I was reading up and coming Japanese news blog Sankaku Complex’s introduction page (wasn’t easy to find!) which describes in detail, using a tactfully neutral tone, the complexity of modern Japanese media and its triumphs over modern Western media. Artefact writes:
“As I became more and more interested in Japanese anime, manga and games… I started to become aware of two phenomena which were never visible with such intensity in the vast majority of Western media; these were the frequency of crossover between the media triad of anime, manga and games (as well as novels, eroge and the like), and the seamless integration of this media into one another with much finer gradients than the sharp delineations visible in American/European media (this is a movie, this is a novel, we make novels into movies but we never make games into novels, novels of movies are treated with derision, and we only make movies and games into one another with disastrous results; comics and animation are for children).
In contrast, the complex of Japanese media, unified by the visual style introduced by manga, exhibits constant and successful adaptations from one form into another, with each taking into account the opportunities and limitations inherent in the media concerned, and being received without undue jaundice in each new incarnation. What is more, strict boundaries between these forms are not observed and thus, a variety of different levels of interactivity, visual richness, etc, are evident in and between each discrete form.”
Putting the obvious into words using theory or otherwise is something that I personally have tried quite hard to do in some of my posts, but I have never managed something simultaneously passionate and unoffensive. In a nutshell, I gather, Artefact basically shares the same view as me and some Otaku: that modern Japanese media is superior to other modern cultural art forms.
This is potentially a loaded statement, but do bear in mind that Japan possesses most of the modern visual artforms of the west, including movie adaptions of novels and their own television dramas. However in addition to this, they have developed a complex subculture that seamlessly integrates and adapts itself into multiple media forms.
This brings some pressing questions to my head. Like for example, why are Otaku in general so ashamed of their hobby? Why is majority of Asia infatuated with movies and culture of the west? Would things be different if America lost the second world war? If modern Japanese media is so complex and powerful, why doesn’t Japan make a significant effort to market this media worldwide? Is Japan proud of their modern visual culture and if so, why do they rely on foreigners (e.g. anime bloggers) to disseminate this culture to the rest of the world? Are the Japanese so xenophobic that they aren’t interested in what foreigners think about the complexity of their modern visual culture, or, are they keeping the best for themselves?
These questions were influenced by another post I read over at Tachikomatic Days (Singapore, the West of the East). To Singaporeans reading this blog, face it : we are culturally bare. We just absorb the culture of foreign countries (mostly western) but we don’t really have anything culturally concrete to call our own, save Singlish, which isn’t something to be too proud of (but personally I do love speaking Singlish and it does alienate outsiders in a fashion similar to modern Japanese culture). In fact looking at the way some of the students all the way from primary school to University are behaving, I would say that its like a Little America over here. I personally am trying to resist the urge of totally conforming and becoming another culturally devoid western zombie and have been rather sucessful thus far, but it has never been easy.
Senior Minister Goh wants to develop a Singaporean culture that matches up to legacies of great cultural civilisations such as Italy, and predicts it would take a few generations. Heck, I believe it would take 100 generations (or more) at the rate we’re going!
Perhaps xenophobia does work. Perhaps that’s Japan’s secret to developing this intensely satisfying visual culture that they can rightfully call their own. Heck, most countries wouldn’t want to be the least bit associated to Otaku-fare. However, there is no denying that modern 2 dimensional Japanese visual culture is a stellar achievement, and that many more blogs like Sankaku Complex and Danny Choo will continue to proliferate, disseminate and entertain for many years to come.
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June 22, 2008 at 11:34 pm
The Animanachronism
It would be interesting to find out if in Japan literary novels are adapted with the same attitude as light novels are, because I’m not sure Artefact’s novel/movie thing quite grasps the complexity of ‘novel’ and ‘movie’. Adapting The Bourne Identity into a movie is very different to adapting The Sorrows of Young Werther: no one is going to hold up the former as much more than entertainment. Artefact’s point is good, still.
There is also, I suppose, another possibility: what if some media are inherently superior to others? (I’m looking at your blog’s title.) If so, then there may be a legitimate case for people to say, when something is going to be adapted from a superior medium into an inferior one, ‘Stop. Don’t trash something good.’
Anyhow, provocative food for thought.
June 23, 2008 at 12:00 am
dKiWi
@The Animanachronism:
Quite honestly if the larger proportion of the world population discovers that 2D is indeed better than 3D, we’re opening a really HUGE can of worms (or hydras, actually) here.
