The Most Important Word in Cowboy Bebop
WARNING: This article contains ENDING SPOILERS!!
One of Cowboy Bebop’s main themes is self-liberation. We start off the series in frozenness——namely, the awkward tension between two bros who have a lot of shit and feelings but don’t know how to verbalise them.
Spike is frozen in his past. Jet too. Faye was literally frozen. When fiery-haired Ed comes along (and her colouring is thematically appropriate), the crew begins to melt and warm up to one another. They begin to realise that one, life doesn’t have to be so complicated. Two, that it might be better to live in the moment, like this crazy kid.
But to live in the moment, one must release the past and all hopes for the future. Ed departs when her job is done; when the crew have been melted enough to start living their lives again. We see this melt happening in many ways. Faye cries——she realises she can trust people again, and maybe even that she’s in love. Jet too. And Spike realises that if he’s really going to move forward with his life, he’s going to need to tie up a few loose ends.
This series is about the journey that we all take as we try to escape our pasts. Spike’s past takes a Vicious form (ha ha, pun intended). It is constantly haunting him, ghost-like. Another pale apparition——Julia, his great hope for the future——is also a ghost. She dies, as most false hopes do when seen properly without the haze of expectation to cloud them. Know that feeling when your expectations don’t match reality? Julia’s death is a pretty great metaphor for that. Hey, you think you’re gonna live forever in perfect bliss with your gangsta girlfriend? Psych. She dead. Sorry bro.
When Julia dies, it’s great news for Spike. It’s the same feelings when your crazy expectations for the future die and you only can see the most pressing issues are in front of you. Fantasising about doing the laundry won’t make your clothes any cleaner——you have to roll up your sleeves and do it. Pending Julia’s death, Spike can no longer hide from his past behind the comforting daydream of “Julia.” He stops procrastinating and finally gets around to doing that thing on his laundry list——confronting his past, and freeing himself from it.
And at the end of the spectacular rooftop showdown, Spike is definitely free, smiling through his blood. And that “bang?” It’s the sound of old ghosts dying and a new Spike being born (for about 30 seconds, before the ending credits kick in).
I used to think that Spike was a tragic figure, a poster boy for depressive apathy. You know, the kind that’s so popular when you’re a teenager and the world is so shitty and no one else understands how grandly terrible and tragic life is. I believed that Spike's death proved that everything in life *was* shit and everyone else around him (Jet, Faye, Ed) didn’t understand the meaning of life.
These days, I like it when I’m wrong. It means I’m still learning.
Why Spike has remained a hero for many—— and why Cowboy Bebop the series has so much appeal beyond our adolescent years——is because it deals with adult issues in a respectful way——by not sugar-coating them in labels, opposites, or judgments. The series presents life as it is——not evil, not good, not black, not white. Spike’s arc is ultimately heroic, and one that we should learn from. It takes a lot of courage to face one’s past, and even more to shut it down and not let it run your life.
When you find yourself thinking too much and sinking yourself into a depressive state, just raise your fingers and say “bang” to those thoughts. In that moment, there’s nothing else——life, death, good, bad, finger, air, target, and your gaze——become united around that word.
“Bang.”
It took Spike years and years and countless dead mafioso to realise this, so we should count ourselves the lucky ones. We may wade through hardships like bad grades, cold parents, and tough relationships. Different pale-faced demons haunt each of us. But the reason Cowboy Bebop is such an enduring series is because it teaches us a fundamental lesson in life——to just say “bang” to whatever in your head is holding you back.
Your thoughts stop, and with them, the feelings they evoke. And in that moment, there’s nothing else. Life, death, good, bad, finger, air, target, and your gaze become united around that word.
[by radishface].
Spike is frozen in his past. Jet too. Faye was literally frozen. When fiery-haired Ed comes along (and her colouring is thematically appropriate), the crew begins to melt and warm up to one another. They begin to realise that one, life doesn’t have to be so complicated. Two, that it might be better to live in the moment, like this crazy kid.
But to live in the moment, one must release the past and all hopes for the future. Ed departs when her job is done; when the crew have been melted enough to start living their lives again. We see this melt happening in many ways. Faye cries——she realises she can trust people again, and maybe even that she’s in love. Jet too. And Spike realises that if he’s really going to move forward with his life, he’s going to need to tie up a few loose ends.
This series is about the journey that we all take as we try to escape our pasts. Spike’s past takes a Vicious form (ha ha, pun intended). It is constantly haunting him, ghost-like. Another pale apparition——Julia, his great hope for the future——is also a ghost. She dies, as most false hopes do when seen properly without the haze of expectation to cloud them. Know that feeling when your expectations don’t match reality? Julia’s death is a pretty great metaphor for that. Hey, you think you’re gonna live forever in perfect bliss with your gangsta girlfriend? Psych. She dead. Sorry bro.
When Julia dies, it’s great news for Spike. It’s the same feelings when your crazy expectations for the future die and you only can see the most pressing issues are in front of you. Fantasising about doing the laundry won’t make your clothes any cleaner——you have to roll up your sleeves and do it. Pending Julia’s death, Spike can no longer hide from his past behind the comforting daydream of “Julia.” He stops procrastinating and finally gets around to doing that thing on his laundry list——confronting his past, and freeing himself from it.
And at the end of the spectacular rooftop showdown, Spike is definitely free, smiling through his blood. And that “bang?” It’s the sound of old ghosts dying and a new Spike being born (for about 30 seconds, before the ending credits kick in).
I used to think that Spike was a tragic figure, a poster boy for depressive apathy. You know, the kind that’s so popular when you’re a teenager and the world is so shitty and no one else understands how grandly terrible and tragic life is. I believed that Spike's death proved that everything in life *was* shit and everyone else around him (Jet, Faye, Ed) didn’t understand the meaning of life.
These days, I like it when I’m wrong. It means I’m still learning.
Why Spike has remained a hero for many—— and why Cowboy Bebop the series has so much appeal beyond our adolescent years——is because it deals with adult issues in a respectful way——by not sugar-coating them in labels, opposites, or judgments. The series presents life as it is——not evil, not good, not black, not white. Spike’s arc is ultimately heroic, and one that we should learn from. It takes a lot of courage to face one’s past, and even more to shut it down and not let it run your life.
When you find yourself thinking too much and sinking yourself into a depressive state, just raise your fingers and say “bang” to those thoughts. In that moment, there’s nothing else——life, death, good, bad, finger, air, target, and your gaze——become united around that word.
“Bang.”
It took Spike years and years and countless dead mafioso to realise this, so we should count ourselves the lucky ones. We may wade through hardships like bad grades, cold parents, and tough relationships. Different pale-faced demons haunt each of us. But the reason Cowboy Bebop is such an enduring series is because it teaches us a fundamental lesson in life——to just say “bang” to whatever in your head is holding you back.
Your thoughts stop, and with them, the feelings they evoke. And in that moment, there’s nothing else. Life, death, good, bad, finger, air, target, and your gaze become united around that word.
[by radishface].
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