After
having developed a new-found appreciation for anime throughout this semester, I
decided I wanted to look at it through critical lens and in a way that we
haven’t really discussed in this course.
As an East Asian Studies major, I am inherently an Orientalist (and so
are all of the people taking this course about anime, for that matter). I decided to research anime and its relation
to orientalism. I came to find this
meant orientalist perceptions of anime and orientalism within anime itself and
how as a medium it might perpetuate this kind of attitude.
The
significance of animation is weighted differently in the United States and
Japan. Animation seems to have played a
more important role in Japanese culture and history however American animation eventually
influenced Japanese anime a great deal.
Something that anime offered American audiences that they didn’t yet
have was animation for adults and teens.
This added a whole new layer to American media but is still
interestingly contrasted to present-day American condescendence towards
animation in general. This attitude is
not popular in Japan as many anime are very highly regarded and are
particularly influential.
When
I first started researching, I initially thought I would focus strictly on Western
perceptions of anime and why our view of anime is the way it is and how it
might have changed. However I found the possibility
of anime promoting an orientalist view of Japan to be much more interesting.
For
starters, I should provide a definition for orientalism. In its origin it meant imitation or depiction
of Middle Eastern and East Asian cultures by Western artists and writers. But for the last few decades it’s more
commonly understood, thanks to Edward Said and his book Orientalism, as “a general patronizing Western attitude towards
Middle Eastern, Asian and North African societies.” Through this lens the West views itself as
superior to these societies. In his
book, Said says in his analysis that the “West essentializes these
societies as static and undeveloped—thereby fabricating a view of Oriental
culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced” (Said). Within this idea is the distinction between
the Orient (East) and the Occident (West).
Orientalism is evident in scholarly analyses of Eastern culture and
appropriation of pieces of Eastern culture as commodities in our own
culture. We distance ourselves from true
understanding by taking a pedestal perspective and viewing the other culture as
just that, the Other. Said also explains
the Orient as a place of “romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and
landscapes.” We then take these values
and place them together into our perception or picture of the Orient.
It
is through this lens that our orientalist perception of anime is
developed. This orientalist view of
Japan as seen in anime also stems from here.
Anime adheres to orientalist expectations and portrays Japan in a
similar way as described by Said. This
is a good example of something I found in my research known as self-orientalism
(also referred to as auto-exoticism and reverse-Orientalism). In my research I found self-orientalism
defined as “the practice of adopting and absorbing Western hegemony to turn
oneself into an Other” (Huisman).
Tons
of anime are filled with dream-like drawings and storylines that portray
whimsical worlds and offer an disillusioned view of real-life Japan. This makes me wonder: could there be Japanese
anime that focus on fantastical elements without being seen as self-orientalizing?
Where does the difference lie between a genre and adhering to stereotypes and
orientalist perceptions of one’s culture?
Japan
as seen through this fantastical lens is almost fetishized in our (Western)
perception and consumption. Simply put:
“the worlds we see in anime seem far more fantastical than those in the west
and reinforce notions of Japan as a place of the exotic ‘Other’” (Illogical
Zen).
When
anime is viewed as this ‘other’, it becomes more like a spectacle than an art
form or a medium meant for entertainment.
The creative intentions are lost and attention is placed on the
outlandish elements of the anime. A few
good examples I found in my research are films such as Akira and Spirited Away. The focus for Western audiences becomes the
unusual creatures or extravagant adventures.
Both films are placed in Japan but things shift to the
supernatural. The plots no longer focus
on life in the realm of reality, but instead the audience must accept the
bizarre nature of what this new realm is like; meanwhile it’s still portrayed
as “real” in the sense that it elicits reactions from the characters and exists
on the same physical plane as them (or in the case of Akira, is a part of them).
Some
interesting terms in relation to Orientalism that I found while doing research
had to do with internationalism in anime.
Since many anime are made for mass-market there becomes a need to appeal
to international audiences. Many anime
do this through internationalization which is the incorporation of non-Japanese
elements. These elements are seen as
‘universal’ or ‘everywhere nowhere’ and are not attached to one specific race
or culture. Using this as a tactic to
attract international audiences is called de-politicized
internationalization. I also read about
Occidentalized-internationalization which referred to the moments, depictions
or themes that evoke a nationalist sentiment.
The most prime examples of this I found were moments in anime that
involved a Japanese character battling an American character. This kind of internationalization is meant
for a Japanese audience. The last type I
read about was self-orientalized internationalization. Similar to self-orientalism, this is based on
a desire to represent Japan as a Westernized country in the East.
Some
of these aspects may be subject to censoring before it reaches the American
audience. This is yet another factor in
the orientalist viewpoint of anime. The
final product received is already judged through the ‘Other’ lens but then it’s
warped even further.
Another
way Western perception of anime is skewed is through a loss in cultural
translation when anime is adapted into another language. Puns, historical references, obscure
pop-culture references, idioms and so on are lost on the viewer because of
cultural differences, translation itself, and sometimes censorship. Without the relevant historical and
socio-cultural knowledge the meanings and significance of anime could be and
are often lost.
I
found a few interesting examples of this in my research. In Cowboy
Bebop, there is an instance of perhaps censorship, perhaps mistranslation
when one character insults another by calling them an otaku but the dub says
something to the effect of “smelly nerd”.
In Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) the title
includes a play on words having to do with Chihiro’s name and the characters
it’s made up of. Even the simple fact
that the American audience doesn’t get the full title leaves something out. In the adaptation of Ranma ½ for American audiences, apparently all of the poetry Kuno
Tatewaki quotes is replaced with Shakespeare.
There are references to the Tokyo Olympics and student protests over the
revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty in Akira. These went unnoticed by me and probably many
other viewers without a strong knowledge of Japanese history. These translations and misinterpretations
give the wrong impression and bring the audience out of the original cultural
sphere.
Within
this Western perception is the compulsion to compare anime to American
animation rather than judging it by its own value. Much of American influence may have played an
important role in the prevalent orientalism in anime. There are many reasons for this including purposeful
internationalization or circumstantial due to what’s lost in translation
between versions. Due to a variety of
factors anime has been complicit in orientalism throughout its history.
Sources
Sources
"Cultural Translation: Anime and Manga."
Tvtropes. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. .
"Does Anime Promote an Orientalist View of
Japan: Or, a Case of 'lost in Cultural Translation'?
- Part 2."
Illogicalzen. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. .
History of Anime in the US Part 1." Right Stuf.
Web. 1 Dec. 2014. .
Huisman, Martijn. "Orientalism and the
Spectacle of the Other." (2011): 111. Erasmus School of
History, Culture and
Communication. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <file:///D:/Desktop/Huisman, M.pdf>.
Lu, A. S. "The Many Faces Of Internationalization
In Japanese Anime."Animation 3.2 (2008):
169-87. Print.
Napier, Susan. "The Problem of Existence in
Japanese Anime." Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society 149.1
(2005): 8. Print.
Ueno, Toshia. "Japanimation and
Techno-Orientalism." Japanimation and Techno-Orientalism.
Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.t0.or.at/ueno/japan.htm>.
