Sorry this took so long, been busy with school so hope you enjoy. AND YES, PLEASE CALL ME POUT ON MY BS because I've had to go with the few points and I may have made this too long already so here I go.
It should be obvious THAT Japan IS NOT a western culture. It has shared number of traits with the western world, but it is defiantly not western by nature. So why am I stating the obvious? Because this is one of the more genuine areas of complaint against anime. While one can say the same about Great Britton and France, in this case this takes it two a whole new level. And it is not just Westerners that get confused. Many manga and anime creators, while flattered westerners love their stuff, but are justifiably confused that we do take such an interest in their material as they intended it for their own people.
So what?s different about Japan when compared to the Western world? First off it is not a Christian Nation. Yes there are Christians there, which includes enough Mormons to warrant two of their temples to be built, but that is not the main two religions. Those would be the Shinto and Buddhist faiths, with the former being the biggest of the two. They have their own beliefs, their own sets of right and wrong. However the mass majority of Japan?s do?s and do not?s are not found in their holy texts but their social etiquette, which is largely on par with anything the Bible will tell you to do or not to do. Yes this is an over simplification, with a large number of glaring differences. You want me to go into another 20 page essay? Didn?t think so. Just in case, here's a picture for you.
In any case this leads to just as much confusion on the Land of the Rising Sun?s end when it comes to Christianity as their faiths have with us. Again, while there are a good chunk of Christians in that nation, most people don?t understand that faith or have a real clear idea in their heads about it. In many respects the average Japanese understand Christianity about as well as the average American understands Voodoo or Islam. This is why we often see Christian symbols and icons in their material, such as the reference to angels in Neo Genesis Evangelion, but are about as accurate as a drunk blind man with a shotgun. An overstatement, but when they?re only a handful of anime like Trigun and Blassreiter showing it accurately, it?s one that sadly fits. This isn?t done to be intentionally offensive, despite how some people take it. They just found something that looked or sounded cool and just went with it (not that the western world hasn?t done that before).
A good example is the cross. Just because you see it doesn?t mean it holds the same significance to Christians. It just looks cool. And when a character gets literally crucified? Chances are that?s not significant either. When Jesuit priests first started preaching Christianity to Japan, many warlords didn?t think much on their teachings, however they thought crucifixion was a cool way to kill someone and used it in their executions. So when we see it used in anime, it may not be as significant to the Japanese as it is to most westerners.
Another area of Japanese culture is sexuality. Up until some westernization, the Japanese people had nothing against homosexuality. They even didn?t think twice about two men having a loving relationship. Actually an inside joke amongst samurai was that that was the only way to find love as they had to sleep with a katana when they slept with their wife. Why? Because as a samurai herself, if the alliance by marriage didn?t work out, she?d most likely kill him.
This leads us to another point: roles of women. While many areas of Japans views of women seem restrictive at best, and long since outdated at worse, especially from a western standpoint, in general Japanese women tend to have the same number of freedoms as their western counterparts. In fact I could say maybe more. Why? Because in many cases the Japanese woman had to pull as much weight at the man, especially in the case of the samurai cast. If a samurai went to war, his wife was responsible for defending the home, and many samurai women were well versed in the long bow and the naganita (think of it as a Japanese glaive or halberd). On occasion, they would even use these skills on the field on battle.
The Traditional house wife also had more responsibilities. Pretty much everything in the home she had power over, and she had power over a lot. To name just a few things on the top of my head, this included but was not limited to: cleaning, all the major purchasing decisions such as the computer or plasma TV, care for the children, what schools they went to, every other aspect of their lives, and how much their children and husbands were allowed to spend at a given time (that?s right, the bread winner was on an allowance). This even allowed many to have great influences in local and not so local polatics.
If anything else, gender roles are more finite, and as a general rule, Japan still as a lot of social etiquette that enforces this. This means that while things are still traditional in a sense, the traditions are no more restrictive then the Americans or any other western nation, and for all intensive purposes, nor more liberal either.
But there is something else: You see more strong women characters in Japanese film then in at least the American, and many western. Sure, you have your Le Fem Nikitas, you Xena Warrior Princess, your Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but as a general rule they seem to be the exception to the rule. If you look at a lot of TV and film, especially the cartoons, I?d say there are for every ten movies or tv series, there are 2 female oriented, which will have the largest female cast; 5 that either gender can enjoy but the cast of characters will be a sausage fest at best and the purest form of the Smurfett Principle at worse; and the rest will be guy oriented stuff, so also a Sausage fest. While we have plenty of female villans, with some of the best being in the Disney and James Bond Variety, we lack a lot of heros.
Marvel?s Wasp? Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Spiderman, Wolverine, Thor, Ghost Rider, Johnny Storm, Blade, Punisher, Dead Pool.
