why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
Yvonne Bennett
*snipping cross-posts that I seem to be out of topic with*
tan...@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (TANAKA Tomoyuki) wrote:
>a question i've been asked by Americans many times:
>Question: characters in Japanese animations often have big round
> eyes and they don't look Japanese at all (to Americans).
> why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
Gee, I always thought the reason they had round eyes was because it
was animation, and they wanted to make it easier to see the expressions
on characters faces.
That and larger eyes imply innocence.... I think?
--
Yvonne Bennett
__/^-^\__ *Miya!* | "Did I mention I have 15 wild badgers living in
catb...@nrv.net | my trousers?" -Marcus (B5)
Yvonne Bennett
I *really* need to remember to check the dates of articles before I
reply. :(
Thomas E. Reed
> tan...@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (TANAKA Tomoyuki) wrote:
>
> >a question i've been asked by Americans many times:
>
> >Question: characters in Japanese animations often have big round
> > eyes and they don't look Japanese at all (to Americans).
> > why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
>
(God, don't you hate the inelegant way that mailgroup readers quote messages?)
At any rate, the answer I've heard is this; cartoon animation started in
Japan in the 30's, and the only real model they had for animation were the
cartoons of that era. All those characters were very simplified in design
and had large eyes. For some reason, this feature stuck. Perhaps it's
because those wide eyes indicate a child-like innocence. (Notice that a
lot of the villains - especially all the Caucasians cast as villains -
have narrow slits for eyes. Metaphorically, they're hiding the true
content of their souls.)
For gaming fun, visit the SunQuest Web page
with game reviews, contests, news and more...
[http://www.sundial.net/~sunquest]
PsychoKick
someone wrote:
>> >Question: characters in Japanese animations often have big round
>> > eyes and they don't look Japanese at all (to Americans).
>> > why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
Urgh! Damn! This question keeps on popping up! We just finished this
debate (again) recently in rec.arts.anime.misc!
The anime style is very minimalist, with very few details on the face
(referred to as "iconic"). This is so that you unconciously "fill in the
details" yourself, supposedly making it easier to relate to the characters. A
side effect is that one tends to recognize this as the race they are most
familiar with. Most Japanese viewers have been surprised to find out that
Western audiences found the characters to look Caucasian. I myself, having
grown up in a heavily Asian environment, always thought anime characters looked
more Asian than Caucasian, when in actuality they don't look like _any_ race in
existance (There's no human race that has noses that small, eyes that big,
heads that round, and hair in _every_single_color_ of the spectrum)!
Another word: Disney. Current anime style has it's roots in the early
Disney films (when the man himself was still alive).
Plus, the large eyes look cute, and in Japan cute is a big plus.
That's all I'm going to say about this subject. Now can we please let
it die?
--
-PsychoKick
http://www.panix.com/~wyoon
School of Hard Nox and other chaos...
4885.6.009
In article <tomreed-0410...@pm2-24.sundial.net>,
tom...@sundial.net (Thomas E. Reed) wrote:
I had heard this is because the Japanese really believe their eyes are
like that. To make them slits is "Chinese", and they hate that. It's a
cultural thang I can't understand.
Perhaps it is because they are so in love with American culture they
copy everything, even how we look.
Just my .02 cents worth.
--
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX?0?XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there
is room for nothing." -Antonio Forchio
Ming Yau So
Re: why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
Just can't stand this kind of stupid question any more !
--
==============================================================================
Ming Yau So Internet: min...@netcom.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tadano Jarinko
In article <mingso-0410...@10.0.2.1>,
Ming Yau So <min...@netcom.com> wrote:
>Re: why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
>
>Just can't stand this kind of stupid question any more !
Can you stand "Why do Beavis & Butthead look like real Americans?"?
Hehehehhe
confused
In article <tajariDy...@netcom.com>, taj...@netcom.com (Tadano
Jarinko) wrote:
>In article <mingso-0410...@10.0.2.1>,
>Ming Yau So <min...@netcom.com> wrote:
>>Re: why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
>>
>>Just can't stand this kind of stupid question any more !
>
>Can you stand "Why do Beavis & Butthead look like real Americans?"?
>Hehehehhe
First of all, I think wanting to know why Japanese animated characters
have big, round eyes is a valid question. It is clearly more Caucasion
looking than Japanese. I've heard of several reasons for this and don't
know if there is a diffinitive one.
