According to Lent
(2000), what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is
this across Asia (ie comparing China and Japan)?
Anime is a style of
Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as
children (Okuyama, 2015). The use of colorful graphics, vibrant characters and
fantastical themes are what makes anime such an intriguing genre to watch (Okuyama,
2015). Early animation was effected due to the up rise of western work such as
Disney. In Chine the smiling monkey was termed a copy of Mickey Mouse (Lent,
2000). However, the Chinese, perhaps more than any other Asian animators save
those of Japan, were insistent on adapting only those elements of foreign
animation that fit their culture, never favoring full adoption. Furthermore,
Lent (2000) suggests that animation allowed morals and values to become a part
of society through filming of cartoon characters such as ‘The Panda’s Shop’
which portrayed the values of wholehearted service to the people, the exposing
of enemies of state as well as portrayed representations of wartime themes such
as The Talking Blackbird (1972) which depicts a Vietnamese boy and his
blackbird companion who defeat the Americans together (Lent, 2000).
In addition to the
audience gains Lent (2000) also believes that the occupation of animation in
Asian societies is one of the great economic significance. The existence of the
animation genre has generated employment opportunities through the setup of
foreign studios and the schemes that were provided such as work-for-hire and
co-production scheme in order to bring in more foreign money into the economy
(Lent, 2000). The common up rise in computer animation firms as well as
animation training programs gave opportunities for people within the Asian
communities to build up their animation skills in order to produce animation
that may achieve success on the global scale (Lent, 2000).
In comparison Lent
(2000) believes that Chinese films need to be purely based on real Chinese
traditions and stories, consistent with our sensibility and sense of humor,
which must not only bring pleasure but also be educational. In China animation
belongs to a mass or popular culture whereby the cultural phenomenon is worthy
of being taken seriously, both sociologically and aesthetically (Napier, 2005,
p.4). An example of this is in Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke is with the Lady
Eboshi. Miyazaki portrays her as good an evil, in her actions towards providing
opportunities for those living in Irontown. She is ruthless but she has genuine
compassion for her own people. Miyazaki allows us to see that her intentions on
killing deer god is only to provide those in her town many of who were “lepers
and former prostitutes she recused form worst fates” (The Critical Eye, 1999).
This can be reflected into reality also when we try to achieve goals that we
have set for ourselves. We do everything possible in order to attain the
outcome needed in order to succeed. Miyazaki draws in a lot of ideas and themes
from the outside world, and in doing so he provides us with a chance to become
part of the popular culture of anime. However anime in Chine as been seen as
educational and provides pleasure to audiences. It draws on the importance of
material that deals with national characters, morals, an originality of the
culture and applying human traits to characters (Lent, 2000).
To conclude we can
say that Japanese and Chinese anime draw vast differences in terms of its
popular culture, it is seen in Japan as a ‘cultural phenomenon’ whereas in
China it is used mostly for ‘political change.’
References:
Lent, J. A. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation,
and adoption of adaption. Retrieved August 30 from http://tlweb.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/jlfr11c.htm
Napier,
S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Okuyama, Y. (2015). Japanese mythology in film : Japanese
mythology in film a semiotic approach to reading Japanese and anime. Lanham
: Lexington Books.
The Critical Eye
(1999). Princess mononoke: Nature is presented in both its glory and
fury in Hayao Miyazaki's epic. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from http://purpleplanetmedia.com/eye/film/mononoke.php
Ok, good thanks Grace. I got a little lost there when you were comparing Japanese and Chinese approaches to animation. Maybe some shorter sentences might have helped with clarity. But overall a good response
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Brendan, I understand what you're saying about the shorter sentences, I believe I have improved my sentence structures in my new blog :)
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