My memory is a bit foggy about this, but I've been trying to find an essay that someone had wrote about SEL some time in the early 00's. The essay was about the comparisons of SEL and the changing politics and culture in Japan post WW2.
>inb4 Lain as a Reflection of Modern Japanese Anxieties in the Digital Era by Mitchell Tribbett
That essay touches lightly on post WW2 attitudes, but it's not the essay I'm talking about. This essay was more specifically talking about how various parts throughout the show could have been representations of the governments outlook on foreign affairs and the cultural shift in accepting outsides into their nation. The writer even provided plenty of examples on how various scenes could have been metaphors for actual events in Japanese history coming out of the war.
I could be completely misremembering it, but it's been bugging me for about 2 years, trying to find it.