Second of all, I love that Beavis and Butthead look like the typical
American, teenage loser scum. I think it's even more funny when i meet
someone who thinks that B&B are cool and can't see that they are losers.
Chris
--
Tom
Answer(potential?): Japan's love-hate relationship with Western Culture.
Love: caucasian looking characters, and j-pop. sounds VERY western(not
country)* Especially the BGC soundtracks...
hate: Most western characters in anime are portrayed really stupid, very
monetarily biased. Super-Capitalists
Make any sense?
*except maybe Mimi O Sumaseba, "Country Road" :)
--
LaterZ
-Tom
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because
he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears,
however
measured or far away."
--Henry David Thoreau
I AM FLATULUS OF BORG. PREPARE TO BE ASPHYXIATED! GASMASKS ARE
IRRELEVANT! AIR FRESHENER IS FUTILE!
-->C:\HOUGHTBY.TOM>Tom_
Bad Command or File Name.
-->C:\HOUGHTBY.TOM>_
Charles Eicher
> > tan...@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (TANAKA Tomoyuki) wrote:
> >
> > >a question i've been asked by Americans many times:
> >
> > >Question: characters in Japanese animations often have big round
> > > eyes and they don't look Japanese at all (to Americans).
> > > why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
> >
>
> (God, don't you hate the inelegant way that mailgroup readers quote messages?)
>
> At any rate, the answer I've heard is this; cartoon animation started in
> Japan in the 30's, and the only real model they had for animation were the
> cartoons of that era.
isn't it wonderful how all history starts in the 20th Century?
FYI, the tradition of manga and anime style drawings goes back much further
than that. Japanese storytelling through pictures goes back at LEAST as far
as the 7th or 8th century, when buddhist tales were recorded in picture
scrolls. Those scrolls typically emphasise hand gestures or bodily
positions, for example, meditative Buddha images. In the images of the
Buddha, eyes are typically narrow and elongated, however, I have been told
that there are specific reasons for this, relating to religious
iconography.
Other 'narrative picture scrolls' (e-maki) from later eras describe
historical events. Typically, masses of figures move in a landscape or
cityscape, the emphasis is on movements of masses of figures, not on
individual actors in the historical drama. Some examples of these e-maki
show the reduced 'iconic' form of the faces of figures, but I haven't seen
any examples that have anything that might be considered a precursor of the
exaggerated eyes of modern manga.
In later eras, outside influences had an impact on Japanese paintings, for
example, in the Edo era, western paintings began to be seen (in
reproduction) in Japan, and some startling 'hybrid' images began to be
produced. Western subjects reproduced in japanese styles, and japanese
subjects began to be depicted in western styles (remember, this is sometime
after the Renaissance in Europe). Some of these paintings do have
uncharacteristically 'round' eyes, although this is only the most minor of
the stylistic oddities. I haven't studied this era of Japanese art
extensively (and the Japanese seem to be embarassed of it, there is little
scholarly material available on the paintings of this era), so I am
hesitant to draw any conclusions.
Anyway, this week, I was perusing a new book, "Postwar Japan as History"
and while it is a very dry scholarly tome, and has only about 10
photographs, one of them caught my eye. The photo shows a man pulling
cartoons out of a picture frame, while speaking into a microphone, in front
of a crowd of children. The caption reads "Early postwar 'Picture Card
Show' (kamishibai). This form of entertainment was extremely popular in the
late 1940s and 1950s, before being overwhelmed by television. Many comic
book artists began their careers by illustrating for this theater." The
kamishibai images are not very clear in this image, but the faces seem to
be oversized, and with large eyes, but in other respects, resemble the
emaki somewhat. I think we can form a working hypothesis from this. These
images (frames about two feet across) were designed to be seen from a
distance, in a crowd of children seated in a public square. If the images
had the subtle thin eyes of artworks from prior eras, they just wouldn't
have been able to see the expression on the faces of the figures. The
'emaki' scrolls were designed for personal reading by a single person. The
manga-style images were designed to be viewed by a crowd, just like a movie
or a TV show.
