Eyes Convey Truth in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood covers a wide range of philosophical topics but one of the more pervasive is its thoughts on the meaning of truth falling in line with Theosophical principles there is no greater force than truth in the series it's what drives all existence and the highest level of enlightenment one can wish to attain at times just relating to a general idea and at others a real metaphysical existence truth presence is everywhere but it's not always as obvious as some of Brotherhood's other themes one of the very few problems I had with the series upon my most recent rewatch is how ham-fisted some of its ideas are that's not the case with truth however as there's still tons of intrigue hidden in the details particularly as it relates to the series use of eyes yes the imagery is just as an volition as anything at times what would giant horrifying eyes blankly looking on as people's souls are ripped from their bodies but it runs much deeper than that most striking example Brotherhood uses eyes as a way of conveying truth primarily by taking advantage of anime style after all eyes are animes most expressive feature you can tell a lot about a character just by looking at their eyes as the exaggerated design makes it easier to read their emotions because of that rarely do you see a character's eyes obstructed thus when a character's eyes are blocked out it's probably trying to tell you something like when a character's trying to hide their emotional state say in a fit of grief a classic trope is the shiny glasses look emphasizing a character's emotional or even moral ambiguity often times it's used to clue in the viewer hey this character is probably up to no good or you might want to question their motives by hiding their eyes you've hidden their true frame of mind Brotherhood uses this trope quite a bit like when we're first introduced to scar and Hohenheim in both cases it's an effort to cloud the character making you wonder who they really are and what they're up to as we get a sense of their motives and both grow into characters we pull for that goes away and they lose the look the reverse is also true Ramon for example gives off a sense of total harmlessness his glasses are blurred by default but when they turn transparent the master manipulator comes out Hugh's glasses are often blurred out while he's maintaining an upbeat friendly persona - but when we actually see his eyes we get a real sense of the military officer Hughes Tucker is the same way albeit in a much more disgustingly evil light Moore first introduced to him his glasses are blurred out and he seems like kind of a nice guy then we start to see what really drives his character and that there's a much darker person hidden underneath at the same time in his most evil moments we also see that blurred out glasses look to indicate something really tragic has happened only now it's far more exaggerated than before Brotherhood also hides characters literal identities within their eyes for instance miles wears glasses to shield his red eyes which proved he's ish fallen the or amorous tattoo on Fuhrer King Bradley's left eye reveals his identity as homunculus so he uses an eyepatch to cover it up the series also unveils crucial details about where its villains came from by the rise the dwarf and the flasks I strongly resembles the eye of God applying the gate is likely where he came from but there's some notable differences between the two as well emphasizing how the door from the flask is just a cheap imitation of God it falls right in line with father's ultimate goal he wants to become and even surpass God fitting then that he's mimicked God in appearance from the very start we also learned gluttony is a fake door of truth created by father when he sucks at envy and laying into its stomach note how its eye takes after father's and not the eye of God father could only imbue in him what he knows again in illustrates how gluttony is nothing more than an impersonation but also how father doesn't really know what he's doing it's a crude attempt to copy God's power here eyes revealed the distinction between father and God as well as the gap that still exists between the two all of these examples highlight ways Brotherhood uses eyes to literally convey truth by looking at these characters eyes you can learn a lot about who they are what motivates them etc but there's another less surface-level meaning of truth present as well and it brings us to the being of truth itself Auto Kawa described truth as a sort of hollow form of oneself like a conscience or negative version of the person that directly falls in line with what we see throughout the series as truth seems to want to teach the subject a lesson the tools for human transmutation all offer some form of karmic justice be it easy Me's loss of fertility after trying to bring back her miscarried child or Mustangs loss of eyesight preventing him from seeing the future he wants to build but fathers maybe the most poetic truth answers his arrogant desire to seek perfection by letting the eye dragon back inside