Giant Robots and Superheroes: Manifestations of Divine Power, East and West: An Interview with Crispin Freeman

During the 2006 session of the annual Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits: Culture and Creation in Anime and Manga (SGMS) at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Crispin Freeman, the very popular and well-known anime voice actor, advanced some thoughtful and provocative ideas concerning the mythic and religious roots of American comic book superheroes and the giant robots of anime and manga. His presentation, titled “Giant Robots and Superheroes: Manifestations of Divine Power,” inspired us to think about the difference between the ways scholars and actors view these works and their cultural context, and we were interested in hearing more. In the following e-mail interview with Frenchy Lunning, Freeman discussed the actor’s perspective and his own ideas about superheroes, giant robots, and notions of the divine.

frenchy lunning: Crispin, your key concept originated from a notion that these cultural icons—superheroes and giant robots—are rooted in the religious and mythological foundations of the cultures that produced them. So to begin, how do you understand mythological concepts when as an actor you inhabit these characters in such a deeply mysterious and profoundly intuitive way in order to deliver the psychic knowledge of a character in performance? More simply, how has your experience as the actor determined your ideas on these key icons in popular culture?

crispin freeman: That’s a big question! Let’s start with how my experience as an actor informs my understanding of mythology. Later I can talk about how that led to my views on mythological storytelling and specifically giant robots and superheroes in animation.

In a lecture entitled The Way of Art, Joseph Campbell talks about the similarities between the artist and the mystic: “The way of the mystic and the way of the artist are very much alike except that the mystic does not have a craft. The craft holds the artist to the world and the mystic goes off through his psyche into the transcendent. The artist is going to many of the same places, but he is held to the world [by his craft].”¹

The religious mystic is trying to achieve an experience of radical unity with the divine. He is reaching for an ecstatic state that goes beyond rational understanding. It is a state of bliss that can only be hinted at in descriptions and metaphors. In the end, mystical unity with the divine eludes any attempt to conceptualize it because it must be experienced, not described, in order to truly be understood. For me, the acting process is very similar. As an actor, I am trying to embody the essence or truth of a character and become one with him. Initially, I try to conceptualize the character. I look to many places to build my idea of the character. I study the story, I get insight from the director and I look within myself to my own experiences of life to see what part of me responds to the character and his situation. All of this conceptual work is my craft and it helps prime the instinctive part of me. However, conceptualizing a character is not enough in order to perform a role. Once I’ve made my decisions about a character, I then have to switch gears and play pretend in order to embody that character. When you conceptualize a character you are holding them at arm’s length; you are subject and the character is object. In order to play a character you have to close that conceptual distance and become that character. When I am playing a role like Alucard in Hellsing (2001–02, Herushingu), I don’t say to myself, “I’m now playing Alucard,” I say to myself, “I am Alucard.”

The mystic is also trying to go past religious conceptions in order to actually experience the divine. The primary difference between a mystic and myself are our goals. The mystic is attempting to achieve his experience for his own enlightenment and bliss, which is personal and private. He may share his insights later, but the mystic goes on his...