Also consider that Television is not a very high-resolution media. In fact,
the inventor of TV specifically designed the medium to merely have
sufficient resolution to convey a recognizable face. In fact, the first
tests of TV were performed on a model of a comic book character, Felix the
cat. For a character to come across clearly on TV, it must be exaggerated.
TV actors talk about this all the time, how their body motions learned for
Film acting must be modified for TV. But I'm not an expert in this area.
A couple of personal experiences I might add..
I had occasion to spend two months in Japan this summer. One of the
memorable experiences I had was an evening when my host family and I sat
around talking about art and drawing each other's portraits. My 'Big
Sister' decided to draw my portrait (she isn't an artist). She had
exceptional trouble with the eyes. She drew them too round and large, and
kept erasing them over and over until the paper wore through.. I tried to
show her some of the classical techniques used in western art for the
layout of the skull. I've done rather extensive studies of cranial anatomy,
and in particular, the structure of the eye, and can render it rather
faithfully, in scientific detail. But generally, I'm not very good at
realistic drawing (I'm an abstract artist, mostly). So.. I taught her some
of the anatomy and painting tricks that artists have used since the days of
Leonardo daVinci.. Her eyes still came out round. It must have been a
matter of cultural conditioning (seeing all that manga..) BUT.. When I drew
her portrait, I did my best to render her eyes as accurately as possible
(after all, my reputation as an artist was on the line!).. Anyway, I did a
rather excellent job capturing her eyes accurately and in correct
proportion, and when she saw it, she said "oooh, the eyes are too thin!
Westerners ALWAYS draw the eyes too thin!"
On another note, I was rather startled by one experience in my language
classes in Japan. We had visitors from our various host families come to
our classroom for discussion. The topic of the day was 'shouyu versus
sauce'.. Shouyu is the japanese term for soy sauce, 'sauce' in this sense,
refers to a thicker sauce from Western style cooking. These terms were used
as slang a few years ago to describe western and eastern facial features.
We asked the Japanese visitors to describe these faces before we had
learned what the terms meant, they seemed a bit uncomfortable describing
these terms. 'Shouyu' faces were described as having thin eyes and
eyebrows, thin lips with a wide mouth, pale unblemished skin, an oval face
and long dark hair. 'Sauce' faces were described as having large round eyes
with thick eyebrowns, thick lips, sweaty or shiny face ('Greasy' was the
term they actually used), a round broad face,and wavy hair. Obviously, the
'shouyu' face was considered the ideal of beauty in Japan. I didn't
consider this particularly shocking, as each culture has its own ideals of
beauty. But I was slightly appalled to see the stereotypes applied to
Westerners, and even more appalled to learn that this 'sauce' term was
occasionally used as an insult to Japanese people who didn't live up to an
idealized vision of Japanese beauty.
-----
Oh.. as an afterthought.. Some of you might know of my previous efforts at
writing satyrical pseudo-scholarly articles. This is NOT one of them. I'm
totally serious, everything in this article is factual, either drawn from
my personal experiences, or can be easily supported with citiations from
conventional history books. Email me if you need citations or references.
I'm not an expert in manga or anime (in fact, I hate the stuff) but I am a
devoted student of Asian Art history and Japanese literature and culture
(I'm about 2 months from recieving two degrees, one in Japanese Literature
and Language, and the other in Art & Art History)..
One last comment: It would be prudent for the manga/anime community to
IGNORE further trolling by Tomoyuki Tanaka. He posts these trolls into
soc.culture.japan and other relevant newsgroups, trying to start flamewars.
He post them about once every month. He crossposts them as widely as
possible, trying to disrupt newsgroups with hateful remarks from other
electronic communities. He gets his kicks from seeing people argue these
topics endlessly, and hopes to capture any statements where he perceives
racism, and will reprint them in his essays. Please ignore his remarks,
especially the ones about Tezuka/Disney and "round eyes".. They are merely
designed to cause racial friction. Even if these issues were definitively
settled within your own newsgroups, he would still continue to post these
articles, just to stir up trouble. Please ignore him. I know HE will ignore
YOU, unless you fall into his trap, and give him more ammunition to incite
racial hatred.
| Charles Eicher |
| -=- |
| cei...@inav.net |
Tomoyuki Tanaka
In article <52up2k$j...@kirk.nrv.net>, Yvonne Bennett <catb...@nrv.net> wrote:
>I *really* need to remember to check the dates of articles before I
>reply. :(
>
no apology necessary.
