Claimed to be immortal, Proxies have only one goal: to make Earth suitable for human life once more. However, because their existence is one of forced loneliness[4] for thousands of years, they create domed cities in which they provide the required information to create pseudo-humans through an artificial womb[5] in an attempt to seek companionship. Not only do Proxies provide the necessary information to maintain the pseudo-human population but also a protective barrier against the outside world and its harmful toxins. Despite their function as providers and their instrumentality in the creation of these pseudo-humans, their existence is not desirable to original humans and pseudo-humans. Consequently, the original humans created Proxies as imperfect beings who, despite appearing immortal, can die if their Amrita cells[6] are completely destroyed by anther Proxy or if they are exposed to sunlight. Their destruction is then a facet of their existence, which then affects pseudo-humans who are wholly reliant[7] upon Proxies within the domed cities. The existence of AutoReivs[8] as servants complicates matters further. As the product of pseudo-humans, AutoReivs are generally not capable of independent thought; however, the Cogito Virus, which affects only AutoReivs, enables them to become capable of thought and, arguably, to come into possession of a soul. This ability to gain a soul changes the relationship between pseudo-human and AutoReiv throughout the series as seen toward the end when pseudo-humans begin to reject their reliance upon AutoReivs and instead kill any without hesitation. Similarly, Murase also depicts the changing relationship between pseudo-human and Proxy as the protagonists learn that Proxies are meant to automatically die once Earth is suitable for the original humans once more. How these three races can negotiate their survival when the original humans are about to return in the landscape of Ergo Proxy is then the issue that Murase raises.
Within the twenty-three episodes of Ergo Proxy, Murase proposes to the audience two very different ways of surviving in the post-apocalyptic world. He presents the first proposal which makes use of the status quo that exists in Romdo. Because the city is a domed one, there exists the inherent idea that to maintain balance requires stringent control through its government, which is led by Re-l’s grandfather, Donov Meyer,[9] and his four AutoReivs through which he speaks. The second proposal that Murase puts forth exists in the world outside the dome where pseudo-humans must adapt physically and emotionally while becoming less dependent on the “luxuries” of domed city life. Within the second proposal, Murase presents a complexity to the three races by incorporating and alluding to Descartes’ idea of the soul. To compound this, the issue of Derrida’s autoimmunity arises within and outside of Romdo as society begins to crumble and ultimately collapse altogether around the characters. How the characters respond toward the destruction of Romdo differs; however, Murase highlights the combination of the protagonists with those who survive the literal collapse of Romdo as a merging point between the modes of survival.
The collapse of Romdo occurs within the last few episodes of Ergo Proxy, but the root of the problems which led to this collapse are not only obvious throughout the series but highly emphasized. As a society that is literally closed off from the world outside by a dome, Romdo is a self-sustaining world that relies on nothing but itself – including reproduction. Part of its ability to be self-sustaining is its literal control over the population through the artificial womb,[10] or “womb-sys” as stated by Daedalus, the Director of the Division of Health and Welfare. The artificial womb is an important feature of Romdo, as Daedalus states in one scene, “because population management and stability are essential.” While Murase does not specify whether pseudo-humans, like their “Creator” (i.e. Proxies), are impotent or not, there is the implication that they are[11] when Murase grants the audience a glimpse of upper aristocracy and what it means to be “expecting” a baby. Rather than actively procreate, a couple must request a baby from the Welfare and Human Affairs Department. The rigid control of the Romdo population thus becomes a problem because “natural” reproduction is reliant upon technology and the government.
This reliance on the government furthermore extends itself upon the issue of citizenship in Romdo as well. The distinction between “fellow citizens” and immigrants is made and emphasized throughout the series through the obsession of immigrants to become suitable for citizenship as well as the treatment of immigrants by fellow citizens. Such an instance occurs when Vincent enters the residential district of Romdo to respond to a call regarding a potentially infected AutoReiv. When he informs the mistress of the household that he cannot take the AutoReiv back, she retorts angrily that she knows Vincent is a “lowly immigrant” and asks, “How can an immigrant not listen to what I say?” Using her station as an aristocrat within Romdo society, she, like other fellow citizens, degrades and rejects immigrants.
Thus, the status quo of Romdo and its consistent self-containment and self-sustainability create and perpetuate the feeling of alienation within its citizens that defines Murase’s first proposal for survival. Born and raised inside the city, pseudo-humans are taught to be fellow citizens who should “do [their] part and make waste” as seen on the billboards displayed in the center of the shopping district as well as on various other places and objects, such as the toolbox that Vincent carries while making a house call in the residential district.
