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Atlantis: A Lost Empire? Or ripped off from a popular Japanese Anime?

Tenkuu no Escaflowne… and Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire. What do they have in common? More than the average American movie go-er would think. It seems that the recent ancient American trend of stealing ideas from the Japanese and claiming them as our own has infiltrated even the writers of Disney entertainment.

First of all, the most obvious similarity is that they are both about Atlantis. Granted, you don’t know that in Escaflowne until episode 4 or 5 I believe. You walk into this movie knowing it’s about that lost culture (duh, read the title). Both stories include a culture of living thriving people who survived after the destruction of the lost city of Atlantis. Both stories include an Atlantean history filled with powerful technology, magick, and beauty. Both stories attribute Atlantis’s power to something supernatural and something connected to the people itself. The most striking and obvious similarity to Escaflowne is Atlantis’s use of magick crystal necklaces which contain the source of their technology… very similar to Hitomi’s necklace and it’s connection to Escaflowne (the mecha).

The power behind the technology… the “crystal” in Atlantis and the “power of wishes” in Escaflowne (is this a bad translation or what?) can be interpreted to the same thing… The Crystal in Atlantis was in essence the life-force and livelihood of the Atlanteans and was intimately connected to their emotional and spiritual health. If the Atlanteans became prideful and greedy the crystal reacted to restore the balance… sort of a “sow what you reap” thing… on a more cosmic and well, immediate scale. (this by the way was Disney’s interpretation of the cause of Atlantis’s fall.) The “power of wishes” in Escaflowne in connection with the necklaces was in fact the power behind the culture and also it’s downfall. The power was intimately connected with the emotions of the person… if the person was anxious or worried or had little faith, then the wishes and desires would be distorted and bad things would happen… or if a person’s motivations were wrong (greed, pride etc) then REALLY bad things would happen… See the connection? another “sow what you reap” type thing.

Now, I was just sort of joking about Disney ripping off Japanese Anime… but there are very interesting similarities and connections. It makes me wonder exactly how these similarities came about. The original myths of Atlantis don’t really allude to some mystical magickal power which is connected to the emotional states of the populace… unless you count the actual “sow what you reap” idea. The original myths might have begun as stories to enforce morals and values and to warn against pride and greed. That might be where the idea of this emotional connection came from.

Anyway… So in conclusion, it is possible that Atlantis wasn’t ripped off from Escaflowne. Now Stargate, that is another story!

Ok… Read the following brief outline and tell me which movie I’m talking about. The movie opens with the un respected linguist struggling to prove something no one will credit. Then a mysterious woman comes to him and offers him a way to prove his theories. The team of people going on the expedition includes a militant man who is revealed to be hiding something. No one expects to find people, but they do… The linguist is able to speak the language and also falls in love with a pretty girl. Then the militant leader’s true reasons for coming are clear and he brings guns into the picture. The linguist and his new friends join forces to save the day using the native technology. Then in the end (here is the clincher) the final scene is when the crew is sent home… without their linguist who made it all possible. he stays behind to be with the girl he met… and everyone feels that he belongs there…. *awww how sweet*

Now, which movie was I talking about?

Go watch them both and compare. it is pretty uncanny. *grin*

Anyway… all critique and attempted cleverness aside… I really liked Atlantis. I thought it was a great movie. I’m a big fan of fantasy and of animation… and I’ve always been fascinated by things like Stonehenge, Atlantis, ancient mystery-type things… I also like to see pretty girls with white hair get morphed into a crystalline form and walk on water. whoo hoo! *ahem* I recommend going to see Atlantis. It is a fun movie.

A thousand years ago, a million young stars fell from the sky and became the lights of these two cities with the river running between them. Then one night every year, after generations of prosperity and propagation, they sent their children and grand children into the sky to try to reach their ancestors.

July 4th, 2001

The veiw from my grandmother’s house in Portland is incredible. We set off a bunch of fireworks in the front yard, but behind us, hidden in the deafening booms and blocked by the building itself, was a world of starbursts and tiny bright chaos. Sitting on the back deck, high above the city beyond, Portland stretched out in two directions and became a nearby horizon of city lights. Bits of the city lights seemed to stray away from the ground and explode just outside of the glow. Then just beyond that, was a long horizon of blackness, and that was the Columbia River. It provided a backdrop for some of the braver Portland fireworks. Then a second ring of mortal stars is Vancouver, where aerial fireworks were still legal in the state of Washington. In the sky belonging to Washington the ancient fallen stars broke free of their mortal bonds and returned momentarily to the sky. The horizon was filled with sparkling lights and airborn explosions. Dozens of colors and patterns danced in the air and faded to darkness. Even the fireworks of Fort Vancouver, just to the West had their few shining seconds and then passed back into blackness.

Brave stars, climbing into the blackness higher than we could ever go. Brave souls.

City lights, like fireworks, like stars, will not shine forever. But bravery; brave souls, rightous people; they are immortal in the memory and traditions which they leave behind.

Land of the free.
Home of the brave.