This paper will explore what it is about anime that makes it so appealing to even a Western audience, creating an international fan base. Although manga can be traced to American origins, the comics that the Americans brought over have been intensely modified to create essentially a new form of media. Manga and anime have become a significant component of Japanese culture, and often times they integrate Japanese culture and society. Yet, regardless of its Japanese origin, anime is still viewed on the other side of the planet. The question then becomes what is it that makes it so appealing to a foreign audience? This paper will rely heavily on Susan Napier’s book, From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the …show more content…
For example, when looking at children’s programs, one could easily define most Western cartoons such as Bugs Bunny or Spongebob Squarepants as quite episodic. There is in fact no overlying plot, whereas Japanese anime productions such as Pokemon or Yu-gi-oh have very well drawn out storylines that progress for multiple seasons. According to Napier (2007), “these fantasyscapes offered a colorful world of adventure, risk, and competition and even, according to some scholars, a vision of personal maturation.” Although the “Japaneseness” of these shows is questionable, they nonetheless have lengthy storylines. Similarly anime meant for older audiences have incredibly complex storylines. For example, One Piece has already aired over six hundred episodes. The Simpsons, America’s longest running sitcom animation, can be comparable in that it has aired over five hundred episodes. The most distinguishing difference between the two, however, is that while The Simpsons is episodic, One Piece is a continuous story of the protagonist, Luffy, trying to become the king of the pirates. The anime therefore consists of a very extensive storyline with numerous characters. Furthermore, many times these characters go through some sort of maturation as mentioned by Napier. In many Western shows, characters lack depth and play very static roles. In contrast, anime characters are able to grow and change. Consequently, …show more content…
In the United States, comics have a largely consolidated genre of superheroes that only appeals to a single demographic; white post-adolescent males (Mescallado, 2000), whereas, in manga you have appeal to essentially every possible demographic group conceivable. The storylines are incredibly widespread and create numerous themes within the context. Antonia Levi mentions how there are three dominant themes in anime that attracts the western audience: environmentalism, technoterror, and sadness. She claims that although environmentalism and technoterror are universal themes, sadness is something relatively new to the west, where the classic happy ending is most prevalent (Levi, 2013). The novelty of sadness therefore also entices foreign audiences. The world of manga and anime is so amazingly diverse, it is almost impossible to find something audiences do not
It is important to create complex, progressive characters. Characters should speak with intent and purpose. You can establish who a character is through tone and what they say. You can also reveal character through thoughts and background information. Not all characters have to have an origin; they can just be there. You should have conflicting traits between the characters. Challenging your characters adds
“Sailor Moon broke the mild with a girl’s show but with one whose characters fight and look pretty at the same time” (Allison, 128). Sailor Moon, while not being one of the first, was one of the most successful in North America because of its crossover appeal and the time it came in, which was all about female empowerment. “Institutions like the media are peculiarly central to the matter since they are, by definition, part of the dominant means of ideological production” (Hall, 82). Media often reproduces ideology. In the case of manga, we see these animations as a representation of Japanese culture since Manga is something that was created and produced by the Japanese.
The “lotus blossom” stereotype is an Asian American female stereotype that portrays them as feminine, submissive, and desirable romantic interests for the white male protagonist (Tajima 309). Although the stereotype is the production of films fetishizing the “traditional Orient” culture, the stere...
The quality of graphic language and depictions of sexuality help to develop the narrative and develop the characters.
are characters that can be defined by their traits as certain archetypes. All novels and films contain archetypes that allow their audience to understand and relate more to
Most of the fantasy stories that were produced made use of film as a tool to expose the shows. Study proved that the world of film has a various capacity in persuading and changing the perspectives of a viewer. A film functions as an int...
Freedman, Alisa (2009) “Train Man and the Gender Politics of Japanese ‘Otaku’ Culture: The Rise of New Media, Nerd Heroes and Consumer Communities.”
In this essay, I will contrast and compare the two art movements, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. I will be concentrating on the works of the two leading artists of these styles Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.
The Golden Age of Japanese cinema was the product of postwar Allied occupation, a classical vertically integrated studio system, technical innovations in cinematography, and ingenious directors, set against a backdrop of 1950s political and cultural realignment.
