April 29th
Update
- Jay Navok
Lessons Learned
Hurricane Lohan '06 seems to have passed with little damage. This wasn't a
storm of the magnitude of Davis '98 or even Sailor Moon X '01, but it was
our first one in quite a while. I want to talk now not about the contents of
the rumor, but about the rumor itself and reactions to it.
The thing that really amazed me about this
story, and I think Chris at Anime News Network has covered it pretty well in
some of his forum posts, is the power that one site had to spread a rumor
that could have easily been checked, as ANN did. All of a sudden five
other rumor mill sites pick up the story that another person wrote, forums
start talking, and meanwhile the only proof is a couple words on a blog
which (and I don't know about any of you but) I'd never heard of before nor
plan to visit after.
If there is something we can learn from the last two weeks, it's the fact
that this rumor spiral wouldn't have happened if there wasn't enough
interest in the possibility that it could happen. For those general movie
sites that ran the rumor that interest stems from the mass media power that
Joss Whedon and Lindsay Lohan have. Those names bring hits to the movie
site's webpages.
But for Sailor Moon fans, or just those who are interested in anime and
fandom, we glean something different. Read some of the comments at the movie
hottie's page. You'll see how rabid much of Sailor Moon's fandom remains but
moreover, the extent to which stereotypes of both American and Japanese
culture played highly into reactions to the rumor. Fear of a destructive
transformation when a cultural property is to cross borders, concern that
what is essentially a Japanese cultural property MUST stay Japanese or else
lose its identity, the idea that everything must stay in its "proper place"
and format. Most importantly, we see that the ethnic background of pop
culture plays an important role in determining its value.
Consider some of the following.
"Wtf. The dub was bad enough. USA should leave the series alone. >.>"
"WE CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN! SAILOR MOON HAS BEEN RIDICULED ENOUGH BY
AMERICA!
... Sailor Moon was made in Japan, born in Japan, and should stay in Japan."
"WTF Lindsey be Sailor Moon gross!!! She will ruin it! America will ruin
it!"
"Umm, the cast should not be japanese. The show was based in japan
however it was about "funny american girls", blond, brunette, and blue
haired american girls (in sailor outfits)."
"If those people are going to take a Japanese series and turn it into a
film, then they should use an all-Japanese cast, unless they intend to
rewrite the entire story to suit American audiences, in which case, it won't
even BE Sailormoon anymore."
"But Sailormoon, USAGI, is japanese. how stupid is it going to be set in
america with an all american cast"
"I love anime and even though I don't like Sailormoon as much, I still
respect that only if it sticks to Japan."
"animes should be made by and cast be asians."
"dont even let the cast be considered as non asian...it'll ruin so much
of sailor moon is about."
"Americans cannot imitate Japanese things for crap."
Someone else in the comments blog made the charge that these posters are
racist. By the definition of the term, that is a half truth. What we read in
their posts is the following: the interaction of one culture's creation with
another culture will result in a dilution, and the category of culture is
being compromised by race. This is complicated by the fact that "America" is
not a race, and according to some, nor are even the Japanese, but
regardless, throughout history similar rhetoric has resulted in catastrophe.
Before I become accused of needlessly stirring things up, I'll point out
that what is written above is harmless and we won't be seeing anime fans
leading liquidation squads any time soon.
As Jon Mays pointed out to me, what's happening here is not a racial
reaction but a reaction to a bubble burst. Many of these readers are
teenagers who have clung onto anime and manga because they wanted something
different, they're at an age where they're looking to define themselves and
they sometimes find that definition by searching for something alien to
their current existence. This is the idea of "Greener grass" that I
discussed in several previous editorials. When their 'other' becomes
recategorized, something which is still different but at the same time
mainstream, and most importantly when their peers can evaluate their
interests on the same playing field, the reaction is a backlash and they
struggle to latch hold onto whatever is available, in this case it turned
out to be a the purity of a cultural production.
The idea of a new level playing field is important when considering why
many found the suggestion of Lindsay Lohan as Usagi Tsukino to be offensive.
Fans reacted the way they did because they were confronted by the
possibility that their cultish hobby many not be so cultish after all. Lohan
is a mainstream teen idol actress who is often being ripped on by programs
like Saturday Night Live or even (ugh) David Spade. Some teenagers who
appreciate Sailor Moon do so because the want the appearance as enjoying
something apart from what everyone else enjoys, and because it's much harder
to insult someone for liking a production by Sawai Miyuu (who the hell is
she?) than Lindsay Lohan. Sawai Miyuu is no where near that level of fame;
if I said to a Japanese friend that I like her and her works, they would
probably not know who she is, but for those who do know her and aren't
otaku, the reaction would likely be similar to saying to someone 'I find
Lindsay Lohan to be a fine actress and I thoroughly enjoy her performances.'
At least Lohan has had several major hit films under her belt.
Many fans who look to anime as other and appreciate it as a niche product
remain unaware of its appearance in Tokyo. True, there are many anime which
are niche even in Japan, but I suspect that for those which did hit the big
time, like Sailor Moon, the idea of Lindsay Lohan as Usagi Tsukino would be
fitting to most Japanese. A mainstream actress whose films have long been
popular with children (and more recently for adults), for a mainstream
series whose target audience is young girls and the parents who'd be forced
to chaperone. If anything, Lohan as Usagi added credibility to the story
because it seems so fitting that film executives would appreciate a
big-name former child-star like herself to play the lead role in a
children's movie.
There is no reason why Sailor Moon, like Akira, Evangelion, or Battle
Angel Alita, wouldn't be a good choice for an American motion picture
company. Comic book heroes and heroines are hot commodities these days,
manga is mainstream, the Grudge 2 will be out in theatres this year, and
American moviemakers looking to Asia for inspiration will only continue. We
shouldn't be afraid of cultural transmission and transformation, but embrace
it. Although from the looks of it, this rumor is not going to happen, I
would enjoy another American take on the moonlight legend, and hope that
it's possible sometime in the future.
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