Olivia Kinane - Princess Mononoke

Is it a high or low cultural genre, according to Napier (2005)? What are some of its subgenres?

Anime is an incredibly popular Japanese genre of animation that is enjoyed internationally. It has often been debated whether or not it is of a high or low cultural genre. This essay will discuss what culture it belongs to, as well as the many sub genres that it has.

Anime can be argued to be apart of both high culture and low culture, however the majority of society views it as being a form low culture. Anime is still looked down upon by the older generations of society, especially in Japan, as the older generations looks down at those who are fans of anime as it is children’s cartoons (Napier, 2005) . In contrast to this Anime has a lot of different sub genres and so it can be accessible for almost any audience. However the range in genres does affects the cultural standing that it has in society due to the huge subculture of anime porn (Facade, 2011). Porn is not an accepted part of our society and so the popularity of anime porn tarnishes the rest of the anime genre. Aspects such as historical reenactments, educational lessons and stories with a good moral backbone get pushed aside.

It is important to realize that when anime is compared to Disney animations that it is definitely apart of high cultured art. This is to do many reasons, firstly Cartoons in the western world are often seen as childish and meant for kids,  where as anime in Japan is enjoyed by many generations (Napier, 2005) . This is because there are deeper and darker undertones than the predictable Disney stories. This unpredictability of the stories has been one of the main reasons for its ability to be popular in the western world; it is not formulaic like most of the western media (Napier, 2005) . Anime is also very progressive in the way that it portrays characters and sexual orientation, this is another reason that anime can be defined as a form of low culture, as it is not what normally occurs in cartoons and can make some of the older generations uncomfortable especially when pared with the notion that cartoons are for children. Princess Mononoke is a clear example of this, the female characters are powerful and have big roles in the stories narrative, and they are not weak or defenseless (Miyazaki, 1997).

Anime will eventually become apart of the high cultural art community as an understanding and acceptance of it grows. The reason it is not accepted is that it is still viewed as childish or inappropriate to the older generations. There is many aspects to anime and so it is able to be accessible to everyone, however not everyone wants to embrace it due to it current reputation.

References:

Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: From to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp. 3-14).             Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillian

Facade. (2011, August 29). Complete list of Anime Genres (with descriptions). Retrieved August 31,   2015, from Anirecs Anime Blog: http://anirecs.com/anime-genre-list-with-descriptions/

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (1997 ). Princess Mononoke [Motion Picture].