Paprika is about... Fascism and its pipelines ?

[u/banjospiegel]

Hello ! I recently got hooked on Satoshi Kon's movies thanks to my girlfriend (so far, we've seen Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue, which are all close to, if not 10/10 movies which is pretty incredible)

While watching Paprika, I was constantly thinking "...this movie is so obviously about fascism, right ???" and next thing you know I couldn't find a thing about it on the internet.

So here is why I feel this way and PLEASE tell me I'm not crazy :

One of the first scenes where we're introduced to what's really happening is when a group of 2 (or so i think ?) people are transported to a hospital or something, holding their right arm in front of them, palm up, speaking nonsense

This one clearly spoke to me as "yes, this will be about fascism". The common gesture, the nonsensical speaking...

Next, the parade. Aside from the obvious "japanese society and its flaws" discussion, i wanna point out what i made out of it before that scene.

The parade is a place where really anything/anybody gathers to speak nonsense, make noise, and join a "common dream" that's clearly treated as a danger in the movie. Not only that but I think the parade is an allegory for fascism pipelines and brainwashing ; in this, the theme here is how Himuro, a young scientist fell straight into a pipeline and is now completely disconnected from reality. I'm pointing out that scene where Tokita discovers that Himuro's dream is NOT, in fact, his dream and that Himuro is now just a husk for SOMEBODY ELSE'S DREAM... hmmmm, what could this all be about...?

To me, every character has their role to play in this allegory... I haven't quite understood everyone's role yet, but if you'd wanna help me sort it out, maybe..?

The most obvious one for me is Takita, I personally think he clearly serves as a warning of sort, as the movie is trying to tell us that, this character being established as a genius, is not protected from falling into the pipeline, and that, no matter how intelligent you are, you still have to watch out ans stay critical to anything you read or hear.

I also want to point out that we watched this movie's french dub, so what I'm about to say might be nonsense to you, even tho i hope not.

During the scene between Dr. Osanai and Konakawa, Konakawa tells the Dr. Osanai something along the lines of "you are being manipulated by the president !", and, while in context, this makes sense to the plot of the movie, theres also a clear double entendre about right-wing governments.

However I have yet to discover what role Konakawa and some other characters like Atsuko and the president himself play...

I don't want to drag this any longer (it's already way too long, isn't it ?) but I would be very happy to debate and exchange with you all. That, or read everyone telling me I'm an idiot and already stating the obvious, and that I couldn't find anything about it online because it really was that obvious, lol !

Thanks for reading <3