Today's lesson will focus on how comic books have affected me since my youth, and how manga has fixed me since then.
When I was younger I loved Superheroes like Spider-Man, Batman and Superman. Like every other stupid kid and smart adult. What appealed to me was the amount of power they had and what they did with it.
Superman had every power. If I had the choice I would still choose to have Superman's powerset. He is a god among men, and also among the other gods that reside in his universe. But he never spent any time honing his powers, he was Earth's best defence against space monsters and he was wasting time writing Feature articles for The Daily Planet.
As a young bloke this taught me that you will overcome any weakness as long as you try a little bit.
There is a major flaw in that logic, a flaw that is rectified by the Japanese.
The popular culture of the West ... have been increasingly flowing about the world - Hatchten & Scotton 2002 (p4)
Without the digitisation of the world I would lose interest in finding comics. They are too hard to get in Australia without the Internet. But without digitisation, I would never have been introduced to the popular culture of the East.
Hatchten & Scotton said 'It is argued that many millions more people than ever before now have access to news and information (p4).' I disagree that it is even an argument. There are Scanlators (Scanners and Translators combined) that get hold of manga, scanlate(?) and upload it to the Internet before it is even available for retail in Japan. And millions of people read it on a service that was not available 20 years ago. Also there are millions of people who weren't even born 20 years ago, so there really is no argument.
As I started getting more into the Japanese culture I noticed a trend. The characters actually train and hone their skills.
Courtesy of qbatmanp on deviantArt
Dragon Ball's Goku is the Japanese analog to America's Superman. Both were sent to Earth as infants and both gained the powers beyond Gods. Superman became the strongest being of his race by being exposed to the sun. Goku became the strongest being of his race by being trained by the strongest martial artists on Earth, the God of Earth, the God of the East Quadrant of the Universe, the God of all the Quadrants, and the God that the other God's thought were a myth because he was too strong to believe existed.
Now I am not saying I want to go get super powers and fight crime (I do) I am saying that the culmination of these cultures (Hatchen & Scotton p4 again) has shown me that talent should be honed and practised until you are the best version of you that you can be.
To check out some cool manga try Madman Entertainment
Sources:
Dragon Ball Z Wikipedia 2013, accessed August <http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z>
Hatchen,WA& Scotton, JF 2002, The world newsprism:global media in an era of
terrorism, 6th edn, low a State Press, Am es, pp. 3-14.
Hey Kris… great blog! Its really interesting for me to read about a world I know nothing about - the world of comic superheroes – so thank you for that! And so I was interested in learning more about the Japanese sub culture of ‘manga’ (is that right?). Definitely if you had included a description, or some images, and a link to a good reference site, that would have been really handy for me to learn more. Is it pop culture, modernist or post-modernist for eg?
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea that globalised digital media has not only exposed you to this culture, but has actually allowed you to become immersed in it, in real time… “before it is even available for retail in Japan”. It is such a perfect demonstration of the media and technoscapes of globalism at work.
I also posted a blog on my site Global Blogarama about a Japanese sub culture called Harajuku, and how the media has facilitated a global awareness of this trend. I suggest that the emergence (and continued survival) of certain Japanese cultures and traditions, is potentially about a nation holding on to its identity in the face of homogenisation, or global cultural dilution. Not sure if you agree?
Thanks for the read.
Prue
Hi Prue,
DeleteYou are 100% correct on me needing some pictures on my blog. I'll give it an edit to make it more relevant. It is definitely Japanese pop culture but through globalisation it is also becoming relevant in the West.
I love what the Japanese are doing with harajuku and their styles. I have a friend who models and she is into harajuku. It is because as a planet we are getting closer together, there are less barriers and even though we are on opposite sides of the world we can understand this weird culture and even participate in it to an extent.
Japan is really an amazing country. It is so easy to get wrapped up in another culture. I often get told I have an American accent despite never going there. America has a huge cultural output with Hollywood and television stars. Japan has done amazingly by simply not getting caught up in American culture. By conforming to their own rules they contribute an entirely separate culture globally.
Sorry for being so ranty and nonsensical, it is nearly my bedtime. I read your blog and I'll comment on it tomorrow.
Cheers, Kris.
Hi Kris
ReplyDeleteI should say I'm really a big fun of Japanese comic and I feel happy to read your blog.
I started to watch Japanese Comic when I was 13 years old, I read the comic books first (Naruto is my first favorite) then I started to watch Japanese animations.
Japanese comic really changes me in communicate with people. When I was young, I was shy and don't have any friends. Then I know some of my classmates like the same animation as I did, they asked me join them and watch animation with them and we became good friends.
Now, I'm still enjoying watching Japanese animation and read comic books, it seems like a part of my life.
Thank you
Linrong
Hi Linrong,
DeleteCheers for the comment. I'm not quite current on Naruto, I'll binge read it every now and then but no matter how hard I try I am always 70 chapters behind. If I had Naruto's Shadow Clone Jutsu I would use it to learn every other jutsu that exists, that way I would be the most powerful guy ever. A small problem I have with Naruto is that they say they are ninjas but they don't really do any ninja stuff.
My favourite manga is One Piece, I had about 300 words in this blog relating to it but I thought maybe it was too polarising so I used DBZ as an example instead.
Surely if you are a fan of Naruto you have already heard of One Piece, but I am giving it 10/10 for best story ever told. You can read it here - http://mangafox.me/manga/one_piece/
But thanks for your kind words, I hope manga and anime keep playing a role in your life.
Kris Creed
Hi Kris
DeleteI'm really happy to know that you are a fun of one piece, so am I. I watch the animation every week, and I really like it.