At 06:26 PM 2/2/2007, Dr. Core wrote:
Since Gundam is a difficult topic, let's pick a series less
controversial. It's pretty much accepted X-men is about racism /
civil rights. So let's randomly pick 1000 X-men fans and 1000
non-fans and measure their racist or xenophobic leaning. Note, I
count myself a X-men fan (if one can be admitted a fan without reading
the comics). But I believe (you are free to challenge it) that X-men
fans are no less racist or xenophobic than the rest. In fact, I won't
be surprised one bit if X-men fans prove to be slightly more
xenophobic than average.
I don't know about that, but they're certainly confused. I bought and
read the comic for a long time, but I ultimately got tired of the
whole thing when I realized that the racism angle was fundamentally
nonsensical -- how can you take mutant hatred seriously when they
live in a world where the Fantastic Four and the Avengers and such
are national heroes? It makes no sense. It's like practicing racism
against blacks even as you praise black immigrants, or villifying
lower-class Jews and making the rich ones heads of state. For all
their failings people are at least somewhat consistent in their
hatreds, and this makes the whole mutant hatred as racial allegory
angle somewhat underwhelming.
(and of course, the fact that people are right to be concerned about
the kid who can shoot white-hot plasma out of his butt doesn't help.)
Likewise, I believe that Gundam fans are, on average, less likely than
non-fans to be actually "walking the walk" of this idea (which shall
remain unexplained).
Really? Why? If anything, I'd expect the typical fan to actually
think about the issues raised in the show, and that's something
that's by no means guaranteed with non-fans. Doesn't mean I'll go out
and get heavily involved in an anti-war effort, but it does mean I
might think twice before I cast my ballots in November.
So what's the value of "civil rights" in X-men, or anti-XYZ theme in
Gundam? That's where a theme descends into a cliche, or worse, a
fan-service. One normally think of an upskirt shot or mecha
transformation sequence as fan-service, but isn't an anti-war hero
also a fan-service?
Isn't anime, or even entertainment in general, ultimately fan-service
to a greater or lesser extent? Where do you draw the line?
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