America vs emo
Jun 9, 2006 19:25:37 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Jun 9, 2006 19:25:37 GMT -5
So I'm half doing research for an article I'm perpetually half writing about Japanese culture, and I come across the suggestion that Japanese stories (anime/manga/video games) are often set in fantasy worlds but also concretrate heavily on having real characters and focusing on human dilemmas to draw the reading in. The idea is that the entertainment works as escapism but reader/viewer can still relate to it, making the experience more personal.
Now this reminds me of Final Fantasy X. Although it is apparently unpopular to do so, I love the hell out of Final Fantasy X and I think it is easily one of the best RPGs ever made. This is mostly because it does such an excellent job of transporting the player into a completely new world, along with it's own unique culture. But gamers don't like it because, amongst other reasons, Tidus is too "emo". (The same complaint lies with Cloud in FF7 and Squall in FF8.) The word "emo" is the new internet buzzword tossed around for characters/people that are very vocal about their emotions, usually angst/depression. That doesn't quite fit Tidus, but much of the game is centered around his hatred for his dad, which is in turn a gigantic beast that is devouring the world for some reason. It is pretty ridiculous and more than a little melodramatic, but the fact that it is so weird and difficult is what draws me to it. The central point of this paragraph is that when we go into an RPG or whatever we expect to be whisked away into another world and not into the shoes of someone who has some of the same problems we may have had.
Anyway, Japanese stories tend to mix of fantasy and reality, but I'm going to say that historically Americans have preferred to leave fantasy as fantasy and leave the human drama out of it. Most of this is because we just want to escape and bringing human elements into the fold almost brings us in too closely. Furthermore, by definition, things in fantasy should world out happily (or at least romantically, see again the ending of FFX), This is usually expressed with lots of soloquies (read: cutscenes.)
I know a lot of Americans tend to hate this because it comes off as preachy. I'm not entirely sure but I think it also has to do with I perceive as a healthy dost of cynicism and distrust. We're a country that started off believing that England simply had no idea what was good for us and thinking we could do it better outselves. A lot of our culture is built into rebellion and questioning authority, which of course leads to a lot of cyncism (and other things too, I could expound but just watch/read Fight Club for some examples.) We have a lot of distrust in governments (especially post Watergate but definitely in today's climate), and in corporations (who are out to steal our money.) So why not distrust stories?
When you combine fantasy and reality, we tend to distrust the reality elements because we know they are fantasy, and we're conscious of the difference between the two. Therefore we should just stuck with fantasy, and RPGs where the main character doesn't speak and is simply an avatar for the player.
On another note I think this can be applied to graphic style as well. Many Western games are rooted in reality, whereas the Japanese tend to get a bit more fanciful. I think Americans tend to look at the more artistic Japanese games as being a completedenial of reality, at least in the visual sense. Maybe this has to do with the Japanese obsession with "cute", who can look at it as being light hearted and fun, whereas Americans look at the same thing as being too saccarhine and not "real". Furthermore, denying reality is deemed "immature", which is why all of the happy, fun, cartoon Nintendo games are deemed kiddy.
But this brings up a totally contradictorty point - if Tidus is emo then why isn't Peter Parker from Spiderman? They're both fantasy characters with human elements so why the double standard? Because Peter Parker portrayed by either a real actor or Western styled artwork, where Tidus is portrayed with an exaggerated clothing style?
I am sorry if this is kind of incohesive but I am a little bit drunk right now, maybe I will come back later and try to focus them into something less haphazard. Any thoughts in the meantime?
Now this reminds me of Final Fantasy X. Although it is apparently unpopular to do so, I love the hell out of Final Fantasy X and I think it is easily one of the best RPGs ever made. This is mostly because it does such an excellent job of transporting the player into a completely new world, along with it's own unique culture. But gamers don't like it because, amongst other reasons, Tidus is too "emo". (The same complaint lies with Cloud in FF7 and Squall in FF8.) The word "emo" is the new internet buzzword tossed around for characters/people that are very vocal about their emotions, usually angst/depression. That doesn't quite fit Tidus, but much of the game is centered around his hatred for his dad, which is in turn a gigantic beast that is devouring the world for some reason. It is pretty ridiculous and more than a little melodramatic, but the fact that it is so weird and difficult is what draws me to it. The central point of this paragraph is that when we go into an RPG or whatever we expect to be whisked away into another world and not into the shoes of someone who has some of the same problems we may have had.
Anyway, Japanese stories tend to mix of fantasy and reality, but I'm going to say that historically Americans have preferred to leave fantasy as fantasy and leave the human drama out of it. Most of this is because we just want to escape and bringing human elements into the fold almost brings us in too closely. Furthermore, by definition, things in fantasy should world out happily (or at least romantically, see again the ending of FFX), This is usually expressed with lots of soloquies (read: cutscenes.)
I know a lot of Americans tend to hate this because it comes off as preachy. I'm not entirely sure but I think it also has to do with I perceive as a healthy dost of cynicism and distrust. We're a country that started off believing that England simply had no idea what was good for us and thinking we could do it better outselves. A lot of our culture is built into rebellion and questioning authority, which of course leads to a lot of cyncism (and other things too, I could expound but just watch/read Fight Club for some examples.) We have a lot of distrust in governments (especially post Watergate but definitely in today's climate), and in corporations (who are out to steal our money.) So why not distrust stories?
When you combine fantasy and reality, we tend to distrust the reality elements because we know they are fantasy, and we're conscious of the difference between the two. Therefore we should just stuck with fantasy, and RPGs where the main character doesn't speak and is simply an avatar for the player.
On another note I think this can be applied to graphic style as well. Many Western games are rooted in reality, whereas the Japanese tend to get a bit more fanciful. I think Americans tend to look at the more artistic Japanese games as being a completedenial of reality, at least in the visual sense. Maybe this has to do with the Japanese obsession with "cute", who can look at it as being light hearted and fun, whereas Americans look at the same thing as being too saccarhine and not "real". Furthermore, denying reality is deemed "immature", which is why all of the happy, fun, cartoon Nintendo games are deemed kiddy.
But this brings up a totally contradictorty point - if Tidus is emo then why isn't Peter Parker from Spiderman? They're both fantasy characters with human elements so why the double standard? Because Peter Parker portrayed by either a real actor or Western styled artwork, where Tidus is portrayed with an exaggerated clothing style?
I am sorry if this is kind of incohesive but I am a little bit drunk right now, maybe I will come back later and try to focus them into something less haphazard. Any thoughts in the meantime?