(Figure 1)
The superimposed message of consumerism reinforces the consumption and wasting that create the sense of detachment in Romdo when citizens walk about calmly without inclination to challenge this message. The acceptance of the message reflects the agreement that, as citizens who work and consequently produce within Romdo, they should not “skimp” because they “deserve more” than the commodities that they already produce and use. Within this detachment is then the echo of Marx’s Early Writings (1975) on “Estranged Labour” where “the object that labour produces, its product, stands opposed to it as something alien, as a power independent of the producer” (Marx 324). Murase literalizes the idea of “something alien” that is a “power independent of the producer” through AutoReivs.
While pseudo-humans continue to contribute to consumption and waste, they are also the ones who create AutoReivs, a commodity that they come to rely upon heavily and eventually blatantly reject when Romdo collapses. The problem that the inhabitants of Romdo then encounter is the issue of who is the more valuable because, like the AutoReiv that is created through manufacturing, a pseudo-human is created through “manufacturing” via the artificial womb. As an entity capable of developing independent thought, pseudo-humans are potentially less valuable to the sustaining of Romdo than the uninfected AutoReivs that will obey all given commands. Here the notion of Murase’s second proposal on survival begins to slowly emerge by means of the untapped potential pseudo-humans possess and clash with the values of the first proposal – particularly the isolation that Romdo strives to maintain. The rejection of the outside world in favor of this self-contained world is consequently only a means of keeping fellow citizens ignorant of the truth that people can now survive outside of the dome. The inhabitants are thus metaphorically blinded and unable to shift from the idea that survival requires self-containment to the idea that survival requires the ability to adapt and be fully autonomous. This issue of blindness is an issue of autoimmunity that Derrida discusses throughout much of his life by way of deconstructing the idea of immunity itself. As quoted by Andrew Johnson in “Viral Politics: Jacques Derrida’s account of Auto-Immunity and Carl Schmitt,” “‘the relation [between immunity and what threatens it] is neither one of exteriority nor one of simple opposition or contradiction.’”[12] Instead it is, according to Johnson, “an attack and degeneration against the self” (Johnson 8). The belief that Romdo is completely removed from the outside world is then a false one because the threat of exposure does not necessarily coincide with being immune against something (e.g. the threat). That threat in Ergo Proxy is an issue of self-containment and the utopia that Romdo purportedly possesses. Murase materializes this problem through the infection of AutoReivs by the Cogito Virus. The existence of the virus is an internal problem within Romdo because the virus must have developed from somewhere. This suggests that pseudo-humans, like Proxies who have a fatal flaw, implanted a flaw within AutoReivs in order to ensure the dominance of pseudo-humans over AutoReiv. Though, it certainly is not the case that Romdo’s immunity to the outside world can ward off the threat from the inside via the Cogito Virus.
By implementing safety measures such as the Cogito Virus or even the ability to destroy a Proxy’s Amrita Cells through sunlight, Murase emphasizes the power struggle that exists in the post-apocalypse where the original humans are never present and yet still able to affect the survival of these three races. The threat against survival is not limited to the internal power struggle between pseudo-humans and the other two races but all three races against the original humans. Consequently, Murase provides an alternative to the status quo on survival through consumerism and remaining within Romdo. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles presented by Romdo’s government in discouraging deviance, shifting from one mode of survival to another is possible. Murase uses Vincent to exemplify this change of thought. Initially presented as an immigrant, Vincent has a strong desire to become a fellow citizen and consequently does his best to fit in. Not only does he attempt to become a fellow citizen through his actions but also physically.
(Figure 2)
When Murase first introduces Vincent, he appears as a passive person who is unable to defend himself, let alone acknowledge the truth that he will most likely always be an outcast in the eyes of fellow citizens. Furthermore, in one scene, Re-l examines his files and thinks to herself that he “has the face of a fellow citizen.” Unlike the other characters, Vincent does not open his eyes but instead keeps his shut while maintaining relatively neutral expressions to try to be, as he himself describes it, “the person [he] thought [Romdo] wanted.” Like the blindness that inflicts fellow citizens created within Romdo and the uninfected AutoReivs, which are unable to function independently like those infected by the Cogito Virus, Vincent, as an immigrant attempting to be accepted, appears almost robotic and simply following a predetermined fate. This is what spurs on the tension within the first few episodes of Ergo Proxy that culminates in what can be called his awakening.[13] It is thus only when he can no longer stay out of trouble and must confront his internal conflicts that his eyes finally open.
