Quote:
Originally Posted by Achillobator
Hello AnimeSuki,
Unfortunately I have a pretty ambivalent (at best) sentiment towards anime. I haven't sampled a large and representative sample of it, but what I have seen so far doesn't impress me very much. The animation seems choppy, the characters seem to switch between drawing styles the moment they experience certain emotions, and the plots weird me out. The only Japanese animation that I can recall liking was Princess Mononoke, because of its tribal-people-and-animals vibe, but even then I found myself liking it less the second time I viewed it. I know on an intellectual level that I can't write off an entire tradition of animation based on a small sample size, but my first impressions have definitely not been favorable.
That said, what bothers me even more about the whole anime/manga subculture in Western youth culture is that I see it as symptomatic of a larger Western, or at least American, tendency to single out Northeast Asians as the "model minority". If American kids ever show any interest in cultures outside of Europe, the vast majority of them pick the Asians, especially the Japanese. We idealize Asians as this wise, studious, and beautiful race of people who are culturally superior to other non-whites, most of all Africans. Even hardcore white nationalists and "race realists" (i.e. the likes of J. Phillipe Rushton and Arthur Jensen) may put Asians near the top of their racial hierarchies just below Europeans, although of course Africans lie at the very bottom.
Mind you, I have no problem whatsoever with anyone individually showing special interest in any Asian cultures, finding Asian women especially attractive, or whatever. I myself feel a certain fascination with African cultures and a physical attraction towards African women (I am Anglo-American if you must know). Actually, that has something to do with my distaste for the American idealization of Asians. Picking Asians as the exotic culture to study has gone hand in hand with the devaluation of Africans. We wouldn't call Asians a "model minority" if we couldn't favorably compare their economic progress to that of African and Afro-Diaspora people. The implicit message is that if people of color like Asians can prosper in today's world, African people have nothing holding them back but their own "inferior" culture or genetics. Our current Asiaphilia phase is on the other side of the same coin as Afrophobia.
I realize a lot of the above rant doesn't touch on anime specifically, but the topics I raise do lurk in the back of my mind whenever I think about anything to do with modern Japanese culture in general, and I needed to vent the whole subject out somewhere.
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As a Chinese, I can say we endure A LOT more pain compare to African Americans in this country. Yes, there is anime that interest Americans, but that is a lot rarer compare to people who interest in Rap/Cool Culture.
Asian girl/boy bands are no where near as mainstream compare to the coolness of gangster rap.
Seriously, think of the LAST TIME you saw a U.S Movie with Black people in it, now think the last time you saw a movie with a ASIAN MALE lead(not female as-white-guy's girlfriend).
I am absolutely astounded to think White folks idealize Asians. Sure, there are some who are anime fans, but overall I get is fear (for "taking our job), lack of interest (I cannot be attracted to asians), or education (If you don't have all As, you are not Asian)
Being black in this country has better culture, better support by the government (an Black person can have score 350 less to the average asian male on the SAT to get into a school), better EVERYTHING.
Thanks.
Edit: also, Anime is a sub-culture, and not a very large one at that. Compare that to say...Hollywood. And in Hollywood's eyes, an Asian male is non-existent. A black person bring big bucks. And why do they do? Because being African is a lot more mainstream than being asian.