Lain, Ain & Their Meaning

[Ultrifecta]

This features spoilers.

Three things to get out of the way;
I'm known for overseeing glaring issues.
The nature of this question might be too absurd to take seriously.
This poll is more of a study.

Before the question itself, removing all stigmatic or generic associations, I'm not taking these from a crackpipe, I've seen & discussed these three in a solid shape or form before. And no, I don't personally stand for one in specific.

A) Lain a self-aware idea, a luck of "consciousness". Emerged from humans and groups deliberately spreading the idea, mantaining the idea and acting in the name of the idea. Born specifically FROM the intent to exist.

B) Lain as a pre-existing/omnipresent idea personified. A "truth"/"meme" that either exists or can manifest in any-one culture/group/place and, in either a large or minute scale, influence the movement/changes/works within and from that culture/group/place.
Essentially an "essence"

Spoiler

"Just as Montmartre in Paris had their muse, Kiki, this atelier village had Ain.
With the exact same appearance as she had before the great earthquake, Ain existed somewhere. And those who existed close to that place continued to feel some sort of inspiration from her."

C) Lain, plainly, as an icon. Bleeding into Lain as an idea standalone; the name given to a category of art, which is the more popular take I've seen.

 

[RisingThumb]

Imo, Lain is just a character that has reached meme status.

A) Lain a self-aware idea, a luck of "consciousness". Emerged from humans and groups deliberately spreading the idea, mantaining the idea and acting in the name of the idea. Born specifically FROM the intent to exist.

Ideas can possess people, making them spread the idea(communism lol), but an idea has no physical form so can't be self-aware. Put a different way, a person is self-aware, your idea of the person is not self-aware.

B) Lain as a pre-existing/omnipresent idea personified. A "truth"/"meme" that either exists or can manifest in any-one culture/group/place and, in either a large or minute scale, influence the movement/changes/works within and from that culture/group/place.

Maybe? The only "truth" it presents is the idea we're all connected, but when you look at it seriously from a modern internet lens, that falls apart. You could make the case with genetics but that falls apart as SEL had nothing about genetics. Kind of is just meaningless platitudes that fall apart when you look at it them with any amount of scrutiny.

C) Lain, plainly, as an icon. Bleeding into Lain as an idea standalone; the name given to a category of art, which is the more popular take I've seen.

I would call it a symbol rather than an icon because icons normally refer to religious veneration(or comparable veneration that some people like Ghandi and pop singers get). I think it's this among those who know it, and just a character to those who don't. Like how Thor in Marvel is this to those who know about Thor and what he represents and does in the Edda, but is just a character to the vast majority of people.

 

[灰の男性]

Lain is the physical manifestation of the collective consciousness of humanity that is transmitted via the Schumann resonances. She is the avatar is the Noosphere enabled by the wired to possess a physical form. While I do no believe in a noosphere nor that the Schumann resonances are the communication network of the subconsciousness I do believe in the idea of a hyperconsciouness. That being a collective consciousness that emerged to due data inflow exceeding far beyond what a singular mind could process. Said collective will be primarily powered by the internet.

 

[Noxy]

Lain is an autistic preteen with issues.
She sook solace from loneliness in the virtual world, only to find that doing so led to some issues understanding who she even was in the first place.

Eventually the 'split' between her 'real self' and her internet persona became so chaotic, she decided to stop living in the real world, and become 'something' that only exists in the internet (a dream for many).

The problem with this is that even though she is 'connected to everyone' she is now truly alone, and she only realizes this now, in the void of cyber space.

That's what I can recall at least. It has been a while since I interact with this story. Lain is just a representation of what happens to some people that find shelter in the wired, although it is heavily allegorical and the anime is very atmospheric and vague.

The PS2 game sheds a lot more light into the story.

Internet pople began to idealize lain as some sort of internet god instead of seeing it as a cautionary tale, color me surprised.

 

[SomaSpice]

Internet pople began to idealize lain as some sort of internet god instead of seeing it as a cautionary tale, color me surprised.

Didn't she become a sort of god by the end of the series though?

I think that because of the show's age and forward vision with it's themes (it was released in '98), and of course because of cute girl, Lain as an icon has become the patron deity of the terminally online. She was subsumed by the internet, like most of us would later become, however she somehow attained control over the net, not the other way around.

To answer the original question tho, In the show itself I think the answer is actually A. I'm not sure there ever was Lain as a "normal" person to begin with, but it might just be the show's way of presenting alienation by detachment from physical space.

 

[Noxy]

Didn't she become a sort of god by the end of the series though?

I need to rewatch it to post proper things on this thread but from what I remember, more or less?

She is in cyberspace and she's a spectacular hacker, because of this she can do 'anything' in the wired (anything that is possible with their current technology at least).
So yeah, in a way she is a 'god'.
On the other hand, she is as much of a god as Major from SAC.

