’t recall, and then threw into a pile of “to be watched.” I probably paid too much for the movie but assuaged my concerns about being a spendthrift by assuring myself that I was supporting a small business and hadn’t bought much that day, anyway. My snobbishness likely also justified the purchase because it was something I’d never heard of and was thus far more intellectual than the masses of Attack on Titan or Naruto merchandise being peddled.
Imagine my surprise when I found that Genocidal Organ featured a similar story! Whereas Lexicon featured a cabal of poets (who in ancient times were known as magicians) whose spells consisted of combinations of words, sounds, or symbols to hijack the thoughts of others, Genocidal Organ dealt specifically with a language of genocide. In it, a man is being tracked by a covert military group which specializes in bringing justice to war criminals. This man has the unique distinction of human atrocities breaking out in his wake. Much like the poets of Lexicon, this man employed a syntax, discovered by studying the speeches and writings of tyrants, which he used to stir the local populace into frenzies of death and destruction. Over the course of the movie the morality of his actions, as well as those of a team carrying out extra-judicial justice, are explored in what was one of the most thoughtful, gritty anime I’ve seen in years.
Although we’re not at the point of genocide it’s an interesting concept to ponder when one looks at the past couple of years (Lexicon was published in 2013, Genocidal Organ was released in 2017 and is based on the Japanese novel Gyakusatsu Kikan from 2007 by Project Itoh). Masses being whipped into frenzies are nothing new and often horrific. Maybe it’s better to direct that energy rather than let it run rampant through the population (as the “villain” in Genocidal Organ posits).
The second coincidental element was far less grave. A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to listening to Deadhorse by the Dirt Poor Robins. A couple of songs from it had come up by virtue of the all-powerful algorithms over the past year which I enjoyed. Although they proved to be an interesting experience in listening to a song versus paying attention to the lyrics, as one song which I liked the sound of turned out to be a horrific recounting of a child witnessing her father beating her mother. Still a pretty song, though. Anyway, I decided to finally listen to the whole album, which turned out to be a bizarre concept album that tells the story of a girl encountering a golden artifact, advanced alien civilizations, and perpetual motion engines. The two songs I’d liked remained my two favorites, but it was an interesting experience. Two days later I watched the horror movie The Last Winter starring Ron Perlman. It took place in Alaska, near Deadhorse, the town from which the Dirt Poor Robins’ album took its name. The movie sucked.
Awesome ^ Totally 