I was in deep conversation with my mother and sister during dinner about topics like “finding the right husband” and it reinforced my view that money is really what makes the world go round. Its a truly a shitty world and when guys are matured enough to discover what marriage and relationships are about, it really is no wonder at all why 2D lolis and Bishoujos exist.
In regards to your statement about inferiority/superiority, there is really no stopping the producers from making something as long as it is economically viable. Money (or economics, actually) is what ultimately determines human actions, not culture, which is exactly why Singapore ended this way. We sacrificed culture for stellar GDP growth.
Heck, the Suzumiya Haruhi manga stinks, but I’m STILL gonna freaking buy it!
June 23, 2008 at 1:11 am
Panther
The first thing to do to open up the culture is stop this heinous govweawe123nernmeqweqnt (read the code) from doing what they are doing currently. Seriously, the ones who lead are the ones in charge and the ones responsible. The problem is how after generations of it, the masses are basically tuned to it and led like sheep…and they WANT to be sheep.
@Anima: An objective view of some media being inherently superior is not going to happen that easily. There are so many ways of arguing for and against that it simply is pointless in the end to deal with such an issue, when there are more important ethical…or financial if you want to take a look at it from another’s point of view (namely the ones in charge) things to talk about.
June 23, 2008 at 1:43 am
Artefact
Thank you for reading my introduction (maybe I should move that into the about page), and thank you for your kind words.
When I read such culture being called unqualifiedly “superior”, I tend to recoil, however as you correctly ascertained I do think it to be uniquely vibrant, so were I to be less tactful I might say as a complex of different mediums it is vastly superior to cultural complexes which are incomplete – Hollywood springs to mind, with the excessive dominance of the movie destroying the ability of other mediums to find an accepted place.
Regarding the issue of promoting Japanese culture, I think it tends to take place very much in the private sphere (corporate and individual), so the promotion tends to be the same process as marketing products.
Japanese politicians are also definitely aware of the “soft power” they have come to enjoy, but again politicians can’t influence in any reliable way how popular Naruto becomes with American teenagers.
Regarding the issues facing Singapore, I’m too tactful to comment. But perhaps a thoroughly globalised international city-state should take it for granted that it will be part of a global, rather than local, cultural sphere?
June 23, 2008 at 10:14 am
dKiWi
@Panther: So you’re blaming the popular people now? XD
@Artefact:
“with excessive dominance of the movie destroying the ability of other mediums to find an accepted place.”
Wow, this is a really powerful statement. Have you watched The Happening? Movies nowadays never fail to make me facepalm.jpg, and quite sadly Singapore cinemas are doing record business even after ticket price hikes. Its as if cinema operators are hinting to us to watch lesser western movies but it ain’t working. There are strong social factors behind this though.
“but again politicians can’t influence in any reliable way how popular Naruto becomes with American teenagers.”
This highlights another scary similarity between Singapore and America. Singapore has its own massive share of Narutards and quite sadly some of them are not just teenagers. Experience in the army has shown that Narutards can be full grown soldiers that won’t hesitate to give you a buttstroke with their rifle/fill you with holes if you violate national territory, but can eagerly strike up retarded conversations about Naruto in the canteen or mess.
“Regarding the issues facing Singapore, I’m too tactful to comment. But perhaps a thoroughly globalised international city-state should take it for granted that it will be part of a global, rather than local, cultural sphere?”
I don’t really understand your question, but seeing that not much cultural change is going to occur in my lifetime, I’m going to speak Singlish as much as I want. The fact that the government wants to stamp out our last hope of developing cultural prominence is evidence that they place economic growth, as better English speakers are better skilled workers, in favour of culture.
I find it interesting that when soldiers leave conscripted service, they want so much to integrate back into civilian life that they force themselves to tone down on Singlish. Its a fact that we do tend to look up to those who can speak almost perfect American English, which I find really sad as I classify it as a case of zombification. That said, I’m gonna swear in Hokkien all in want in the presence of perhaps only fellow like-minded ex-soldiers as a display of support for our vocal culture, nabei chee bye!!!
June 23, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Peter S
Artefact is quite correct when he describes the Japanese media industry (at least when it comes to 2D) as “vibrant.” That’s part of the attraction to an American like me, who rarely watches western movies (unless they’re old classics). But there are examples of successful tie-ins between films and other art forms here, such as Joss Wheden’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series which was a popular TV show and is now a popular comic book. The trouble is that exceptions like this are worshiped by fewer people. It’s a niche over here, rather than mainstream, the classic Sci-Fi nerd’s world.
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