Also, the series opening has some implications too. Dunno, I'll give the series a rewatch at some point to post something more substancial, it has been a while since I try to dissect it.

And about Lain attaining power over the wired, well, we know that in the series her family is 'artificial' in some implied but vague way. And in the last scene we see her sit with her father as she becomes "a god".
It's hard to tell if this scene is meant to convey that she just became a pawn of whoever controlled her parents, or if this is just something else.

It sure is a neat series to pick apart and discuss

 

[Math Equal Angelic Mantra]

Lain is an autistic preteen with issues.
She sook solace from loneliness in the virtual world, only to find that doing so led to some issues understanding who she even was in the first place.

Eventually the 'split' between her 'real self' and her internet persona became so chaotic, she decided to stop living in the real world, and become 'something' that only exists in the internet (a dream for many).

The problem with this is that even though she is 'connected to everyone' she is now truly alone, and she only realizes this now, in the void of cyber space.

That's what I can recall at least. It has been a while since I interact with this story. Lain is just a representation of what happens to some people that find shelter in the wired, although it is heavily allegorical and the anime is very atmospheric and vague.

The PS2 game sheds a lot more light into the story.

Internet pople began to idealize lain as some sort of internet god instead of seeing it as a cautionary tale, color me surprised.

Unless we're going with the classic fan theory of "All the fantastical stuff was all in the character's mind as they slowly lost their minds!" the autistic preteen thing as an act unbeknownst to her, with her whole family being fake, as she was some sort of manifestation of...

Lain is the physical manifestation of the collective consciousness of humanity that is transmitted via the Schumann resonances. She is the avatar is the Noosphere enabled by the wired to possess a physical form. While I do no believe in a noosphere nor that the Schumann resonances are the communication network of the subconsciousness I do believe in the idea of a hyperconsciouness. That being a collective consciousness that emerged to due data inflow exceeding far beyond what a singular mind could process. Said collective will be primarily powered by the internet.

Yeah that, or something like that.

I'm torn on what Lain exactly was suppose to be myself. I think it's implied she's some kind of divine being that manifested via the wired, which then manifested physically. Or Lain could have been purely a manifestation of the wired and all that stuff above, though the she talks about God makes me think perhaps the wired was not "her" (angels don't really have gender, don't want to misgender entities that can cause my brains and soul to implode) actual origin point. We'll go with that just to add to the conversation. And speaking of androgyny, there is a sort of androgynous quality to Lain, which is why I think so many trans autist types latch onto Lain.

 

[K0WLOON]

is one speaking to the thing in-universe or is one speaking to us as ones who watch a piece of media??? because the thing is an entirely different question with related but very different answeres

 

[Math Equal Angelic Mantra]

is one speaking to the thing in-universe or is one speaking to us as ones who watch a piece of media??? because the thing is an entirely different question with related but very different answeres

It's established in the show Lain is something not of this world. Exactly what she is up for debate (again, unless we'er taking the "Harry is actually going insane. Hoggwarts is actually a psyche ward!" line of thinking). If we say she is just an idea made manifest, then it adds a meta aspect to Lain. Didn't they do some anniversary thing where you could chat with an AI Lain?

I was actually thinking about this in regards to Evangelion. I think that show was more meta than it let on.

Spoiler: Evangelion Spoilers!

The whole show was leading up to human instrumentality, with instrumentality representing the ultimate overcoming of "the hedgehog's dilemma." That's what the whole "Congratulations!" thing was about, though End of Evangelion sort of retcons this, giving a kind of left hand path take, choosing to disregard instrumentality by asserting independence from the masses, all getting messy with each other in the LCL ocean in a psychic-spiritual polycule. EoE's ending clearly hints at Adam and Eve leaving the garden, restarting the cycle. The show obviously parts of Anno's psyche, with even Nerv's underground base and secretive nature acting as metaphor for the subconscious. In a way instrumentality represents his own integration of his psyche and overcoming all the mental issues that distances himself from all the parts of his being and others. Since it about merging all human consciousness, we all sort of partake in human instrumentality since the issues presented in the show are all too common to the human condition. And ultimately the heggies conundrum is a very universal one in modernity, both internally and externally. Realizing this, when all the characters are giving the Congradulations, it's congratulating the viewer for participating. Congradulations Agorian!

 

[Lamoa]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIRwP5wIF-A&list=RDGIRwP5wIF-A&start_radio=1

 

[Math Equal Angelic Mantra]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIRwP5wIF-A&list=RDGIRwP5wIF-A&start_radio=1

Is this technically canon?
EDIT: That powerlines beat goes hard.

 

[☯змія☯]

A playa

 

[UltramarineWeather]

A playa
View attachment 152398

>not "I'm ballain"
M8.

 

[kimn]

I discuss this in my article https://kimn.neocities.org/home#wired - tl;dr
- the wired as a metaphor and an etherial plane.
- lain as an icon/ideal1000%

also check out my shrine
https://kimn.neocities.org/lain