the gate in a sense allowing him to reach that height while taking away the freedom he's so desperately craved it feels like something needs see out of the twilight zone the being stuck in a flask who wanted the limitless freedom of a God forced to spend eternity trapped in a cage with the very power he wished to obtain in this final conversation between truth and father with finally get a clear sense of what truth is the homunculus has the audacity to ask truth who the hell do you think you are as he boasts about seeking perfection one last bit of arrogance before truth gives him his just reward finally truth leaves him with this [Music] you simply must have seen the answer with your own eyes there's a few interpretations you could take from that line first is a more literal look whether it was mimicking the eye of truth are taking Hohenheim x' likeness father never truly saw anything with his own eyes everything he is has or knows he stole from others hell the only thing keeping him alive was the souls from the people observe cease it's why his door of truth is empty every other door we've seen contains some symbol of that character's knowledge of alchemy edie has the Tree of Life on his Mustangs resembles the symbol for fire alchemy fathers however is completely blank unlike EDL Mustang and easily whose outcome acknowledged was their own nothing father has truly belongs to him he's merely leached off others second is how he had to have known deep down where it is that he went wrong his brief flashed back to an earlier line you made about the arrogance of man corroborates this father never appreciated humanity constantly tearing them down as a lesser form of being he attempted to rid himself of all his human elements by making the homunculus thinking he'd become a perfect being in the process in doing so he failed to see the very reason he lost is because he wasn't human the power of Ed nails bond and the bonds they'd forged along the journey outweigh any physical power father could muster tying into Brotherhood's overarching message on the importance of human connection humans may be weak flawed creatures but their compassion and unyielding determination make their combined force stronger than anything finally father couldn't see the truth because he wasn't looking for it as discussed brotherhood often uses eyes to convey the truth whether by exploring a character's hidden motivations and thoughts or revealing their true identity all you need to do to see the truth is look at their eyes here however at the climax of the series that doesn't work because the truth isn't about who a character is or where they came from it's much deeper father couldn't see it's the power of humanity that beat him too blinded by his desire to absorb God from the second he sat upon stripping himself of all that makes one human he was going to lose that's a truth father refused to believe in had he only learned to embrace the strength of humanity and what makes it special maybe he wouldn't be confined to this fate when edy finally comes to this realization that human relationships are far more important than physical power only then is he able to save his brother that's a truth you can't see with your eyes it's no coincidence the physical embodiment of truth doesn't have eyes father believes truth is sadistic it's only goal is to make people suffer in reality truth same seems a bit nobler to inspire genuine maturation and growth in order to defeat it you have to actually learn your lesson ed is the first to confront truth exhibiting real growth he's come to see the folly of his actions willingly accepts the consequences and finally understands what's most important in life nothing is more powerful than truth it encompasses everything from your physical identity to who you are as a person it may run counter to what you believe in and how you see the world but no matter how difficult it may be the truth is something you have to accept or continue to suffer the same fate some truths you can see with your eyes others not so much there's a lot you can learn about the world and its people by looking at them but even more that you can't so easily define Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood gets that it's those truths we have to discover and only when we come to know them can we move forward [Music] [Music]

Channel: Under The Scope

Views: 660,986

Keywords: fullmetal, alchemist, brotherhood, fma, fma:brotherhood, fma: brotherhood, full metal, 2003, 2009, ed, al, father, dwarf in the flask, eye, god, truth, arakawa, gate, door, rain, op, review, analysis, brotherhood analysis

Id: 4H4dYeXt-uk

Length: 8min 30sec (510 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 04 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Mandalorian_Invictus]

I love the detail in this show. There's so much I'd never catch

[u/Onlyhereforthelaughs]

Have definitely seen this one. Love it.

[u/Mr-Oxber]

Whenever someone talks about eyes being the center of a plot, I just think “Grant us eyes! Plant eyes on our brains, to cleanse our beastly idiocy.”

[u/natsia27]

Love this, ty for sharing