kireikoori
Sempai
- 3 Aug 2007
- 264
- 7
- Thread starter
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- #26
lol, so the kawaii thing was first done by those badass biker gangs? LMAO.
That is just too funny.
lol, so the kawaii thing was first done by those badass biker gangs? LMAO.I dun really have an opinion on this at the moment, but this is a really interesting article from a good free online magazine.
Kawaii - How Deep Is the Meaning? : NIPPONIA No. 40
I think the difference in preference might come from the values that gained importance in a bold, assertive frontier society where everyone needs to fend for themselves vs. those that were important in a highly formalized, paternalistic society where everyone's role was very restricted. But naive doesn't mean dumb, just unwordly. You can be unworldly but very bright as demonstrated by the Silicon Valley tech geeks.
Anyway, no need to worry, a young Japanese diplomat told me that today's Japanese women have become just as selfish and designing as some of the best in the west. I believe him because I met a couple of them to my regret. Oh, how I dream of meeting a Yamatonadeshiko woman--but the diplomat told me such women no longer exist in Japan.
Anyway I think there's a difference between being mature and losing their inner child. A person can act cute while still being a mature person who knows how to act right for the situation and knows what s/he is doing.
Sometimes innocence is a good thing. I feel less innocent after reading all the racist comments I have on youtube, seeing ethnic humor on comedy central, seeing rape-ish pornography, and well, just about everything I've seen that comes from 4chan(in b4 newfags post "rules 1 and 2"). But do I feel more mature because of it? No. If anything I feel like I've degraded as a person having seen all those things.
While I also believe in "maturity" I also believe there's a children's wisdom we shed off in the name of "maturity".
It's the acting part that gets to me. When grown women act cute or naive when it's not their true self.
If you are naive or are truly unknowlegeable about matters, then yes, it can be cute and appealing. However, there is nothing at all appealing about an intelligent, mature woman acting like a childish fool to get attention or to live up to someone else's idea of the 'perfect woman'.
It's just like being cool, there is nothing less cool than trying to act cool. It's the same for cute, in my opinion.
Maturity doesn't have to mean a loss of innocence. Mature isn't vulgar, it's a natural progression.
I am mature yet there is a part of me that still believes in fairy's (don't ask), and one of my favorite movies is The Secret Garden, you don't have to let go of childish fancies, but you do have to grow up.
Like I said before, childishness belongs to children.
I just think this 'cute woman' or the 'Yamato nadeshiko' is a caricature of what a real woman is or should be.
The implicit message of the word kawaii expresses ideologies first associated with the Confucian practices of the Muromachi age of Japan (Iwao 5). The Confucian Three Obediences are highly influential on women's roles. They entail: obedience to fathers when young, obedience to husbands once married and obedience to their children when in old age (Iwao 5). The Three Obediences combined with the reaction to the loss of confidence felt by Japanese men after the country's defeat in WWII contributed to "infanticization of post-war culture" and resulted in "the establishment of immature and distorted gender relations" (Hasegawa 128). This enabled women of the modern age to be seen as either something to protect (not fully adult) or something to seek affection and protection from, a mother-figure (Hasegawa 128; Iwao 18). This belief or assumption about the function and competency of women harkens back to the days when married women were classed in the same category as minors and "other legal incompetents"
[9] The relationship between cuteness and pitifulness as expressed in kawaii illustrates the Japanese cultural perception that there is an "undercurrent of charm being exerted by their very helplessness" (Shiokawa 95). Other definitions assume that kawaii women are useful, pleasantly positive, and nondescript (Shiokawa 95). In fact, Shiokawa notes that men often utter "kawaii ne" which translates into "I think you are very cute" as opposed to "I love you" (Shiokawa 120). In contrast, women often utter the same expression to put men in their place (Shiokawa 120). In effect, there is a relationship developing between people based upon helplessness. In this case, men show that they appreciate their girlfriends' "helplessness" and compliant positive attitude, expecting their women to fade into the background. Conversely, women can shame their boyfriends by calling them "helpless" (Shiokawa 120). Men are let off easily by being "put in their place" in this manner, but women have been paying the price for their so called helplessness, experiencing gendered labor practices that put women in the workplace at a disadvantage financially and emotionally (Mackie 9, Iwao 205). It wasn't until the 1980s that issues of equal opportunity, "protective legislation," and ideologies that prevented women from working effectively in the public sphere were "fully analysed and transcended" (Mackie 11-12, 125). Mackie's word "transcended" seems overly optimistic, because, as Gelb notes, there is a "reality gap" between women's promised and actual gains in the workforce and politics (39).
[10] Additionally, kawaii shapes ideologies about the way a woman's body should appear both in reality and in animation. Art imitates real life as female characters across consumer culture, including the sex industry, are characterized as kawaii (Hasegawa 128). They represent the ideal "real-world" woman: non-threatening. Aesthetically, kawaii shows a preference for animated characters that have round, flat, simple features, big eyes, and qualities of smoothness and roundness which are preferred to shades and angles
Nobuko Yoshiya (窶ｹg窶ｰﾂｮﾂ信ﾅｽq, Yoshiya Nobuko , 12 January 1896 - 11 July 1973) was a Japanese novelist active in Taisho and Showa period Japan. She was one of modern Japan's most commercially successful and prolific writers, specializing in serialized romance novels and adolescent girls' fiction, as well as a pioneer in Japanese lesbian literature, including the Class S genre.
Nobuko Yoshiya - Wikipedia
At least in Japan, this obedience image was created in the modern era after people became more salaried workers.The Confucian Three Obediences
A big reason I fell out of anime was because I got tired of the constant portrayal of female characters to be weak, defenseless and silly creatures that hardly did more than get in the way.
In the whole massive anime and manga market there are very few mainstream female characters that actually DO anything.
I know if my wife was like that I would considered the thought of jumping off a building. Actually, when I watch Japanese TV sometimes, I feel like throwing the TV off the balcony of my house (of corse I don't b/c it would set a bad example for my kids) I guess I am just lucky b/c I have cable...This is perhaps why acting childish and infantile have always been in vogue for Asian women. It is done so to sooth the male ego. I mean, it is so much nicer if one can come home after a long day at work and have a giggling, petite wife to cook meals for you and constantly seek your approval by making puppy-like voices.
Well, it's not Japanese but I've always really liked this style...
/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Madame-Seriziat_Jacques-Louis-David_1795.jpg
Wonder if they have clothes like that for sale in Japan because I sure as heck can't get them here
Wondering how Canadians would react to see the only goth in your town or if they would find you naturally cute.
Or wondering if they stare at you like a French documentary movie about French goth gals which I saw somewhere.