Steven Spielberg and Evangelion

I know this sounds like a completely random topic but I seriously think it deserves a bit of speculation. If you've hung out around me enough you've probably heard me mention Evangelion at least once. I cannot even begin to stress my love and fascination for this anime and franchise. From time to time I will probably spew out some of my thoughts and topics for discussion on Eva but I'll try to keep it to a minimum. So what is it about the famous blockbuster Hollywood director who everyone saw at least one movie from that I must now relate him to a 1995 anime which exploded in popularity, Internet talk, including a "revolution" on the web (that which I'm part of www.revolutionofevangelion.org), endless fan art, fanfics, merchandise, new movies, etc.? Well my friends the answer is actually quite simple. I have a theory. Eva is popular for many reasons: its psychology, religious symbolism/theories, symbolic interpretations, character development and dynamics, its violent nature, philosophies, a social commentary on Japan and life, etc. But I don't know if it ever occurred to anyone, what is one of the most basic reasons why its popular, theories and interpretations aside? And so here is my theory: No matter how much depth and complexity there is in Eva, it almost all goes back to the key players of the story- the children. These three children, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka, all facing traumatic experiences and disastrous situations. Hideki Anno does a pretty good job capturing the dilemmas of all these kids in realistic, painful glory like no other animation did before it. No series ever really dared. Sure there was Gundam, but that was adults fighting in giant robots in space part of a series of wars and politics. ADULTS, not kids. Anno presented these kids in dark ways. Each of them has a specific mental disorder (as if that's any surprise). Shinji has avoidant personality disorder (he couldn't socialize with ppl to save his own life), Asuka is a narcissist (explains all the shouting) and Rei is a schizoid ( avoids social relationships, similar to Shinji, but much more closed off) Anno had a plan laid out and he used a Psychology textbook to implement his characterizations on the kids as well as the adult characters of the anime. Spielberg I noticed has done something similar with most of his films. Ever notice in most of his films he uses children in traumatic/end-of-the-world kind of scenarios? Jurassic Park, ET (to some extent), A.I., War of the Worlds, and most recently The Adventures of Tintin? Even Super 8 even though he produced it but we all know JJ Abrams is the "next Spielberg." All of these movies in some fashion use kids in some kind of horrible situation wrapped up in a big adventure. Now think for a second. Spielberg is one of the most famous directors in the world. Hideki Anno became one of the most famous anime directors in the world solely for the work on Evangelion. What do these share in common for American fans? Both of them have the children at the core of their stories. Spielberg did it in his own kind of fascinating way just as Anno did. It seems to me that American fans really enjoy the idea of putting kids into adventures. This is kind of interesting. Why? Maybe because we are so use to seeing Superheroes, spies, soldiers, grown people do all the work when it comes to "saving the day." When we see kids fill this seat, it automatically becomes much more interesting to American fans, young ones particularly, because they can identify with the character they see on screen. If it worked out for Spielberg's films, then it most certainly did with Eva. Hell, even Harry Potter is another great example of that but I won't steer into that now. Ultimately, as young people, when we see a kid whether younger or about our age on screen performing enormous tasks whether its piloting a giant robot or dodging an alien foot, we somehow grow an emotional attachment to them, unlike the way we would with a grown Superhero or government spy.