(next time, please include <alt.flame.charles-eicher>
in the followup, if you want me to read it.)
here's my original (timeless) post.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
a question i've been asked by Americans many times:
Question: characters in Japanese animations often have big round
eyes and they don't look Japanese at all (to Americans).
why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
three reasons:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Japanese are brainwashed by racist American standards of beauty.
during and after the US-occupation following WW2, the Japanese
aesthetic sense was gravely affected. many Japanese people were
brainwashed by the same prejudiced standards of beauty that is
prevalent in the USA: "white people are beautiful; Asian and
black people are ugly."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) lack of anti-Japanese prejudice.
we Japanese see ourselves only as humans. we Japanese naturally
don't think of ourselves as ugly, short, yellow, buck-toothed,
slant-eyed, etc. ONLY racist Americans think this way, and draw
cartoon characters accordingly.
see the relevant section in "disparity in Asian/white
interracial dating FAQ". (i quote Malcolm X in that section.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) naive internationalism.
most Japanese people have no idea that they are a target of an
intense racial prejudice, as in the USA. they don't even really
know what "anti-Semitism" is. in fact, when I lived in California
"racism" was just a word, an abstract concept I studied in class
in connection with slavery and the civil rights movement. here
in Bloomington, Indiana I learned how real racism is.
so most Japanese people have a "naive internationalism", the
belief that we can be simply human beings, without specifying
the race, national origin, social status, etc.
most of Tezuka's work for children (Astroboy, ribon no kisi,
etc) are done in this spirit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
see also section (2.1) MYTH: Japanese (Asians) have slanted eyes
of "American misconceptions about Japan FAQ".
;;; (Mr.) TANAKA Tomoyuki (Tanaka is my family name.)
;;;
;;; WWW: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/tanaka.html (new)
;;;
;;; e-mail: tan...@ucdavis.edu or tan...@cs.indiana.edu
Ann
No no no! The large eyes in anime are there because Japanese believe that
the eyes are the window to the soul, you may notice that bad guys usually
have smaller or thinner eyes. The characters look diffrent so they will
stand out in a crowd, just to make 'em diffrent!
Hope this helps!
Lavender Feline
Jim Gi Tsou
I had to change the title because it was not adequately phrased. But I
have a theory if you think about it, it would make a lot of sense. Animes
are often stories about young white American girls who are living and grew
up in Japan. That explains why they look the way they do, and why they
are usually a lot more aggressive than the guys(who are usually
Japanese) portrayed in animes. Many times the white girls would change
their last name to a Japanese last name just so the peple in Japan would
have an easier time in pronouncing it.
Count Zero Interrupt
Jim Gi Tsou (ts...@engin.umich.edu) wrote:
: I had to change the title because it was not adequately phrased. But I
True enough.
However, I suspect that the character of Belldandy (from "Oh My
Goddess!"), although written as a "Foreign-looking" woman, probably says
a lot more about the ideals of so-called "Asiaphiles" than those of
Japanese...that was my opinion after seeing it, anyway.
Ryan :>
(If you've seen it , you'll know what I'm talking about.)
PsychoKick
In article <53dru1$j...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, ts...@engin.umich.edu says...
>I had to change the title because it was not adequately phrased. But I
>have a theory if you think about it, it would make a lot of sense. Animes
>are often stories about young white American girls who are living and grew
>up in Japan. That explains why they look the way they do, and why they
>are usually a lot more aggressive than the guys(who are usually
>Japanese) portrayed in animes. Many times the white girls would change
>their last name to a Japanese last name just so the peple in Japan would
>have an easier time in pronouncing it.
Oh please... (the pain, the pain)
Just when I thought this couldn't get even more ridiculous, it does. I
damn hope you're not serious.
Ghost In The Shell
Jim Gi Tsou wrote:
>
> I had to change the title because it was not adequately phrased. But I
> have a theory if you think about it, it would make a lot of sense. Animes
> are often stories about young white American girls who are living and grew
> up in Japan. That explains why they look the way they do, and why they
> are usually a lot more aggressive than the guys(who are usually
> Japanese) portrayed in animes. Many times the white girls would change
> their last name to a Japanese last name just so the peple in Japan would
> have an easier time in pronouncing it.
up in Japan are less violent than girls? Who are you kidding?
