Serial Experiments Lain is a series many today hail for its insights into technology and its plot revolving around transhumanism and the Internet. Of course, technically it’s not the Internet but the Wired, which the anime establishes as a digital layer for interacting with heaven (although one could possibly argue that the Wired in Lain is just an artistic representation of the regular Internet), but I digress.
Anyway, what seems to fly over so many people’s heads when discussing Lain these days is that the anime doesn’t necessarily portray transhumanism or technology in a good light. I don’t think the iconic, ominous images of Lain walking beneath telephone lines are implying that the Wired and discarding the physical form is a positive thing for Lain. In fact, I would argue that Serial Experiments Lain seeks to show us the danger that technology poses for society, the world, and especially the young. I believe that this rampant technological innovation is what Konaka referenced when he said Lain was rejecting American cultural values [].
Anyway, when I first watched the show, these lines from the ending theme really stuck in my head:
...no one can touch me. You probably don't know about the eternal outlaws prowling in the distant night.
These lyrics, coupled with the image of a vulnerable, innocent Lain being surrounded by darkly-shaded, menacing computer parts helped give me a very strong feeling when I first watched the show that Lain’s innocence was being tarnished by the Wired and the modern world.
“simple story, just a drama of a girl” https://www.cjas.org/~leng/fruits.htm
I will now explore this line of thinking further.
Lain is portrayed through the story as the epitome of innocence. This meaning extend even to her name itself: it is spelt as 玲音, where the first kanji means “sound of jewels” and the second kanji means “sound, noise” (source). From the second kanji’s meaning, I instantly think of the sound of the telephone lines in Lain [https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=_W1P7AvV17w]. This could mean many interesting things: could that sound mean that Lain herself is in those telephone lines watching the world? Obviously the anime implies this is true, but does . I digress.
Anyway, it is that second kanji, “the sound of jewels,” that I believe to be significant for my point. Jewels don’t exactly have a “sound”, but the sound of something so beautiful, precious, and valuable must exhibit those same attributes. From this interpretation of Lain’s name, we gain the impression that Lain or some aspect of Lain is precious.
This valuable, precious quality Lain possesses that her name refers to, I argue, is her innocence. Why else make Lain a junior high school student if not to capture her at the precise age where children lose the last pieces of their childhood innocence? Lain’s exposure to the early events of the story clearly has a serious impact on her: her classmate committing suicide, getting stalked by the men in suits, and the incident at Cyberia are prime examples of the physical Lain of the real world losing her innocence.
The most iconic symbol of Lain’s innocence are her bear pajamas. It’s very childish of her, and Konaka (in a very poor English translation of his interview) said “I understood that like a shield for lain” source. Ueda mentions this as well source. Lain’s innocence is seen as a source of strength for her in the story. It’s also seen as a personality trait that differentiates herself from the other girls her age, Arisu and friends who have been partying at Cyberia many times already and have “grown-up clothes” already.
Her bedroom is also one of the greatest examples of her early innocence with all the stuffed animals lined along the windowsill of her room.
N
Later in the series, we see an image of Lain in her bear pajamas in her room, only her room is now fill with computer parts. Her stuffed animals on her windowsill are hardly noticeable behind the wires.
The Lain of the Wired
This line of discussion I’ve followed here may seem
Site Licensing Site last updated: 2024-06-29
