Horny Beast - Pia Santaklaus on Unico

HORNY BEAST

Though I’m not great follower of manga and anime, I still enjoyed today’s CINEMATHEQUE experience and offer some thoughts on tonight’s double.

ASTRO BOY (1963 B&W) the episode called ‘Memory Day’ in which we find many families ordering and purchasing humanoid robots to replace loved and missed human relatives no longer with them. Tezuka certainly seems to be ahead of the pack. It not only reminded me of the later Spielberg movie Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) based on the Brian Aldiss short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long (1969) about a robot boy in a story where humanity, intelligent machines and aching loneliness clash, but also the film Bicentennial Man (1999) starring Robin Williams and based on the Isaac Asimov novella of the same title (1976) in which robots are no longer merely mechanical servants, but trusted and loved family members.

ASTRO BOY was followed by Osamu Tezuka’s film UNICO (1979): The story about a very cute baby unicorn looking to please with his magic powers. Immediately obvious are the physical and characteristic similarities between Unico the baby unicorn and Kimba the White Lion (first created by Tezuka in 1950); both very cute 4-legged beasts, though Kimba has larger ears and Unico has more hair in a messy, wavy, mop-top fashion, plus off course a unicorn has the obligatory horn. Note: Tezuka himself was one of a very small percentage of Japanese with wavy hair, a rare trait considered messy by Japanese.

Early in the film, Unico suffers a Genesis-style expulsion from the paradisical land when the Gods deem it necessary and suddenly, like an Old Testament punishment, Unico is expected to struggle for happiness, not unlike Adam and Eve who were expelled from Eden and forced into a world of pain and toil.

In Unico, Tezuka seems to present a life that is more or less in the hands of the Gods. Tezuka offers a ‘fishbowl’ existence of examination, where outside forces can scrutinize one’s every move. Perhaps a result of stifling overpopulation, life in Japan may not have felt completely one’s own, but rather a judged existence where escape is difficult, but ultimately necessary. Perhaps Tezuka saw the West as his eventual escape. He gave his main characters larger, rounder eyes. ‘Caught’ in one place, perhaps we are living for others and must be seen to do only good and show a good example, even to the evil or devilish… Unico feels the need to bring pleasure to others even when he is moved around, displaced like a boat without a rudder, literally on the winds of change while somehow trying to make friends or have some fun along the way in order to avoid his fear of loneliness.

Perhaps I was reading too much into it, but I couldn’t help noticing and thinking that Tezuka has loaded this film with subliminal sexual and adult content. I guess it wouldn’t be the first time he has done this as his film ‘CLEOPATRA: QUEEN OF SEX” (1970) and his series MARVELOUS MELMO (1970-72) confront sexual issues with varying degrees of explicitness. Furthermore I understand his later project BUDDHA (1974-84) is a somewhat sexual portrayal of the Buddha.

In UNICO, I imagine that the baby unicorn is actually Tezuka in search of himself. Perhaps Tezuka unwittingly offers himself (and us) this strange allegorical autobiography and insight into his own sexual labyrinth. I wonder if it is deliberate or unknowing. Did he feel the need to analyze or interpret his perhaps complex psycho-sexual aspects with this unraveling? Is he confessing? I think it begins with the concept of a stiff horn on a unicorn as a metaphor for an erect phallus on a creature of free will.

I do not know Tezuka’s sexual orientation, but in Unico we find manifold issues. Unico is a friendly male creature with a loving, effeminate voice. He seems to be a victim much of the time. The Gods desert him, he gets lost, bullied, chased, moved, ignored, hurt, and even gets his horn sliced off.

Removed from the world of his mother, he finds himself far away and out of the scrutiny of his ‘family’ where he soon enters a ‘blue’ mood by befriending a little blue Devil (Beezle). Unico offers love to the little male Devil and shows his affection by trying to gently lick it to happiness with his tongue, however, the Devil seems not so compatible a ‘bedfellow’ for Unico, as Beezle prefers a rougher, sadistic path to fun and friendship. At one point we see Beezle in a frenzy riding and whipping a complaining and sore Unico. It seems Tezuka/Unico was not meant to have a lasting friendship here.

