Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Are Americans In Anime Always Blonde?
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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That's hardly what I would call a few, and could you have tried to make that a little more coherent to read? Not to mention, that's not what I was asking at the end of my post. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Is Araki himself uncertain as to Joseph's nationality?
Roland Emmerich is not a scholar! (In other words, just because writers and directors are supposed to do research doesn't mean they will. While it's decreasing, there seems to be a persistent stigma in Hollywood of people who do meticulous fact-checking as anal nerds, to where some people, like Emmerich, take pride in not doing research. You only have to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and see how Mike Teavee is depicted in the book to see the typical type of disdain some creative types have for those who do said fact-checking.) |
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Mexican Batman
Posts: 65 |
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There are aversions, too. Some anime have African-American characters, some Hispanic, but rarely Asian (that role mostly taken by native Chinese or sometimes Korean characters).
Sometimes the authors, artists and production crews DO do their research. '' Gunsmith Cats'' for example, did a fine job as much as possible regarding their depiction of Chicago. |
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Actar
 Posts: 1074 Location: Singapore |
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I have to wonder how these things can be offensive. In the end, does this actually legitimately cause any harm?
As someone mentioned, anime characters have a plethora of hair colors and making the foreigner blonde is one easy way of distinguishing them apart. |
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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Oh please. When American and European media still portrays Asians as either subservient Yamato Nadeshikos or Dragon Ladies for the white MC to tame and they look like Lucy Liu clones to boot, we're hardly any better.
Worse are Asian men who can't even get roles beyond dorky nerd archetypes. Oh, Bruce Lee would be rolling laps around his grave. Fact is, anime is still fiction. Even if they put copious amounts of realism, it shouldn't be some sort of social commentary on racial diversity. Should Nodame Cantabile feature Muslim ghettoes while they were in Paris? Should the Love Live movie feature NYC's nastiness with punks pissing in alleyways and thug trash around? No, and that goes the same to phenotypes. Anime already features a smorgasbord of colors to their native population for artistic states. It is also not just laziness. A few prefer the Scandinavian look like Takeuchi from Type Moon. Jist because Japan as a whole doesn't really astound for the "black is beautiful" ideal the US has gone, shouldn't be seen as ammo to make them look backwards in our pov. |
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maxs2d2ace
Posts: 8 |
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That's because it was rather stupid. You see there is this thing called the media. It includes newspapers, movies and the internet. |
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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So the Internet existed in the 80s now? Do tell. 
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6133 |
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No, more like Araki historically has a habit for glossing over important details or aspects in the JoJo arcs. Hence the confusion of people who think Joseph is an American. |
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Stuart Smith
 Posts: 1298 |
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That remind me in some anime like Yu-Gi-Oh and Excel Saga when the characters first step foot in America they get mugged by gun toting thugs. I don't get offended when Japan portrays America like some crime infested ghetto because I know that looking at the statistics it's pretty much true in a way compared to how low crime is in Japan compared to us and how every other week you hear about some mass shooting. I always like stereotypes and think they provide a good laugh but people should remember there's a difference between sterotypes based on ignorance and stereotypes based on statistics and generalizations. -Stuart Smith |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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Actually it did exist. ARPANET, which was the beginnings of the internet, started in the 60's. Commercial ISPs didn't start until the late 80's though, but that's still the 80's. Your implication that the internet did not exist in the 80's is wrong but your likely point that Araki did not have access to the Internet is still valid. Thank you engineering history course/Wikipedia (for the exact details). |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Although Japan's most overriding image and/or fear of Americans isn't the unique genetics, or Christianity, or wartime memories, or images of crime and violence.
Most of the burning cultural hostility seems to be aimed at their notion that we.... ...(gasp!).... ...WEAR OUR SHOES INDOORS!! 
Seriously: Never mind Hiroshima or internment, anime characters will go into straw-man nationalistic rages at supposedly American characters over the Shoe Thing-- Eg. in an episode of Sgt. Frog, where Kururu unveils his latest world-domination weapon--a sentient cabinet that causes all victims to stub their toe on it--the show's resident blonde-American-cowgirl stereotype, Melody Honey, demonstrates the unfortunate fatal flaw by which America couldn't be conquered with it: We would never stub our toes, because wearing our cowboy boots indoors would protect them! |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16948 |
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Alright Just-another-face & maxs2d2ace it's time for you 2 to calm down and stop with the snark and passive aggressive posts to each other. Keep it civil please. Thank you.
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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Well zrnzle500, while that's very interesting and informative to know, I was referring to looking up images of blackface through some kind of search engine, like Google or Yahoo, not the creation of the Internet itself. Thank you for the history lesson though. And just to note, I never mentioned Araki at any point during this exchange. I was referring to how the Japanese found out what blackface looked like and stuck it in unlocalized games like Higemaru in the 80s. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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Ah I see. I just mentioned Araki as the text you quoted mentioned it. I kinda figured you were referring to the Internet in terms of using to research stuff, and not the Internet itself. I'm just a bit neurotic about being precise with your words is all. |
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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I have a friend like that, but he's an English teacher so he needs to be neurotic about how his students use words in essays and discussions, so I can understand the need for precision. |
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