Xena Warrior Princess? Robin Hood, Conan the Barbarian, Sinbad the Sailor, Ivan Ho, Jack Sparrow, Hercules, King Arthur, Eragon, Drizzit.
This isn?t to say that Japanese do not use damsel?s in distress, as many characters play that part well in too many damn anime as is, but you?ll be more likely to see a female character that can hold her own in a bar brawl in that when compared to most western material. Why is this the case? Well besides sex sells, many men find that a woman that can kick their butt is hot and women love a strong female character, and the fact women characters are pretty easy to make sexy, the Japanese have more mythos and history of strong women and girls, and we lack that to a certain degree.
Another area that is generally different from at least an American standpoint, more shades of grey in their entertainment. There are a lot of one dimensional characters in anime and other Japanese film, some of which is on my shelf or in my Netflix que, however the studios there are given a lot more free reign to give depth to their characters to something more than just one level of Good and Evil, Light and Dark, Jedi and Sith. In some cases the lines between who is good and who is evil, right and wrong, good guy and bad guy is simply a matter of what army are you are in.
A perfect example would be the wolf gods in Princess Mononoke. They are trying to defend their forrest home, and are waging war with the overly destructive humans. At the same time they have no moral qualms about how many humans they kill, or who the humans are fighting for. The one true exception is their human adopted daughter, who they took in when her parents threw them at them to save themselves.
Another is Kakashi from Naruto. He?s delightfully goofy, reads pornographic literature in front of children, and one of the most dangerous ninja assassins alive. He has an easy going personality, and some of the worst survivor?s guilt imaginable. His whole being is a balancing act that is hard to manage.
LeLouch is another one. If the old adage ?the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions,? then this guy is the one who best exemplifies this as everything he does he does to make a better world for his little sister. That said, he still kinda goes nuts and it is very hard to tell if he?s good , evil, or true neutral at times.
The history is another thing that?s different. While medieval knights died out at the start of the dawn of gunpowder, Samurai often adapted to it, though most preferred the more traditional weapons as close combat was where they found their honor. Still, the samurai warrior survived up until the mid to late 1800?s when the last samurai revolt had ended in a one sided battle (Guess who won). That said, they have a stronger connection to their past, in the same way America did with cowboys.
Well that?s all I can cover for today. While there are a few things all cultures share in common, the Eastern and Western World are two different animals, and this leaves much loss in translation. Yes I know I?m skipping the language barrier, but I plan on going on that in more detail in the Sub Vs Dub Debate in a couple of issues. The next one will be on clichés and as I?ll be trying to cover as many as I can, so I?ll have pictures.
It should be obvious THAT Japan IS NOT a western culture. It has shared number of traits with the western world, but it is defiantly not western by nature. So why am I stating the obvious? Because this is one of the more genuine areas of complaint against anime. While one can say the same about Great Britton and France, in this case this takes it two a whole new level. And it is not just Westerners that get confused. Many manga and anime creators, while flattered westerners love their stuff, but are justifiably confused that we do take such an interest in their material as they intended it for their own people.
So what?s different about Japan when compared to the Western world? First off it is not a Christian Nation. Yes there are Christians there, which includes enough Mormons to warrant two of their temples to be built, but that is not the main two religions. Those would be the Shinto and Buddhist faiths, with the former being the biggest of the two. They have their own beliefs, their own sets of right and wrong. However the mass majority of Japan?s do?s and do not?s are not found in their holy texts but their social etiquette, which is largely on par with anything the Bible will tell you to do or not to do. Yes this is an over simplification, with a large number of glaring differences. You want me to go into another 20 page essay? Didn?t think so. Just in case, here's a picture for you.
In any case this leads to just as much confusion on the Land of the Rising Sun?s end when it comes to Christianity as their faiths have with us. Again, while there are a good chunk of Christians in that nation, most people don?t understand that faith or have a real clear idea in their heads about it. In many respects the average Japanese understand Christianity about as well as the average American understands Voodoo or Islam. This is why we often see Christian symbols and icons in their material, such as the reference to angels in Neo Genesis Evangelion, but are about as accurate as a drunk blind man with a shotgun. An overstatement, but when they?re only a handful of anime like Trigun and Blassreiter showing it accurately, it?s one that sadly fits. This isn?t done to be intentionally offensive, despite how some people take it. They just found something that looked or sounded cool and just went with it (not that the western world hasn?t done that before).
A good example is the cross. Just because you see it doesn?t mean it holds the same significance to Christians. It just looks cool. And when a character gets literally crucified? Chances are that?s not significant either. When Jesuit priests first started preaching Christianity to Japan, many warlords didn?t think much on their teachings, however they thought crucifixion was a cool way to kill someone and used it in their executions. So when we see it used in anime, it may not be as significant to the Japanese as it is to most westerners.
