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Chicks on Anime [2008-09-16]

The problem with mixing sexes in a discussion the specifically deals with issues of the sexes is that people never tell their true thoughts. Everyone can get too PC in an effort not to offend anyone. In a parallel example, male feminist Jackson Katz describes the value of an all-male setting for gender discussions in The Macho Paradox. He talks about how in a coeducational setting, if a guy makes a controversial statement, a girl might jump in and challenge him. If only her female friends back her up, it becomes a guy-vs-girl sort of thing. If you disagree with the speaker of your sex, you become either sexist or are attacked for not maintaining the solidarity of your group.

And there may be other avenues where I can pursue gender topics in anime, but [..]

Those of you trying to stuff this column inside a rigid box where in order to enjoy the piece you have to personally approve not only of the topic but also of the guests commenting... you're making a big mistake.

This column isn't going to conform to whatever your personal dream is.

Have a little flexibility and a sense of humor.

Please.

Actually, my problem was that this article didn't seem to deal with any women's issues at all, which makes me wonder if a definition of what this feature is needs to be written up. I sorta expected this feature to deal with women's issues/perspectives in the context of anime/manga/Japanese culture as opposed to just being a group of women discussing issues of anime/manga/Japanese culture. The second concept is important as we don't have enough women speaking on the issues of anime overall, but I think the first is actually needed more considering how sexist nerd culture (can I call it that?) still is.

Being a Sakuga fan, I'm surprised to see these animators' names get mentioned. Correct me if I'm wrong, I have feeling that Sara's been reading Anipage Daily. Now I'm revealing my true geeky nature...

Anyway, Disney do wonderful job when it come to animating all kinds of gesture. It's uncontested. In my personal opinion, their animation expression became somewhat stale due to formula. If I may borrow my old sculpture instructor's words, American make things bigger, detailed, and shiny when they're stuck in a rut.

Casey wrote:

Some of the meditative scenes you see in anime arise from a Zen tradition, I imagine.

Let's look at the scoreboard, folks:
Person who gets Japanese culture: 1
Person who doesn't: 0
She knows this is true, too, she's just being polite by adding "I imagine".

Also, the use of motion found in animé with a good sword strike or karate chop is so much more artistically inspiring and aesthetically pleasing to me than seeing those movements either in real life or in a Disney-esque film....

It's more akin to the second concept. I know that it's important to talk about women's issues, but talking about it all the time can get repetitive. Ideally, we'd like to have lots of guests, and we'd like to cover a broad range of topics. I think if there are women's issues present in a topic, then they will come out naturally.

I will admit that there hasn't been much I'd consider really good since Brother Bear though. Meet the Robinsons was at least good, Home on the Range wasn't that special and Chicken Little worked, but was a bit of a mess in the storytelling department and had quite a few bland and uninteresting points.

I loved Brother Bear and Emperors New Groove.

Keonyn wrote:

Emperors New Groove.

The Emperor's New Groove is one of the funniest movies ever made, animated or otherwise. I wish that more humor in animation was like that--original and witty and clever--instead of a) pandering to children or b) relying on pop references for laughs. New Groove is easily my favorite Disney film since Beauty and the Beast. Yzma = greatest villain ever.