What is Japanese popular culture saying to us?

William Spencer · 26 Apr 2007

hi there

i posted this in another thread which really didn't get any responses, so i'll try again.

I spoke to a gallery crowd last week about whether Japanese popular culture has anything to say to us. I guess that's one question I'd like to ask first. What are your thoughts? i mean with the proliferation of Japanese popular culture such as manga/anime/J-pop and the like going through east and south east asia the americas, ocenia and europe like a bush fire, and given the discussions here about favourite anime/manga/characters, i am wondering what all of it is actually saying to us.

i have just finished reading joseph tobin's edited book 'pikachu's global adventure: the rise and fall of pokémon'. it's a collection of essays about the pokémon phenomenon from many different perspectives. the authors really attempted to explain what and how the children who consumed pokémon made of this example of japanese pop culture. roland kelts tries to do a similar thing in his book 'japanamerica'.

some of my students say that manga/anime offer guidelines for conducting one's own life. wow! how?

looking forward to reading your replies.

yukio_michael · 3 May 2007

Everything is for sale.

Manchester_Mike · 3 May 2007

I'd say that "manga/anime offer guidelines for conducting one's own life" only in the same way that any other entertainment media does.
Of course, these guidelines are not necessarily positive ones...

yukio_michael · 3 May 2007

Manchester_Mike said:
I'd say that "manga/anime offer guidelines for conducting one's own life" only in the same way that any other entertainment media does.
Of course, these guidelines are not necessarily positive ones...

You're saying that futanari manga is offering a guideline for conducting ones own life?

I'd say that manga is just simple entertainment/escapism which happens to have a wide number of genres and a much wider readership, than anime has a viewership.

It's just entertainment, it can be art, but I don't think there are any sort of deeper zen-like aspects to it.

ps. Popular culture in Japan does go outside the realm of anime & manga in Japan, you might wan't to look into that...

a51ts4 · 3 May 2007

I don't think it offers ways to conducts own life. Some really good anime may have mini stories which one can compare to ones own life, but not follow.

I find that excellent movies are great examples of this. It's not a way to live by, but a way to say 'ahh', other people understand things like I've gone through.

yukio_michael · 4 May 2007

a51ts4 said:
I find that excellent movies are great examples of this. It's not a way to live by, but a way to say 'ahh', other people understand things like I've gone through.

I couldn't agree more. Although, I'd say that there are a lot of great movies that people miss because they are busy watching Nana, or Battle Royale, Audition and the like...

Movies like Face, Bright Future, Nobody Knows, Fighting Elegy, Pale Flower, Maadadayo, Yume, Crazed Fruit, not to mention, there are quite a lot of Samurai movies being re-released by Criterion, such as Samurai Spy, & Sword of the Beast...

I'd like to see a release of You were Like the Wild Chrysanthemum... if anyone knows if there is a DVD release of it, I'd be quite interested.

Manchester_Mike · 4 May 2007

Yukio Miichael:
"You're saying that futanari manga is offering a guideline for conducting ones own life?"

(sorry, I can't work out the "quote" thing.....)

No, I'm saying that ALL art/media can influence how we see the world, and, as a result, how we lead our lives. These influences can be both positive (i.e inspirational) or negative. Manga/Anime is no more innocent/guilty of this than Hollywood movies, TV, or novels

Nuala · 4 May 2007

Goku told me to kill my family.

yukio_michael · 4 May 2007

Thor said:
Goku told me to kill my family.

I got the same email... should I do it? I'm conflicted.

Manchester_Mike said:
No, I'm saying that ALL art/media can influence how we see the world, and, as a result, how we lead our lives. These influences can be both positive (i.e inspirational) or negative. Manga/Anime is no more innocent/guilty of this than Hollywood movies, TV, or novels

You are re-contextualizing the use of manga outside of Japan... If manga and anime truly are influences on your life and culture, than I suggest you take a long cold hard look at your life.

Influential in the way that books and stories are influential, yes... otherwise, they are not an ideal for living, per say...

There is nothing I've ever read in Death Note or watched from Perefect Blue that changed the way I felt about life...

I'll say it again, the films I've listed have had a more positive effect on the depths of my conceptions of human emotion... not anime & manga....

Ten to 12 to 13 year old Japanese girls base their lives and sexual personae on the fantasies of Japanese manga.... beyond that... one should be wary...

Manchester_Mike · 6 May 2007

So, have I got this right?

Your stance is that all manga and anime has nothing positive to say to anyone other than those who don't know better?

Up to now I wasn't actually defending it, but I'm now feeling I should.

I'll get back to you when I'm less tired and more sober.....

yukio_michael · 6 May 2007

Manchester_Mike said:
Your stance is that all manga and anime has nothing positive to say to anyone other than those who don't know better?

No, I'm saying that by and large, there is what we might call, experimental manga, that goes outside of the boundaries of the simple archetypes of manga, manga designed for a specific audience that use popular themes such a love, eroticism, etcetera...

Some manga & anime can be seen as art, I think I've said this, it's not unlike the independent comic work of say, Francois Mouly, Art Spiegelman, Ills sont 2 sortie, etcetera... that go beyond the typical "pulp" style of cheap entertainment... but this work is a very narrow spectrum within a greater field where more common themes are mass produced.

I find appreciation in the work of comic artists, but, they don't change my perspective about life, or real human beings, they are stories, fiction, the closest I can think of such an effect would be by the work of the Hernandez brothers, is the comic Love & Rockets.

We find things in some comic art that we identify with, but I still don't think that it is the artist's intention for this to be an inspiration for a way of living.

William Spencer · 7 May 2007

yukio_michael said:
You're saying that futanari manga is offering a guideline for conducting ones own life?

I'd say that manga is just simple entertainment/escapism which happens to have a wide number of genres and a much wider readership, than anime has a viewership.

It's just entertainment, it can be art, but I don't think there are any sort of deeper zen-like aspects to it.

ps. Popular culture in Japan does go outside the realm of anime & manga in Japan, you might wan't to look into that...

yes i appreciate the point that popular culture goes outside just manga and anime. can you post more about that ?

What is Japanese popular culture saying to us?

William Spencer

先輩

yukio_michael

後輩

Manchester_Mike

先輩

yukio_michael

後輩

a51ts4

先輩

yukio_michael

後輩

Manchester_Mike

先輩

Nuala

Hell's Finest Daughter

yukio_michael

後輩

Manchester_Mike

先輩

yukio_michael

後輩

William Spencer

先輩

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