As Napier (2005) mentions in his book "Why anime?", as time goes on, anime will increasingly be thought of as high culture rather than low culture. He states that this is especially evident in Japan as there is much intellectual discussion around the medium. Napier discusses how "anime is a popular cultural form that clearly builds on previous high cultural traditions" (p. 4). The background of woodblock print, Kabuki, cinema, and photography all add to the theory that anime should be considered high culture.
Animes like Death Note have been praised for their compelling stories and detailed, deep characters. Tsugumi Ohba's character, Light, is a young man who hates evil, but uses evil methods to make the world better. He kills criminals to keep them off the streets. As Light's dad is the head of police in Japan, Death Note is an interesting look at the moral ambiguity present when discussing issues of justice.
Miyazaki also brings to life some fantastically complex characters. Lady Eboshi in particular is fascinating as a portrayal of a woman who is not simply good or bad. She kills the kind Shishigami, but she also cares deeply for her women workers and lepers. She is neither evil nor good. These themes and characters show the genre of anime to have incredible depth, and should therefore be considered worthy of the 'high culture' nomenclature.
Themes like justice, man vs nature, right and wrong, life, love, and death are all explored by animes such as Princess Mononoke, Death Note, Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, and Grave of the Fireflies. Napier (2005) mentions that while "Anime texts entertain audiences around the world on the most basic level,... they also move and provoke viewers on other levels as well, stimulating audiences to work through certain contemporary issues in ways that older art forms cannot". He goes on to say how anime is a "cultural phenomenon worthy of being taken seriously, both sociologically and aesthetically" (p. 4).
Anime, although a style of film all to itself, has many subgenres. Some of the genres include kids' cartoons like Pokemon and Dragonball Z, post-doomsday fantasies like Akira and Evangelion, sex and crime like Ichi the killer, and sci-fi like Satsohi Kon's Paprika (Napier, 2005). The breadth of sub-genres within the wider genre of anime means all kinds of themes are explored by many different directors and artists, Miyazaki just being one of them. Thus some animes should definitely be considered high culture, but perhaps cartoons like Pokemon may not be quite appropriate for that moniker.
I think that's why when I first discovered anime I loved it so much. I always assumed as a kid that the cartoons I'd see would be predictable and silly, and fun of course. But when I discovered anime I loved it for it's complex characters, story lines and themes.
ReplyDeleteTotally the same. The way some anime directors present things can be totally different to what is shown in film. Paprika is a good example I think. While there are silly and fun parts to it, there is a lot of complexity too, toying with ideas of reality and dreams. (I love that movie so much)
DeleteOhh I think I've seen bits of Paprika. It was interesting, I need to go back and rewatch it. I think one of the first animes I watched through was the series Blood +, and I had never seen anything like it before. It blew my mind haha. Like you say about Paprika, silly and fun parts, but a lot of complexity too.
DeleteI love anime haha >w<