Forum - View topicAre Westerners' perception of anime too... off?
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I'm talking about the perception of anime from fans themselves, not how others view fans. Many columns and articles like Your Ultimate Guide to Anime Ending Credits Part III on ANN strive to educate fans about what the anime industry in Japan is all about, a business, a form of entertainment, and perceived in a very professional light by those who are involved in its creation, production and promotion. Even conventions (or lack thereof) in Japan simply exist solely to provide marketing and advertisement.
But many North American fans seem oblivious to this, or have been for the past few decades of fandom. There is nothing wrong with this, and you know the saying "ignorance is bliss." I don't want to evoke the term ignorance in a negative way. Fandom has a real and positive place in North American culture and society and the anime fan is certainly a unique and enthusiastic person. It's given rise to the huge creative world of cosplay, it has driven for cross cultural interest in media and entertainment in the West. But what about fans themselves? Do they appreciate anime in such a way that when they discover how anime is viewed in their "holy land" of Japan they might come away disappointed or jaded? I remember my pre-jaded days but also I still see myself as the same old awe-inspired fan. Just one who is also interested in the businessy and purely professional aspects of anime production. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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I am assuming you are focusing on the "otaku phenomena" where a good portion of anime is in fact produced by what can be described as "social outcasts" that throw money at anime projects, this includes the usual "guy who loves 2d girls over 3d" the "fujoshi group" as well as a number of sub groups that still can be labeled as Anime Otaku.
For some groups in the United States, being a "social outcast" can unwittingly create bonds for those that share otherwise fringe interests, so what may be seen in Japan as a "following that is to be frowned upon" is yet another avenue for social interaction for western fans. There is no doubt a disconnect between how Western and Japanese cultures view the "otaku culture" but there are always missing views between cultures even if there are rough parallels and cross culture fandoms. |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13240 |
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Like with anything fans tend to romanticize things to various extents. There's no shortage of fans who lie on the extreme end of that. They might think that anime is a mainstream thing in Japan and thus assume any Japanese person they meet is an anime fan. They might think that those who work on anime are on par with Hollywood celebs when in fact they're overworked and underpaid. They might think anime is a medium dedicated to originality and deep messages so they won't accept shows made to sell merchandise.
Anime is still an exotic animal to some due to either ignorance or refusing to accept the truth. I suppose that's okay within reasonable levels but if some one flips their lid because you dared to compare sacred anime to childish American cartoons then they need a reality check. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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In this thread I also want to clarify I'm not neglecting the Japanese who are anime fans, they certainly exist too. I think they are enthusiastic and loving of their hobby in the same way as anime fans in other parts of the world. Anime is a medium with its own very unique set of qualities that draw its viewers in and keeps satisfying longtime fans. It is more than simply animation that happens to be made in Japan. It is also self-serving because as Western fans become increasingly more familiar with the many Japanese cultural quirks present in anime, it must do so anyway to appeal to those same Japanese fans who will get bored quickly of the same old cliches and storytelling.
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I am not really sure what you are asking, but if you want to know if I was disappointed and disenchanted when I realized that anime was a business in Japan the answer to that would be "no." That is because I have always known that it is a business.
One reason for that is probably that I was a lot older than most fans when I started watching anime and I had a lot of time to realize that all entertainment is a business. There are creators who love their work, possibly most of them, and do it for artistic reasons but we fans would never get to see it if not for the anime business. I think that I should stop now in case I am misunderstanding and going down the wrong path. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Hello Past!
I like to think that an appreciation of an artform is not predicated on being able to grasp its means of creation—as this will always be somewhat of a mystery to those without the requisite talents—but instead on being able to place works amongst others of the same kind, to gradually see the distinguishing features of complex or subtle pieces. While knowing the sobering and tedious details of the anime industry may help with respecting the feats we see on-screen, I think this comes secondary to simply watching enough anime to know one's way around the subculture. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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Ignorance on how a media is produced is very common even outside the realms of anime fandom, most people don't know the details of how local television or movies are produced in made let alone a media that is made in a country from effectively the other side of the globe. The real question is which part of the ignorance are you referring to. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Let's stop talking about ignorance. It is a bad word. I want to focus on what kind of examples of overzealous dedicated fans you might know of. Let's say they are interviewing for a job at a company in Japan that is involved in anime production or a magazine publisher. Would they be rejected right away because of seeming too emotionally attached to the fandom?
Last edited by P€|\||§_|\/|ast@ on Tue Jun 14, 2016 11:27 am; edited 1 time in total |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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Except that is swinging the pendulum in the complete opposite direction where a person might honestly understand actual social nuances because they spent an extensive amount of time researching Japanese culture. Are we talking about the "average fan" or are we talking about Niponophiles? |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Hi there! |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Reinforcing that perception is the large role piracy plays among Western anime viewers, especially younger ones. It's easier to rationalize that money plays no role in anime production if you're not paying to contribute to it in the first place. I was in my fifties when I started watching anime and had spent a few years in television research back in the 1980s. I had no illusions about the role of money in media production. |
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