(Figure 3)
Vincent opens his eyes only in the instance when he realizes that “doubting the system is bad” and that they must “always obey”. About to be forced out of Romdo and into the outside world, this scene represents a shift toward full autonomy that the second way of survival promotes. Furthermore, Vincent’s eyes reflect his complexity that remained hidden up until that point. Murase’s choice to make Vincent’s green eyes appear almost electrifyingly bright in comparison to the rest of the scene with its dark, neutral colors highlights this complexity well. He places the focus of this pivotal moment within the series on the eyes, which are often associated with acting as a window into the soul, particularly in both Japanese culture and anime.[14] If Murase had maintained the superficiality of Vincent’s character (i.e. by not allowing Vincent to open his eyes), he would not be able to move from this state of blindness into a more aware state in which he willingly journeys far from Romdo to learn about his connection to Proxies.
Furthermore, although each character is instilled with a “raison d’etre”[15] that attempts to perpetuate the sheltered state that Romdo needs in order to exist and survive against the “ruthlessly” Darwinistic outside world,[16] Murase tests the application of raison d’etre through the Cogito Virus as well as Re-l. As inorganic beings, AutoReivs are programmed to do as commanded by pseudo-humans. However, the virus enables an infected AutoReiv not only to behave like pseudo-humans but also to be able to think and make decisions on their own; hence the use of the Latin verb “cogito”. For an AutoReiv, to be autonomous is an extreme form of deviance that results in death if caught, but, conversely, it is also a representation of the need for adaptability and free will in order to survive the impending massacre of AutoReivs that occurs toward the end of the series. When an AutoReiv becomes infected by the Cogito Virus, it does not simply stop functioning but instead attempts to escape Romdo.[17] Murase does not explain why the AutoReivs do this, but there is the implication that the world outside of the dome may be more open to those who are shunned within. For instance, the Commune[18] that exists outside of Romdo is possible only because its inhabitants choose to accept one another rather than create a class hierarchy. When Vincent and Pino arrive, they both consequently receive warm welcomes and acceptance. Pino, in particular, demonstrates how open the people living in the Commune are when they treat her as though she was a pseudo-human child. They scold her and teach her things (even so far as to tell her that the feeling that she is feeling in her heart when they bury the one pseudo-human child in the Commune is called “sabishii” (寂しい)[19] or “sadness”).
The ability for an AutoReiv to learn and comprehend emotion is something impossible without the virus. Consequently, the distinction between AutoReiv and pseudo-human is significantly lessened by the soul that an AutoReiv gains upon infection. This soul is something that Descartes discusses in his First Meditations on Philosophy (1998) and a key factor for survival within Murase’s Ergo Proxy – especially when considering that the two surviving AutoReivs that Murase chooses to depict at the end of the series are both infected. The ability for an AutoReiv to not only think but also choose what to do independent of its master’s command is necessary because it perpetuates the idea of raison d’etre. Without a purpose, the question of what it means to survive in a hostile world emerges. Murase does not appear to favor the idea of purposelessness because the timeframe of the series is one where original humans are about to return and come into conflict with these new races that, according to their planning, should be becoming extinct. It is thus important that Descartes’ idea that the ability to think is the foundation for reality emerges through the form of the Cogito Virus as an explicit allusion to his famous phrase: cogito ergo sum – I think therefore I am.
While Re-l already has a soul, she, like the AutoReivs, develops the ability to make choices. Rather than being bound by what is best for Romdo, she herself decides what is best. Re-l is thus not a cogwheel within a well-oiled, functioning machine but an autonomous entity that chooses to resist the conformity that is exerted over her in Romdo. Instead, she questions the function of the domed city and its goal of preserving the human race through rigid control. The scene in which she is in the artificial womb with Daedalus highlights this issue.
(Figure 4)
Having returned from the outside world in her pursuit of Vincent, she stumbles upon the chamber and seeing it for the first time, she tells Daedalus, “Even though mentally I know that people are controlled… by production lines just like AutoReivs… it’s different when you actually see it.” In this statement is the implication that the room, with its dim lighting and the silhouettes of each individual artificial womb, is far too sterile, too impersonal, and cold. The parallel between how an AutoReiv and pseudo-human are created highlights this lack of warmth. Instead, the production of new pseudo-humans, of new fellow citizens for Romdo, is simply a task that is fundamental in maintaining the population. Consequently, when Re-l ventures outside of Romdo and experiences the recovering world, she can no longer accept that the only means of surviving is to remain inside the dome. Her adventure outside produces, in terms of her character, a dramatic growth and allows her the opportunity to create a new raison d’etre that opts for the coexistence of pseudo-humans with both Proxy and AutoReiv as equals.