Jim Gi Tsou
No, not at all. If you go back and read what I wrote, it says the guys
portrayed in anime are usually Japanese guys, only the girls tend more to
be white. There aren't that many white guys in anime, in fact, I can't
think of any at all (anime stories based in Japan). You will notice that the
guys usually look a lot more Japanese where the girls look a lot more
caucasian. The guys are usually wishy washy and the girls are much more
aggressive and sexually liberated. I have read many reasons on why anime
characters (usually females) look so white, these reason just don't cut
it. Because white characters and japanese characters are drawn the same
way, so that can't be right. Now if you carefully consider my theory,
you'll see that it really does make sense.
Jim Gi Tsou
PsychoKick <wt...@cornell.edu> wrote:
>
> Oh please... (the pain, the pain)
> Just when I thought this couldn't get even more ridiculous, it does. I
>damn hope you're not serious.
Perhaps you'll explain why it is so ridiculous? I think my theory is at
least as good as the reasons for why Japanese people are drawn with
blonde hair and blue eyes. And even if you counter with, "There are blue
haired people in anime", the real question to be posed is: Why can't you
tell the difference between japanese and whites in animes?
PsychoKick
In article <53gup4$a...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, ts...@engin.umich.edu says...
Well, the content of your message was very different from the question
posed in the subject. The subject question maintained that race was difficult
to identify in anime. This is true and not ridiculous at all. Your content on
the other hand stated that all anime girls are in reality caucasian girls
brought over and raised in Japan, regardless of how the story identified them
or their background. That's entirely ridiculous.
Just to be fair, here's my theory, and you are free to call it as
ridiculous as you want. I really don't care anymore...
[begin theory, which I've repeated zillions of times over and over...]
Anime is a minimalist art form, partly due to ancient Asian painting
tradition, and partly due to the fact that simpler is faster and cheaper (very
important for most budget-strapped anime productions or overworked manga
artists). Anime characters are typically constructed with very few facial
details. This is called "iconic" representation, because the lack of detail
makes the face more of an abstract "icon" that represents an idea rather than
an actual physical object. The result is that the viewer unconsciously "fills
in" the missing details, hopefully making it easier for the audience to
identify with the characters. This is the same technique used in many American
newspaper comics and Japanese manga (for an elaboration on this, read the book
"Understanding Comics"). The large eyes and heads make the characters look cute
and appealing, but more importantly they emphasize emotion by making it easier
to see facial expressions. Hair and eyes are colored oddly to make it easier to
distinguish characters from one another, because the faces are so simple that
it is often difficult to distinguish characters by faces alone. Ask any
manga/anime artist what is the easiest way to make a character look different,
and they'll reply "change the hair color." Second easiest way is to change the
eye color, since the eyes are so prominent.
In practice, the viewer often assumes the race of the characters to be
what they percieve as the "default" race, the race they are most familiar with
(not necessarily their own race!). Speaking from personal experience, I grew up
in an Asian-dominated environment, and I've always seen anime characters as
more Asian than European. Almost all the Japanese-raised people I've talked to
were surprised when they found out that most Westerners thought anime
characters looked overwhelmingly Western. When taken objectively, anime
characters don't look like any race at all, except for the few times where the
artist draws them realistically (such as in the Patlabor Movies, or Armitage
III).
I'm sure there is some racial influence in anime (current anime style
is largely influenced by early Disney cartoons), but frankly I think it's quite
minimal. Look first to the influences from Japanese society, history, economy,
and the animation business itself before you look at outside influences.
[end long-winded theory I've repeated too many times]
There, I've said my piece and contributed yet again to a pointless
thread that I've vowed to never continue, yet I find myself doing so over and
over again. I may sound bitter, but I'm just sick of people raising this matter
over and over again, and even sicker of those who claim there's some deep
racist white-loving repressed psychology in anime. No, I am NOT (!!!)
personally accusing you of racism, but I've met too many thick-skulled,
Asian-phobic people who insist that Asians must be drawn with slant eyes,
yellow skin, and buck teeth.
Purple*peril
ez07...@chip.ucdavis.edu (Tomoyuki Tanaka) wrote:
> why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
Some of them do look Caucasian, and are Caucasians; yet in my opinion
most of them look Eurasian.
