Month / September 2017

by Amy G.

Rock: What is “Home”?

So far, the concept of “home” has been fuzzy to me. Initially I perceived my “home” in relation to Asian-American pop culture, to be Asian-American pop culture, as that was one of the few “places” I felt safe, could be myself and for the most part could connect with other people. Specifically it’s Japanese pop culture and the following it has here in the US, which you can see at conventions such as Sakuracon in Seattle every April. It was one of the few areas where I found common ground and values within Japanese culture as a whole, I could identify and actually express myself with.

But if I use Japanese culture as my “home”, then I would be mashing together two parts of the Venn diagram we were shown. So I pulled back and made my definition of “home” broader, looking at what part of myself it was that had found comfort in Asian-American pop culture.

Trying to figure out the part of me that traditional American culture and ideals had rejected and left “homeless”. The part of me that was not “white” or “colored” enough to be accepted by either and to be called a foreigner by both (I mixed-race, Cherokee, Sami and European). The part of me that was told to be silent, because my viewpoints, opinions and ideas were not welcomed and at best were ignored.

During the workshop, a common thread of words kept reoccurring when I was looking for my “home”. “Creativity, books, paper, art, games, internet, computers, exploring, connecting, sharing, learning, internal, external, escape, dreams, identity, real-self,” and so on. What I got out of these worlds was my struggle to find and express my own identity, my internal self, with the world around me. And the place that was most comfortable, my “home” was who I knew I was on the inside, which was always in conflict with what the society around me wanted me to be on the outside.

And what Japanese culture and pop culture had done for me was provide a common thread that I could connect and share my own values and self with others also along this thread, enabling me to express who I really was and make the long and many times when I was alone, much less alone knowing there were others and I just had to wait to meet them.

The concept of a common culture being what brings people together, their internal selves rejected by the societies around them, even though they all come from completely different walks of life.

And I want to explore that in relation to the Japanese media, starting with the anime that helped me find it myself called Eureka Seven.

by Amy G.

Paper: “Kentucky Christmas”, Sugar and Evolution vs. Social Darwinism

In the assigned text Asian ​​American ​​History: ​​A​​ Very​​ Short​​ Introduction, I noticed some overall themes in regards to Western colonialism and that it hasn’t actually stopped, only that it has a new “face”. The idea and pursuit of Western culture being the pinnacle of all human cultures.

From the 1400’s – 1700’s direct military force and Christian missionaries were the main avenue via invasion of Asian territory. By the 1800’s to the mid 1900’s, racial and immigration policies in these countries and stateside were mainly used. After WW2 and during the Cold War, US educational institutions were deliberately used. And now, large US corporations have heavy influence through manufactured goods and American goods, such as processed foods, fast food and the heavy advertising that is typical in the US, but not abroad.

Where it can clearly seen, at least from my current area of knowledge, is Japan where English words are often used on product packaging to help sell the products better domestically and is not intended for marketing outside of Japan.

Also KFC’s influence, which is a major part of how the Christmas holiday is celebrated in Japan, thanks to heavy advertising of the Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii or “Kentucky for Christmas” bucket meals back in 1974.

A KFC Christmas advertisement. KFC Christmas meals normally ordered weeks in advance and cost between $30 and $60 dollars for the meal.

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by Amy G.

Scissors: Bladerunner anime and GitS

Observations from live action “Ghost in the Shell”:

Drew heavily from other science fiction films, video games and anime:

A.I Artificial Intelligence, Blade Runner, Appleseed, GATTACA, The Matrix, Cyborg 009, Batman – Nolan series, Independence Day (ID4), I-Robot, Mass Effect, Star Wars, The 5th Element, etc.

The film relied too heavily on previous media that the overall look and feel came across as the film being too insecure in its own identity, showing the general insecurity and fears that Hollywood has over anything that is not “white”, or is “untested” (Hollywood’s over-reliance on already books, comics, video games, franchises, reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels and already established actors, director and production crews in general).

I think that’s why they relied too heavily on other works visually.

I don’t think they’ve realized that what is actually killing the industry is not taking any real risks with original/new content and talent for as long as they have and it has caused things to stagnate. Also ignoring that audiences are “genre weary”, can’t commit to so many “tent pole” dependent franchises each summer and are wary of anything that’s been hyped.

It also “dumbed”, nearly everything down, leaving out important moments from the original anime film (such as the conversation between Motoko and Batou after diving). The symbolism of the lighting, shapes and outright stating the themes of the original film and manga, no attempts to be creative with it. Came across like they just wanted to get the core concepts out of the way, like tokens, and just wanted to cater to the action (which wasn’t engaging either). The whole film felt thrown together and lazy to the point that it was disrespectful.

Wished they’d branched out from the original 1995 movie more and included elements from the anime series, like the spider tanks used by Section 9. I think it would have helped expand on the concept of consciousness (and robots don’t have to be “robotic”). The spider tanks could have added the same element of cute/humor that BB-8 did for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

Spider tank from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime, who are generally very social, happy and caring.

I also think the “Laughing Man” storyline would have been more relevant to today’s more immediate issues with cyber security and privacy, and would have been easier to connect to a larger audience without having to “dumb” anything down and still include GitS core subject matter.

A screenshot of the hacker called “The Laughing Man” from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime.

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