涼宮ハルヒの哲学
March 19th 2007 -
Or, otherwise titled, the Philosophy of Suzumiya Haruhi.
I know I’m being a hypocrite, since I’ve stated time and time again about how I hate finding deep meaning in anime, but being a policy debater who runs Kritikal positions takes a toll on you. Plus, I love philosophy. So, therefore, I’m going to make a giant leap forward and attempt to write a small treatise on what I believe the series represents.
Ever since I’ve seen the series, I’ve never thought the idea of Haruhi as “God” made any sense whatsoever. No, I’ve always seen her as a representation of Kyon’s unconscious. Call me Freudian, but that’s what I believe. I realize I’m in the extreme minority here, but I think I can back this up with some evidence.
Kyon has had a lifetime of delusion. The first few lines in the novel and the anime state quite simply, “I used to believe in espers, time travelers, and aliens…”
Now, according to the school of thought that I believe in, the subconscious is never destroyed; it stays hidden, hence the name “subconscious.” While Kyon doesn’t believe in aliens and espers anymore, his subconscious still exists. Sixteen years of belief doesn’t vanish in a second. Therefore, we can first assume and establish the fact that Kyon has a subconscious, and that his subconscious still believes in these things he is currently suppressing.
And next, we come to the problem of Haruhi. Does she exist? The answer is, of course, yes. The person Suzumiya Haruhi exists in meatspace, although what Kyon sees and hears of her may be different from what everyone else experiences. This may very well be the reason why Kyon is able to interact with her even though others are not.
There are clues given throughout the entire series by Haruhi herself that she is just a normal human being. Assuming that Nagato, Asahina and Koizumi are all unreliable narrators, or simply manifestations created by Kyon’s subconscious, the only words we have to evaluate are Suzumiya herself’s. She states that she feels insignificant after going to a baseball game, and strives to become noticeable and unique. In this way, Haruhi may be considered a “hysteric”, outlined by the French psychoanalyst and thinker Jacques Lacan.
This conflicts with the dominating theory within fandom; which sees her as a “master.” The majority believes that because she is God, she is the Master. She strives to dominate, consciously or subconsciously, everything around her, because of her unique nature as a deity.
I don’t see this viewpoint, however. I believe that Haruhi is a hysteric, alienated by the system. To retaliate, she rebels against the system. This is the Suzumiya Haruhi that exists in the real world; the meatspace.
Yet, however, this is where things get a bit strange. We can say that the Haruhi that Kyon sees is a manifestation of his own subconscious. In this way, he is under the sway of an extremely powerful placebo, warping his own reality. His subconscious possesses the unattainable “objet petit a”, the object of desire. However, he can never capture this object. To quote, this creates a “nothing-space” he is moving into; a dialectic. Through the juxtaposition of reality and the objet petit a, his imaginary world is enhanced, giving depth and dimension. This is justified through his extreme bland meatspace existence; the only possibility of these seemingly impossible manifestations is the existence of his desire.
To go on, we will note that all events revolve around Kyon, and not Haruhi. While it seems at first that Haruhi is the one orchestrating events that occur within the series, we can also argue that Kyon is the one behind it all. The SOS-Dan was created per his suggestion, he designs the web site, which leads to the events highlighted in episode 7, etc. Although he seems to begrudgingly accept Haruhi’s schemes, in the end, he always serves as a catalyst for resolution, thus suggesting the fact that everything may have been planned out in his head already. In this theoretical framework, Kyon becomes the Master and Haruhi is the Hysteric. This can also explain the eccentric and honestly unrealistic character of the three supporting characters: they are all manifestations of Kyon’s wandering through the self-created space consisting of reality and the objet petit a. By wandering through this dialectic, Kyon manifests his own world, as stated above.
Therefore, we can see that another viewpoint on the plot and characters of this anime is that they are all imagined by Kyon, as a manifestation of his subconscious and his desire.
Oh Lord, did I just write that? Note to self: Crack on Monday nights is never good for the brain. >_>;;;
This was a personal exercise; I wanted to see how well I could incorporate foreign concept and make it clear for the masses, without going back through revision. Now that I look back upon it, I failed. T_T
But that’s okay. Thoughts on my theory?
~Akira
March 20th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I think there is a very popular theory on haruhi that is similar to yours minus the physological babble. Basically kyon’s the cause of all, kyon thinks he has matured and accepted the fact that there are no aliens but his subconsciously wishes that there are aliens, time travllers, espers. And Haruhi is a projection of this desire of his. Only that they’re not imagined but created by haruhi (which means, kyon’s subconsious was ultimately responsible). I personally don’t like this theory because it somewhat diminishes how much I value Haruhi as a character because it seems like she’s just ‘made’ to serve a certain purpose for kyon. I would much prefer Haruhi as symbolically representing Kyon’s subconscious desire.
March 20th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
You blew my mind.
I think you did a good job of expressing your opinion in a way that is understandable to those of us who don’t generally prescribe to these concepts.
I feel more connection to this theory then to its negation, as I enjoyed Kyon’s character the most out of all the characters of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
March 20th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
tl;dr - Kyon is Jack, Haruhi is Tyler Durden
Nice theory. However, I’d like to contest that while they are in closed space, Kyrie Eleison starts playing (you know, the classic church chant).
March 20th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
You could be right. It’s a plausible theory. With so many unresolved questions surrounding Haruhi’s existence, her role and influence in the universe, and Kyon’s role and influence in the universe and on Haruhi herself, there could be several possibilities regarding the true nature of their existences, and there’s nothing to suggest that this one isn’t likely, let alone impossible. I do like to think Haruhi is god for similar reasons to gaguri and because the thought of a whimsical god that doesn’t know that she is, is terribly amusing to me. I’d also like to believe that Kyon’s perception of reality is reliable. But only time (and Tanigawa) will tell what the truth of the situation really is.
March 21st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Interesting insights on TMHS. Ironically, I’ve been working on a FLCL editorial, and one of my points is about how Haruko is on some level representative of Naota’s Id, and how Commander Amarao is somewhat representative of his Ego.
Haruhi reminds me of Haruko, which is part of the reason I like the show so much. I’d also say it’s the most creative anime I’ve seen since FLCL.
As for that theory of yours, it is definitely plausible. I always thought of TMHS as a sort of Sophie’s World type story, where the characters realize that they exist in someone else’s story (or in the case of TMHS, Haruhi’s mind). I’ve only seen TMHS once, but I’ll definitely think about your idea when I watch it again.