mAcOdIn said:
A few responses.
1) There are numerous possible reasons why you might wish to alter a stories chronology or perspective. Yet I think when there is no good reason for doing this it is unnecessary, if you're shuffling around things just for the hell of it then you really aren't adding any 'artistic depth' to the sure - you're just screwing around. When it
does make sense is when it is actual a theme of the story. That's why in
Memento the whole movie is told in a fractured way and that really makes perfect sense. Or why in
Perfect Blue lots of editing techniques confused the viewers sense of reality
because that is a theme of the movie.
Haruhi really didn't need to do it in season 1. They certainly didn't need to waste everyone's time in Season 2 either - even if it was
hilarious.
But wait, didn't I just say you can do something as long as it works with the theme of the story? I did, but that has the invisible caveat that I assume we'd all to that statement - you can do it as long as it's done well. I have watched numerous sci-fi TV shows so I'm no stranger to looping-timeliness yet even those never last for more then one episode and in those episodes a
significant number of things will change in the loop and the actual time of the loops are greatly reduced via montage. Why? Because that's the only tolerable way to do it unless you're a masochist.
2) On art - Sometimes a movie/show/anime/book will be hard to follow and involve complex and flat-out
weird symbolism because there is some underlying message to what's going on. e.g. if you decipher the imagery you'll learn something about the story characters. But other times, as is often in surrealist work, crazy shit will just happen for no reason.
Revolutionary Girl Utena actual contains both these ideas. There are 'shadow plays' that are often subtle commentary on the episode, but then there's just random stuff thrown in for 100% no reason (and the director admits this) just to screw with people, like Miki's watch.
Now there's a clear difference between weird shows that actually have meaning and some
that deliberately don't. It's fair criticism to say that there is stuff you just don't like (hey, there's nothing more honest then an opinion) but sometimes you can't complain that they aren't telling a story because that was never the creators intention, so in that sense the director did not fail.
3) All of that is actually completely different from 'open ended' stories. Which can be anything from really weird, make it all up ending (2001 anybody) too pretty normal all the way through and
then a tiny crazy open ending (The Shining)...hmm both Kubrick. I need better examples. I guess what I'm trying to say is not all 'Open' stories are equally open, for even open for the same reason. I generally think it's a good thing if a story doesn't wrap up literally everything because that is unnecessary and takes forever.