>three reasons:
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>(1) Japanese are brainwashed by racist American standards of beauty.
[del]
Partly true. Or else their plastic surgeon, and the multi-million
cosmetic and fashion and movie industry would simply vanish.
So, can the image-implanted slaves, assuming that there are plenty,
survive the neo-Roman demi gods and goddesses?
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>(2) lack of anti-Japanese prejudice.
>we Japanese see ourselves only as humans. we Japanese naturally
>don't think of ourselves as ugly, short, yellow, buck-toothed,
>slant-eyed, etc.
'What' is ugly?
> ONLY racist Americans think this way, and draw
>cartoon characters accordingly.
and make great efforts in ensuring that they cast their young,
thin/slant-eyed Asian models for their 'international' concept fashion
ads?
>(3) naive internationalism.
or romantism.
[del]
>so most Japanese people have a "naive internationalism", the
>belief that we can be simply human beings, without specifying
>the race, national origin, social status, etc.
Japan fashion mags do use a lot of Eurasian models, especially female,
who supposedly possess the beauty of both worlds. The more 'realism'
school of manga often depict the conquest of blonde white women by
[Eurasion-looking]Japanese men. From my point of view, the depiction
of male characters inTezuka and other "girl-mangas" are very
interesting, looking more like otherworldly tall willowy androgynes
than the everyday Japanese boys...I wonder why. And yes, most cartoon
characters, east or west, have round eyes. Racial defferentiation
only comes through with descriptions - 'western' names, exagerated
noses and lighter hair colour etc.. Reverse-stereotyping?
>most of Tezuka's work for children (Astroboy, ribon no kisi,
>etc) are done in this spirit.
There are politically-conscious as well as philosophical/spiritual
messages in his works, and in my opinion he's quite balance in his
views - good and bad guys on both sides etc.. Though I don't really
think that the spirit of 'internationalism' is neccesarily 'naive'. As
they are those who act vehemently on seperatism, there will always be
a need for those who repair The Bridge via images and other art forms.
Afterall there are plenty of Asians with big round eyes, aren't there?
Besides, isn't it a positive thing to highlight the traits we share as
a specie, physical or otherwise?
Or, could this round-Japanese-eyes-in-manga thing reflects a desire of
the general population to *mix* with the Caucasoids, or other big-eyed
Asians?
William P. Clough
Tomoyuki Tanaka (ez07...@chip.ucdavis.edu) wrote:
: In article <52up2k$j...@kirk.nrv.net>, Yvonne Bennett <catb...@nrv.net> wrote:
: >I *really* need to remember to check the dates of articles before I
: >reply. :(
: >
: no apology necessary.
: (next time, please include <alt.flame.charles-eicher>
: in the followup, if you want me to read it.)
: here's my original (timeless) post.
: --------------------------------------------------------------------
: a question i've been asked by Americans many times:
: Question: characters in Japanese animations often have big round
: eyes and they don't look Japanese at all (to Americans).
: why do characters in Japanese animations look so Caucasian?
: three reasons:
: --------------------------------------------------------------------
: (1) Japanese are brainwashed by racist American standards of beauty.
: during and after the US-occupation following WW2, the Japanese
: aesthetic sense was gravely affected. many Japanese people were
: brainwashed by the same prejudiced standards of beauty that is
: prevalent in the USA: "white people are beautiful; Asian and
: black people are ugly."
: --------------------------------------------------------------------
: (2) lack of anti-Japanese prejudice.
: we Japanese see ourselves only as humans. we Japanese naturally
: don't think of ourselves as ugly, short, yellow, buck-toothed,
: slant-eyed, etc. ONLY racist Americans think this way, and draw
: cartoon characters accordingly.
: see the relevant section in "disparity in Asian/white
: interracial dating FAQ". (i quote Malcolm X in that section.)
: --------------------------------------------------------------------
: (3) naive internationalism.
: most Japanese people have no idea that they are a target of an
: intense racial prejudice, as in the USA. they don't even really
: know what "anti-Semitism" is. in fact, when I lived in California
: "racism" was just a word, an abstract concept I studied in class
: in connection with slavery and the civil rights movement. here
: in Bloomington, Indiana I learned how real racism is.