Fan Culture is something that has been around for a while, but it the last twenty years, since the introduction of the Internet, it is also something that has changed dramatically. A fan is an enthusiast of something and now the Internet is a good home for fans to gather and build together a community of fans, a ‘Fandom’. The turn Fandom means a community of a group of people who all enjoy them same thing and the Internet has created a place for online communities. Fan Culture has irreversibly changed the media industry because of the ability share information and fan made created content. The creation of these online based communities have meant that people from all over the world can talk about the latest TV shows, movies, books, comics and other forms of content and create groups dedicated to them. The Internet has also become a platform for the creation of a collective community, where individuals who all have shared interests can go. “Fans uses of technologies bring a sense of playfulness to the work of active reading” (2010; 12). Digital Fandoms are user-led forum of content creation, the fans create a number of things; fan fiction, fan blogs, fan made videos, fan art work, wiki leaks. The fans create a whole new life, another side of the TV show, film or book, that is complicity run and used by the fans. These fan made creation do not have to stick to what is canon in the show and can do what they wish with the character and the storylines. However is this an okay thing to do, Henry Jenkins refers to the fans who create these things are ‘Textual Poachers’. Those fans are now active interpreters instead of passive consumers. In this view the fans are poaching the created content of the writer. The fans have power to create t...
This cartoon usually starts out very sweet and innocent and usually consists of light hearted jokes or moments to make the viewer feel happy while watching it. As it progresses, the cartoon will either take a quick turn or a slow turn into the most heartbreaking moment that not only tugs at a person’s heart but pulls and smashes it down on the ground, crushing the heart under its feet. A fantastic example to mention is “Avatar: the Last Airbender”. Even though this show aimed for pre-teens, it still did not let up on the most heart wrenching moments known to all fans everywhere. From the main character, Aang the avatar, finding out he is the last of his kind after being frozen for one hundred years to the villain’s son, Zuko, fighting with his internal struggle to betray his father and fight for good or to destroy the avatar and have his father take over the entire world, this show had one major blow right after the other when it decided it was time to break the fans hearts and minds into little pieces. This show had very light hearted moments and funny episodes to include in between blows, but when it delivered those bad moments either about death, betrayal, or destruction, it ran over viewers like a train at full
Between the nineteenth and twentieth century came a time of self-expression and reflection. This time became known as the Expressionism movement and focused on boldly creating a personal and emotional experience through art. Conventional artistic stylings were cast aside as each artist discovered their own creative voice. Artists of all mediums emphasized state of mind and the essence of the human condition through bold representations of their own psyche. Edvard Munch’s painting, “The Scream” and Fritz Lang’s film, “Metropolis,” both convey aggressive emotional characteristic of the Expressionist movement through exaggerated compositional elements, distorted stylistic choices and evocative technique.
Anime is a popular type of entertainment, primarily watched during one’s freetime that was originally created by the Japanese. Its origin stems back to World War II in which cartoonists and artists were enlisted in order to utilize art as a form of propaganda to rally their nation together against its enemies (novaonline.com). As World War II ended, propaganda was no longer necessary and cartoonists soon introduced a new form of entertainment that is now known as anime. Around the 1980s and 1990s is when anime began to flourish, becoming significantly well-known in America. Through the late 1900s and 2000s, numerous new animes were released which have since then gained much popularity, for example, Naruto, One Piece, Future Diary, Sword Art
Manga and anime are popular for many people around the world and has been one of Japan’s most lucrative businesses. Manga and anime are misunderstood by some Americans who are unable to recognize the draw to them. To understand both styles, people need to know where they came from and what makes them a preferred interest of so many others.
Art in Japan and art in the United States have their similarities and their differences, while also being viewed in different ways. Every work of art is unique in its own way. There are many different types of art, but each work of art has its own meaning. Depending on the eye of the beholder, a work of art can relate to you in many ways, and can be taken apart like a puzzle in your mind to understand the deeper aspect of it, while also deciphering its message. Others may not relate to the work, may only see the basic picture, and not understand the point or meaning of it. The same work of art can get opposite reactions, which shows that people have different ways of seeing the world that they live in.