Another area of Japanese culture is sexuality. Up until some westernization, the Japanese people had nothing against homosexuality. They even didn?t think twice about two men having a loving relationship. Actually an inside joke amongst samurai was that that was the only way to find love as they had to sleep with a katana when they slept with their wife. Why? Because as a samurai herself, if the alliance by marriage didn?t work out, she?d most likely kill him.
This leads us to another point: roles of women. While many areas of Japans views of women seem restrictive at best, and long since outdated at worse, especially from a western standpoint, in general Japanese women tend to have the same number of freedoms as their western counterparts. In fact I could say maybe more. Why? Because in many cases the Japanese woman had to pull as much weight at the man, especially in the case of the samurai cast. If a samurai went to war, his wife was responsible for defending the home, and many samurai women were well versed in the long bow and the naganita (think of it as a Japanese glaive or halberd). On occasion, they would even use these skills on the field on battle.
The Traditional house wife also had more responsibilities. Pretty much everything in the home she had power over, and she had power over a lot. To name just a few things on the top of my head, this included but was not limited to: cleaning, all the major purchasing decisions such as the computer or plasma TV, care for the children, what schools they went to, every other aspect of their lives, and how much their children and husbands were allowed to spend at a given time (that?s right, the bread winner was on an allowance). This even allowed many to have great influences in local and not so local polatics.
If anything else, gender roles are more finite, and as a general rule, Japan still as a lot of social etiquette that enforces this. This means that while things are still traditional in a sense, the traditions are no more restrictive then the Americans or any other western nation, and for all intensive purposes, nor more liberal either.
But there is something else: You see more strong women characters in Japanese film then in at least the American, and many western. Sure, you have your Le Fem Nikitas, you Xena Warrior Princess, your Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but as a general rule they seem to be the exception to the rule. If you look at a lot of TV and film, especially the cartoons, I?d say there are for every ten movies or tv series, there are 2 female oriented, which will have the largest female cast; 5 that either gender can enjoy but the cast of characters will be a sausage fest at best and the purest form of the Smurfett Principle at worse; and the rest will be guy oriented stuff, so also a Sausage fest. While we have plenty of female villans, with some of the best being in the Disney and James Bond Variety, we lack a lot of heros.
Marvel?s Wasp? Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Spiderman, Wolverine, Thor, Ghost Rider, Johnny Storm, Blade, Punisher, Dead Pool.
Xena Warrior Princess? Robin Hood, Conan the Barbarian, Sinbad the Sailor, Ivan Ho, Jack Sparrow, Hercules, King Arthur, Eragon, Drizzit.
This isn?t to say that Japanese do not use damsel?s in distress, as many characters play that part well in too many damn anime as is, but you?ll be more likely to see a female character that can hold her own in a bar brawl in that when compared to most western material. Why is this the case? Well besides sex sells, many men find that a woman that can kick their butt is hot and women love a strong female character, and the fact women characters are pretty easy to make sexy, the Japanese have more mythos and history of strong women and girls, and we lack that to a certain degree.
Another area that is generally different from at least an American standpoint, more shades of grey in their entertainment. There are a lot of one dimensional characters in anime and other Japanese film, some of which is on my shelf or in my Netflix que, however the studios there are given a lot more free reign to give depth to their characters to something more than just one level of Good and Evil, Light and Dark, Jedi and Sith. In some cases the lines between who is good and who is evil, right and wrong, good guy and bad guy is simply a matter of what army are you are in.
A perfect example would be the wolf gods in Princess Mononoke. They are trying to defend their forrest home, and are waging war with the overly destructive humans. At the same time they have no moral qualms about how many humans they kill, or who the humans are fighting for. The one true exception is their human adopted daughter, who they took in when her parents threw them at them to save themselves.
Another is Kakashi from Naruto. He?s delightfully goofy, reads pornographic literature in front of children, and one of the most dangerous ninja assassins alive. He has an easy going personality, and some of the worst survivor?s guilt imaginable. His whole being is a balancing act that is hard to manage.
LeLouch is another one. If the old adage ?the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions,? then this guy is the one who best exemplifies this as everything he does he does to make a better world for his little sister. That said, he still kinda goes nuts and it is very hard to tell if he?s good , evil, or true neutral at times.
The history is another thing that?s different. While medieval knights died out at the start of the dawn of gunpowder, Samurai often adapted to it, though most preferred the more traditional weapons as close combat was where they found their honor. Still, the samurai warrior survived up until the mid to late 1800?s when the last samurai revolt had ended in a one sided battle (Guess who won). That said, they have a stronger connection to their past, in the same way America did with cowboys.
Well that?s all I can cover for today. While there are a few things all cultures share in common, the Eastern and Western World are two different animals, and this leaves much loss in translation. Yes I know I?m skipping the language barrier, but I plan on going on that in more detail in the Sub Vs Dub Debate in a couple of issues. The next one will be on clichés and as I?ll be trying to cover as many as I can, so I?ll have pictures.