: so most Japanese people have a "naive internationalism", the
: belief that we can be simply human beings, without specifying
: the race, national origin, social status, etc.
: most of Tezuka's work for children (Astroboy, ribon no kisi,
: etc) are done in this spirit.
: --------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, for those of you who wanted an honest answer, when the Japanese
animation industry came to be, those involved (including Mr. Tezuka) looked
around at the current animation circulating. What they saw was the very
popular Betty Boop, who as some of us recall, had absolutely HUGE eyes.
Other cartoon characters had large eyes, but the Japanese applied them to
more believable anthropomorphic characters in anime.
--Pat Clough--
clou...@eckerd.edu
Jim Gi Tsou
William P. Clough <clou...@acasun.eckerd.edu> wrote:
>
>Actually, for those of you who wanted an honest answer, when the Japanese
>animation industry came to be, those involved (including Mr. Tezuka) looked
>around at the current animation circulating. What they saw was the very
>popular Betty Boop, who as some of us recall, had absolutely HUGE eyes.
>Other cartoon characters had large eyes, but the Japanese applied them to
>more believable anthropomorphic characters in anime.
That's not the right answer, partly because the question is misphrased.
The focus should not be on the size and shape of the eyes, but rather why
are the eyes blue and hair blonde? The correct question to ask is: Why is
it damn impossible to tell "japanese" and "caucasian" anime characters
apart?
Brian Lam
There's a brilliant article in Film Quarterly (last year i believe)
that really nails the social and psychological implications of the anime
genre in general. It makes "otaku" (anime fanboys) look pathetic.
^*Magic*^
On 17 Oct 1996, Jim Gi Tsou wrote:
> William P. Clough <clou...@acasun.eckerd.edu> wrote:
> >
> >Actually, for those of you who wanted an honest answer, when the Japanese
> >animation industry came to be, those involved (including Mr. Tezuka) looked
> >around at the current animation circulating. What they saw was the very
> >popular Betty Boop, who as some of us recall, had absolutely HUGE eyes.
> >Other cartoon characters had large eyes, but the Japanese applied them to
> >more believable anthropomorphic characters in anime.
>
> That's not the right answer, partly because the question is misphrased.
> The focus should not be on the size and shape of the eyes, but rather why
> are the eyes blue and hair blonde? The correct question to ask is: Why is
> it damn impossible to tell "japanese" and "caucasian" anime characters
> apart?
Maybe they just wanted something extraordinary...
I think the charaters have weird colored hair too, like green, blue,
purple...make them look more like freaks.
^*:,,::"~^;,.*;,.."' Magic's in the air! ,..;:"'*~'":;,,*:;..:"^
PsychoKick
In article <545vlq$h...@bertrand.ccs.carleton.ca>, bl...@chat.carleton.ca says...
> There's a brilliant article in Film Quarterly (last year i believe)
>that really nails the social and psychological implications of the anime
>genre in general. It makes "otaku" (anime fanboys) look pathetic.
Brilliant? Please... (groan)
That so-called "brilliant" article has so many holes I could drain
noodles with it! The writer of that article is guilty of the most biased,
"ignore anything that doesn't agree with my thesis"-type writing I have ever
seen! Tell me, have you actually WATCHED the anime shows she mentioned? I have,
and while I'm no socialogist I can definitely say that article is a load of
pure crap. The writer had an axe to grind, and it shows.
--
-PsychoKick
http:\\www.panix.com\~wyoon
Jim Gi Tsou
Yes, but in these situations, you'll notice that these characters are
aliens, not humans. Most of the humans have "natural" colored hair
(although some unnatural for japanese), same goes for eye colors as well.
^*Magic*^
I guess....
maybe these cartoons might explain why Japan is so profound in cosmetic
surgery...
But i doubt it, really :P
PsychoKick
In article <546avr$g...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, ts...@engin.umich.edu says...
>Yes, but in these situations, you'll notice that these characters are
>aliens, not humans. Most of the humans have "natural" colored hair
>(although some unnatural for japanese), same goes for eye colors as well.
Eh... that's a pretty broad statement to make. Unnatural hair colors
pop up in lots of non-alien anime as well, such as Patlabor, Fushigi Yuugi,
Marmalade Boy, Koko Wa Greenwood, etc, just to name a few.