Key Aspects of Japanese Anime and Manga - Coursework Example

Japanese Anime and Manga Introduction The Anne Allison, asserts that Japan has become a phenomenon in the global entertainment industry. In the article, it is claimed that the industry has mastered aspects of cultural production. Japan has combined a creative formula with technological superiority in order to sell its children’s products. Regardless of the mechanisms used to achieve this popularity, one thing is clear, Japan wields a soft power over American consumers, and several of them do not even know it. Japan’s soft power Literature offers several explanations on why Japan’s products are becoming a global force. Most of them solidify the stance that cultural power is the driving force behind this movement. Nations with soft power often exert influence over other nations through fascination and attraction. This contradicts initial understandings of power, which are obtained through force. The US is an ideal example of what soft power entails, since their entertainment industry pervades almost all corners of the globe. Through cultural outlets like film and music, the United States has exerted its ideas upon people of the world. Therefore, the nation has cemented its place as a super power owing to this phenomenon. Likewise, Japan is also flexing its cultural reproduction muscles. Through children’s entertainment, the nation is currently playing a significant role in people’s consumption patterns. Allison (2005) attributes this to a number of strategies; key among them is character merchandising. The Japanese have packaged their toys and entertainment products in a way that makes them commercially viable. They are easy to distribute, expand and relate to. One way in which they achieved this is by facilitation of interaction between the characters and their users. Some famous characters like Pokemon are available on screen and through several other media platforms. They are sold through video games such that audiences can interact with them intimately. As a result, the products often pervade into consumers’ lives in a more profound way than television or comic book characters would. It is these characteristics that augment the cuteness of the products, and makes them so irresistible to western audiences. Therefore, Japanese entertainment products are highly malleable. Chambers (2012) echoes these sentiments in her journal article. The author explains that Japanese anime is a multigenre enterprise. Unlike the North American one which is restricted to the animation industry, the Japanese version cuts across age and demographic barriers through its various media platforms. Anime, which is a code word for Japanese animation, started as far back as the 1960s. It then grew in influence in the 1980s after continued piracy of the products into the American market. It was initially a cult-following, which subsequently grew by leaps and bounds. It was eventually depicted on screen, through the internet and also in traditional comic books, or Manga as is commonly known. Therefore, one may say that the multiplicity of the anime industry is what has made Japanese culture available globally. Proof of the multigenre nature of Japanese entertainment products is seen in the level of merchandising of Manga and anime programs globally. In North America specifically, several products have drawn inspiration from anime, and they include action figures, apparel, trading cards or figurines with anime logos or shapes. People purchase products from anime series or they may get gifts for friends and family through these avenues. Such responses point to the fact that Japanese animation is easy to expand and redefine (Chambers, 2012). If Americans buy products inspired by the Asian country’s culture, then elements of it form a key component of popular culture. This means that the West is fascinated by it and thus draws inspiration from it. Perhaps another critical reason why these products have contributed towards Japanese soft power is the fact that they provide an antidote to the stresses of modern living (Allison, 2004). Children in any industrialised nation are under immense pressure to excel in academics and also do well in extracurricular activities. They barely have time to socialise, so a number of them need to find solace in other sources. Since few of them have time to socialise with each other, then they need a substitute item that enables some connection to others. Japanese toys are centred on digital games, so most of them encourage children to exchange ideas and information with each other. This solves a social problem that often emanates from online games in most western societies. The concept of dealing with modern-day stress stems from the countercultural element of Japanese animation in the past. During the 1980s, the industry had to contend with a lot of negative stereotypes in North America. Anime was initially presumed to be inappropriate for American audiences owing to its explicit content (Sullivan, 2005). It was quite violent and even contained sexually-related content. This stemmed from the fact that cartoons in Asia were geared towards adult audiences while the same genre was generally made for children in the US. It also became evident that cultural expectations of cartoons were dramatically different. American consumers expected black and white depictions of animation characters. In other words, a person was either good or evil. Conversely, the Japanese embraced ambiguity in their superheroes. Some of them were monsters but still possessed likeable characteristics (Allison, 2004). These ambiguities were intolerable in the West, and caused most producers to distort storylines in order to fit divergent tastes. Original versions of the material were seen as tasteless and violent. It was thus countercultural in nature; analysts felt that Japanese animations were a nothing more than a fad. Advent fans of the genre were seen as cultic consumers. They were definitely not regarded as mainstream and only had influence on American society’s edges. However, with time, people came to embrace it as a conventional phenomenon (Sullivan, 2005). Those who watched unmodified versions understood the cultural context involved in the animations while those who watched American versions of anime related to its cuteness. The countercultural element of Japanese entertainment culture was thus derived from its earlier reception in the West. It was an escape from mass consumption, which had pervaded every part of life, including the entertainment industry (Chambers, 2012). Japanese animation provided a sub cultural space in which young audiences could find a different form of entertainment. The oppositional nature of anime also comes from its points of emphases. The manner in which it is constructed challenges certain elements of modern industrial culture. Productivity is a key aspect of success in Japan and several other developed nations of the world. However, Japanese animation seems to go against these very teachings. It is a post modern culture that challenges modern lifestyles (Sullivan, 2005). Daily living in the corporate world can be rather monotonous. This takes away people’s ability to enjoy their humanity. The Japanese animation industry wanted to defy these tendencies. It is needed to remind people that they could enjoy themselves in spite of the drudgery surrounding them. It thus rebelled against this fact. Defiance can also be seen in the way the genre has blurred the lines between high and low culture. In the past, culture was separated into popular culture and high culture. It was often presumed that paintings, sculptures and similar products were part of high culture while magazines and common televisions series were presumed to be part of mass culture. Japan’s animation seems to be challenging this assumption. Unlike other forms of culture that are founded on restriction, Japanese anime focuses on acceptance. It emphasises the use of well-known characters, but easily embraces new colours, styles or even subjects. Furthermore, characters that are the main subject in Japanese culture are often non traditional. They can be anything from monsters to animals or mythical creatures (Allison, 2004). Japanese entertainment products are thus challenging meaning in the genre. They have provided a new way of exploring the world by defying the status quo. It is for this reason that it has done relatively well. Conclusion Evidence in non academic and academic sources points towards use of Japanese entertainment as a source of soft power. Merchandising in North America draws inspiration from Japanese characters. Furthermore, the genre has multiple outlets, which make it quite relatable to audiences. The West has become drawn to anime because of its deviation from the status quo and its ability to cushion them against modern stresses or realities. Furthermore, Japanese soft power also comes from the countercultural element of its animations. References Allison, A. (2004). Cuteness as Japan’s millennial product. In Joseph Tobin (Eds.). Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The rise and fall of pokemon, (pp. 34-49). Duke University: Duke University Press. Chambers, S. (2012). Anime: From cult following to pop culture phenomenon. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 3(2), 94-102. Sullivan, J. (2005). Anime: the cultural signification of the Oraku. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5678&context=opendissertations Read More