The coexistence that the characters within Ergo Proxy seek is undoubtedly something that Murase himself seeks and potentially why the two modes of survival he proposes merge. After all, the Western influences that invade the landscape of Ergo Proxy are not accidental. Instead, it is a careful construction of philosophies that Murase uses to probe the idea of survival and what is necessary to continue survival for races that are a direct result of original humans and their flight from Earth. The isolation that the status quo proposes is a strong parallel to the existence of Japan prior to the opening of its trading ports to the West. By creating this juxtaposition between the world of Ergo Proxy and historic Japan, Murase critiques Japan’s isolation as well as imposes upon it the Western philosophies that he contemplates within the series, such as the issue of autoimmunity where the problem is not necessarily external but internal.
Despite these similarities to Japan, however, the inclusion of Western philosophies also raises the question of what his perspective is on the isolationism that both Romdo and Japan exhibited. While Japan has opened itself to the outside world, Romdo did not and instead collapsed from within first. The role of Western influences here then is to perhaps signify the integration and adaptation of the inside with the outside. The characters and their names are significant in achieving this merging of cultures. For instance, the pronunciation of Re-l’s name is like the English word “real”. In an interview with Murase and Sato, the writer behind Ergo Proxy, Murase acknowledged the pun made with the name Re-l as well as the obvious allusions to Descartes’ cogito ergo sum as well as the reference to the mythology of Daedalus and Icarus. It is then interesting that he, although knowing “the Japanese audiences could not see [the allusions],” persisted in doing so “in the hope that they [the Japanese] would understand them” (Drummond-Matthews, Hairston, and Scally 332). Arguably one of the largest themes within Ergo Proxy that Murase continually harks back upon is the issue of responsibility – particularly whether everyone should take partial responsibility for events in life or not.
The source of Murase’s fascination with taking responsibility appears to stem from the failure of the Japanese to “look directly at their own inner selves, and that is why there are so many problems in Japanese society right now” (Drummond-Matthews, Hairston, and Scally 330). Consequently, the blindness that Murase portrays within Romdo and the fellow citizens who live there are a direct parallel to the Japanese who fail to be critical of the status quo. While Romdo is similar to Japan, there are some differences because Murase chose to allow for Western influences. By taking those Western influences and blending subtle nuances into the series with it, Murase makes the contrast between the two modes of survival even clearer as both ways still must cope with problems foreign to the self-containment that existed prior to the beginning of the series. The discourse he then creates through Ergo Proxy is one that discusses not necessarily what the “right” way to survive is but what the more effective one is. He attempts to create a discourse between himself and the audience that is unsuccessful with the Japanese audience; instead, he found that “Americans are a lot more interested in those elements [allusions made to philosophy and mythology], and they recognize the symbolism” (Drummond-Matthews, Hairston, and Scally 332). Reaching to another audience entirely, Murase is not just creating a discourse with Japanese viewers but also the outside audience as well.
The dialogue that exists within the landscape of Ergo Proxy from the beginning to the end echoes of the uncertainty that exists for society. The ability to be introspective is something that Murase clearly emphasizes through the blindness that Romdo, as does Vincent Law, exhibits. What is more, the realization, or the awakening, that some characters experience parallels the hopes that Murase had in inspiring a realization within Japanese society. To be able to have a soul and self-invent a new purpose for being is something that both this fictitious world and real Japanese society do not possess, and so with the introduction of external factors that invade the “inside” of a world more and more, Murase raises the question if the status quo is sufficient or insufficient, whether change is necessary for survival or not. The push for change and its effects may not appear immediately, but as J. H. Miller wrote in “Derrida’s Politics of Autoimmunity,” “the ideal is a ‘democracy to come,’ in Derrida’s phrase, something never of course anywhere fully accomplished” (215). When the destruction of Romdo occurs within Ergo Proxy, the ability to maintain the status quo does indeed collapse, but that does not mean what replaces it is necessarily better than before. Instead, Murase leaves the audience with the idea that the embracing of both the old and new ideas is what is necessary to survive in a world that is full of external threats. This is not limited to the embracing of change from the inside alone but the outside and what it has to offer as well. The fantasy in which Ergo Proxy entertains is then one that results in the proposal of a (hopefully) better fantasy that affects not only survival but also potentially society’s structure itself.