The word UNICO could be broken down into two words UNI (one-single) and CO (company-with) which may cryptically reveal loneliness or a solo ‘dark horse’ nature. (Ed: The 'dark horse' or 'lone wolf' archetype is a staple of Japanese culture, and occurs in various genres, particularly yakuza and samurai stories. The ronin, or masterless samurai, is the epitome of the lone wolf archetype). Did Tezuka prefer himself for company? Perhaps it reveals a yearning for one love and loyalty… monogamy…

We find Unico’s power-source is built-into his own horn. It scares him to have to share it. When the little blue Devil remembers his own big, virile, Devil-father had a horn similar to Unico’s, he desperately wants to take Unico’s phallic part (penis envy?) so he might be like his father, but Unico finds it near impossible to share it. It seems like Unico has a kind of ‘castration anxiety’ (a Freudian concept found in his writings on Oedipus) and fears he could lose his power and the love of ‘mother’ (object of affection). Yet, Unico’s longing for company is so strong that he surrenders his horn to Beezle – BUT only for one day! Beezle soon learns to trust and fall in love with Unico.

Unfortunately for Beezle, Unico seems to have commitment issues as well. Just as the two male creatures get closer, it seems Tezuka’s Unico avoids further intimacy by heeding the sudden fateful unfolding of life and Unico must move on, leaving behind a broken-hearted Beezle.

Is Unico promiscuous?

Unico soon meets a mischievous female cat called Chao. At first she is simply a pussy, but with Unico’s controlled input and the power of his horn, this pussy can be seen as a complete person (Cheri). It seems he wants to love this girl but he tells her that his horn doesn’t work if she doesn’t love him first, and yet his horn did work earlier for the blue Devil even before Beezle loved him. Curious!

Later in the film, when Unico gets his horn sliced off (castration again?) by an evil being, the terrified young girl promises NOT to be a girl anymore in the hope that Unico’s hornless limp body might once again become strong and upright.

Later, Unico makes another male friend in the form of a little brown injured monkey. Unico tries to revive and awaken the limp creature by licking his body till it perks up.

The main evil opponent in the film is a dashing male with dandy clothing and very long flowing hair. Androgynous elements creep in as the lines between power and trust, good and evil are blurred.
I hazard a guess that Tezuka’s real life mother was a very strong presence in his life. Unico’s mother was presented as a majestic and radiant unicorn with an intact horn (ie a female with the power of a phallic appendage). When Unico is separated from his mother, he feels great loneliness. Was she the dominant parent in Tezuko’s life? It seems that there was a less strong male presence in the young Tezuka’s life. His mother would comfort and encourage him and tell him fascinating stories and take him to the theatre (which by the way, was made up completely of women…even male roles were performed by females…perhaps young Tezuka wondered what was underneath their robes and make-up).

In UNICO, Tezuka doesn’t shy away from potentially dangerous and heavy themes. At one point in the film, the young girl is drugged (by eating magic plants) and in another, she is made very drunk with glass after glass of wine. In her intoxicated state she is manipulated and compromised by a controlling force. At another point in the film we see the girl in a bondage scenario, helplessly chained up to a long, tall phallic pole. These unsettling themes can and should act as a cautionary lessons to the unsuspecting.

Disney’s influence on Tazuka is also present in various images. Tezuka’s representation of the under-utilized ‘Night Wind’ in purple and black has the same strong visual impact as the Wicked Queen in Snow White (1937) and the old kind “witch” in UNICO looks similar to the sneaky Wicked Witch with the huge nose in Snow White. Furthermore, the scary anthropomorphic trees and cute forest animals (deer, bunnies) also mimic Disney.

The film finishes on a not-so-happy, ambiguous note. We know Unico is unable to get back home. He can never return home to the overpowering elements (The Gods? His Family?) and so must be a nomad or Wandering Jew kind of being condemned to drift till the end. He is gone with the wind and chooses not to commit to anyone. He leaves behind those who love him, the little devil, the pussy and the brown monkey and goes in search of himself. The answer Unico may be blowing in the wind. Tezuka's mother used to tell him to look to the blue sky... A sequel would be nice.

Pia Santaklaus.