Scott McCloud discusses the "objectifying power" of realistic art in Understanding Comics. He discusses the recent trend of photorealistic art in Japanese comics, and says, "...some of them [Japanese comics] realized that the objectifying power of realistic arts could be put to other uses," (44). McCloud believes that background and inanimate objects can be made to look more realistic without troubling the identification of the reader with the character in the comic because people identify with other people/animals/sentient beings/etc., not the objects in the background of a comic. Japanese comics are different, however, in that they sometimes will give a character significantly more detail than others. McCloud argues, "While most characters were designed simply, to assist in reader-identification, other characters were drawn more realistically in order to objectify them, emphasizing their "otherness" from the reader," (44).
I want to see if I can follow his argument here.
1. Drawing characters more simply allows readers to put themselves in the cartoon or comic because the less detail there is, the more a reader can impose their own ideas/self on places where there might otherwise be difference.
2. Japanese comics sometimes take a different approach, in that they will use the strategy from 1. to varying degrees with different characters.
3. Because readers are conditioned (?) to identify with the less-detailed characters, they will see more detailed drawings of characters as "others".
If I follow what he is saying correctly, I can understand how McCloud could come to his conclusion. I have a problem with it, however, because sometimes, I would argue, (especially in what I have seen of Japanese animation/comics) the less-detailed drawings actually create an "otherness" quality to the character. What I am thinking of specifically is the drawing of women in cartoons. They are often sexualized in dress and in the way they hold their bodies, in addition to their bodies being exaggerated to have teeny tiny waists with enormous breasts. Is the reader really supposed to identify with these characters, or are they sexual objects for a mainly male, heterosexual readership? I don't know enough about Japanese comics and animation to really say one way or the other, but I do know that when I come across images from those comics I am more likely to be offended than to identify with them.
Are there people who know more about the use of detail vs. simplification in Japanese comics? Maybe I am missing something in the translation from Japanese culture to popular American culture.
Hey Katharine,
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of a comics/anime nerd and have seen/read a lot of comics, manga, anime, etc, so perhaps I can offer up my opinion here.
Often in Japanese animation (this is also seen in the Hernandez Brothers long-running comic strip Love and Rockets), the protagonist is young- there are tons of anime series set in middle schools, for example. And often the young characters are drawn very simply while the adult characters are drawn in a more complex style.
There could be a lot of different interpretations for this- i.e. it is easier to relate to simply drawn characters (this is what McCloud would argue) and the reader should be relating most with the protagonist, or it could be an indication of how these characters perceive themselves within the series, or of how we tend to perceive children versus adults generally. I think that all three (and more!) inform the animation style.
I'm thinking also of the series/movie/manga Cowboy BeBop. In BeBop, each main character has just one characteristic emphasized- Spike has super long skinny legs, Faye Valentine has enormous breasts, etc. This is done to differentiate each of these characters against a backdrop of more simply drawn and less important characters.
So, I think that the simple vs complex animation style can achieve a number of goals, based on the larger structure of the work and on the author's intentions. Hope that helps a bit...
The second to last paragraph of your post drew me in as this is actually a polarizing arguement that is currently occuring in the comics genre. The hyper sexualization of female characters (though, to be fair, some male characters get this treatment as well) is an issue that begs the question: who are the intended readers of these comic books? There are many that would argue that comics are designed for the male-pubecent teenager, but not all comic books feature the same sexualized content. I am attaching a blog that I came accross through Facebook, of all places. It is long but it is intriguing in that it points to some of the issues you raised in regards to how women are represented in comics. The mother, using her daughter's voice, makes some interesting and valid (in my opinion) points. You may have to copy-and-paste the link into your browser.
ReplyDeletehttp://io9.com/5844355/a-7+year+old-girl-responds-to-dc-comics-sexed+up-reboot-of-starfire
I'll try to answer your question as best as I can. I'm a huge anime and manga fan and I've been immersed in the culture since I was ten years old.
ReplyDeleteThere are many different aspects of Japanese culture and history which have influenced the development of their cartoons, most of which are unique to Japan. Each series (Dragon Ball, Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, Yu Yu Hakusho, and untold others) are targeted to a specific audience and each has a significantly different style. In regards to the tiny waists and huge breasts on women, this is not the case with every anime artist, but in general this is the case because the Japanese have much more liberal ideas about sex than we Americans do: American culture is still strongly rooted in its Puritanical origins whereas the Japanese have few of the same social restrictions.
Japanese anime also developed, oddly enough, out of a desire to emulate American cartoons of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Back then American cartoons had many of the same characteristics of Japanimation today: huge eyes, exaggerated body parts (Betty Boop with her ridiculously-proportioned body) and fantastic stories. Osamu Tezuka, creator of "Astro Boy" and known as the "God of Manga", once said that he saw Bambi nearly two dozen times: he would go to the theater with a sketchbook and pencil and copy Bambi's huge eyes and human-like face ad nauseam, developing a style based on Disney's signature early look.
Also, anime and manga are the main forms of entertainment in Japan. Even middle-aged people buy and read manga titles specifically targeted towards them. It's ingrained in their culture. It's part of who they are to enjoy anime and manga because it's part of their history and a cornerstone of their culture.
I agree with just about everything mentioned above. Japanese anime and manga vary widely in theme and style, depending on the creator and what the series is about. For example, a series intended for younger audiences is likely to have a more cartoonish and simplified layout, whereas a series intended for more mature audiences is more likely to follow a gritty and realistic approach, showing things in stark detail. As an example, I am posting a link to a music video using the series Hellsing Ultimate, which is rated 16 and up due to graphic content.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af_bJGMAuY0
(This post is from James)
ReplyDeleteIf we are to look at McClouds "cartoon vacuum" we understand that this is just an example of authorial control. As we discussed in class, the reason that cartoons are so successful is because they create a vacuum which pulls the reader in and forces them to identify/become the protagonist. Well, most anime and manga where women have unrealistically large breasts are targetting the adult viewer, and this is because the adult viewer is able to understand and pull away from the "cartoon vacuum" more effectively then a child is. So, the author needs to be even more crafty when he tries to force the audience into his character and he can do this by forcing the audience to have the same view points as the protagonist. As far as the main characters love interest goes, the best way to do this is to over sexualize his interest. It would not be enough to just sexualize his interest because, it may not be enough to force everyone into the protagonist. So the love interest is over sexualized to the maximum possible level so as to force as many people as possible into the role of the main character. Another way
that this can be done is by making the protagonists more human then the antagonists. Case in point, He-man. Or Dragonball. Or Cowboy Bebop. It would be hard to find an anime where the antagonist is not "otherized" in some way, shape, or form.