NOTES
1. Domed cities appear to be the only viable way for most people to survive.
2. Proxies are superhuman creatures created by the original humans who fled Earth prior to the apocalypse, whereas pseudo-humans are the product of Proxies. What Proxies precisely are and their function will be explained as well as the function of pseudo-humans will be.
3. I use the term “races” here loosely to signify that they are not the same species but all are capable of thought and arguably in possession of a soul.
4. Proxies are territorial beings and instinctively driven to kill one another if they meet. This instinct to kill their own kind is something that the original humans intentionally planned.
5. It is important to note that pseudo-humans are not conceived or born naturally but through an artificial womb. Murase does not explicitly state that pseudo-humans and Proxies are impotent; however, this appears to be the case when considering how there are only three hundred Proxies in existence as well as the pseudo-human’s fascination with the artificial womb.
6. Amrita cells are capable of regeneration and, consequently, the source of a Proxy’s “immortality”.
7. This is generally true; however, as the series progresses, we learn that there are people who can survive outside of the domed cities. One particular group is the Commune that exists outside of Romdo that is comprised of former Romdo citizens.
8. They are the equivalent of androids.
9. It is interesting to note that the surname Meyer is pronounced similarly to “mayor”. Furthermore, Re-l and Donov represent the two different viewpoints on how to survive in Ergo Proxy.
10. A still of the artificial womb will be provided in a subsequent paragraph.
11. I would even venture to say that Murase may have intended the sterility of both Proxy and pseudo-human to be a reference to the breeding of animals that produce new, infertile species, such as the breeding of a donkey with a horse to produce a mule.
12. This was taken from Derrida’s Rogues.
13. The idea of “awakening” is extremely important for AutoReivs infected by the Cogito Virus in particular because they awaken from a state of detachment and subservience into a state of autonomy.
14. Masaki, Yuki, William M. Maddux, and Takahiko Masuda. “Are the windows to the soul the same in the East and West? Cultural differences in using the eyes and mouth as cues to recognize emotions in Japan and the United States.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43.2 (2007): 303-311.
15. The term raison d’etre is something that various characters within Romdo mention. In French, it means “reason for being”.
16. There is one episode in which we glimpse into just how violent the outside world can be when Vincent and Pino encounter a stray group of pseudo-humans defending an artificial womb against AutoReivs even after their dome has fallen.
17. In one scene toward the end, we see a long row of AutoReivs on their knees praying. Whether they are actually capable of standing up and responding to the destruction of Romdo is never shown.
18. mentioned this briefly earlier in this paper, but once again, the Commune consists of pseudo-humans who fled from Romdo (usually not by choice but by force).
19. I would like to briefly point out that the Japanese term here carries the connotation that is lonely as well; though the translation in the subtitle is simply “sadness”. The English word “sadness” does not, I feel, necessarily connote that it is lonely as well as sad – especially when considering that this is during the first burial/funeral within the series. In fact, the only funerals we see are while in the outside world and not within Romdo which only appears to have morgues (which, as far as the audience is aware of, is for AutoReivs).
WORKS CITED
Ergo Proxy. Dir. Murase Shuko. DVD. Geneon, 2006.
Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Fourth Edition. Translated by Donald A. Cress. Hackett Publishing Company, Indiana: 1998.
Drummond-Matthews, Angela, Marc Hairston, and Deborah Scally. “Interview with Murase Shuko and Sato Dai.” Mechademia 4 (2009): 329-334.
Johnson, Andrew. “Viral Politics: Jacques Derrida’s account of Auto-Immunity and Carl Schmitt.” Academia. N.d. LSU. 18 May 2011 < http://lsu.academia.edu/AndrewJohnson/Papers/216732/Viral_Politics_Jacques_Derridas_account_of_Auto-immunity_and_Carl_Schmitt>.
Marx, Karl. Early Writings. London: Penguin, 1975.
Masaki, Yuki, William M. Maddux, and Takahiko Masuda. “Are the windows to the soul the same in the East and West? Cultural differences in using the eyes and mouth as cues to recognize emotions in Japan and the United States.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43.2 (2007): 303-311.
Miller, J. H. “Derrida’s Politics of Autoimmunity.” Discourse 30.1/2 (2008): 208-225.
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