Explain NGE to a newb

So I caught the last 40 minutes or so of "Neon Genesis Evangelion Final" and am totally confused.

Why is Shinji strangling Asuka at the end?

Did anyone else think this was one big pretentious trying-to-be-art mindfuck rather than having some real underlying plot or message for the viewer to understand?

After reading about the creator of the series suffering from depression, the whole film really seemed like the expression of one crazy guy's screwed up mind. I'm sure it's meaningful to him, but to regular sane people it's meaningless.

I've always felt that Shinji is Anno's avatar in NGE-TV, but Anno switches over to being Asuka in EoE. In NGE-TV, he works through his depression and has an enlightened self-realization that brings him out of it.

In EoE, dissapointed by fans who not only did not understand his work, but didn't care either, and only wanted a giant-robot show, he feels helpless (comatose Asuka in the hospital) while fans masturbate over his work for it's pretty pictures only (shinji jerking it over Asuka). He then proceeds to give everyone rather violent deaths, except for Shinji and Asuka - himself and the fans.

In EoE, Shinji can reshape the world as he sees fit using Eva, but quickly grows dissatisfied and wants it back to what it was. When he gets that, Anno feels choked by the fans who seem so unappreciative (Shinji chokes Asuka), but Asuka lovingly reaches up and carresses Shinji's cheek (Anno's way of saying - "yeah, I'll keep making what you want.")

As for the NGE-TV, read up on Karl Jung as well as George Berkeley's the sum of Human Knowledge. NGE will make more sense from these perspectives. They tend to mesch better with Japanese thought than say, Descartes' "I think, therefore I am"