Week 5: Lent (2000)

According to Lent (2000), what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (ie comparing China and Japan)?

According to Lent, the Animation genre has played a major role in the Asian media industry. Heavily influenced from Western forms of media, Asian anime was initially thought of in China. The four Wan brothers were the first who were credited with their first piece of work ‘Uproar in an art studio’ (1929), which was heavily influenced from American style cartoons at the time.

In order to understand what the status of animations are in Asian societies, western societies must be included. On the one hand, you have Western capitalistic democratic societies, where most of genres in media are mainly for entertainment purposes, with a wide variety of selections to choose from. On the other hand, you have a closed communist society such as China where censorship laws and strict government approval is needed before anything is produced. Not only are the forms of media strictly monitored, but also used as a political tool to influence certain groups or ages within the population.

Many of today’s cartoons/anime’s/comics were one way or another the products of socio-political events that were created in order to target and affect the psyche of peoples minds. For example, Lent mentions the dynamics of Asian politics and their use of Anime to counter the Anti-Communist sentiment that the West was campaigning post-WWII and throughout the 1950s:

“Writing in 1959, one of the two originators of the post-1949 animation studio, Jin Xi, said that Chinese animation must be educational, technically sound using characters with human traits, and varied in subject matter expressing a national character and the originality of Chinese culture.[5] Jin Xi's article was a reaction to the influence of the many American cartoons shown before 1949 and Soviet ones in the 1950s.”

Nations are constantly in one way or another in a state of war against each other. Not in actual literal war with physical weapons, but in a state of psychological war and the use of media is their weapon. Throughout the 1950s, the psychological war between the West and the Communist threat was at its highest. During this time, governments from both sides used all forms of media to fight this psychological war. Lent states, “Anime was banned in Korea and Taiwan for decades because of the fear of Japanese cultural imperialism, understandable as both countries had been occupied by Japan.”

Furthermore, Lent continues on to explain the shift in politics when both Western and Asian media markets realized how this new asset can benefit both economies if tapped properly. More specifically, Lent explains how many foreign media companies competed frantically for the anime/cartoon market of Asia. Some Asian governments were not mainly seeking revenues; which is why they were against the importation/adoption of animation from America and Japan, because of their “depicting of violent or sexually explicit content” as Lent described.

For example, Lent believes that China is the most insisting Asian animator to adapt elements that fit their culture, instead of full adoption. Other Authorities such as Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia have also complained about the immorality of Western and Japanese animations. Such as that of Malaysia’s complaint about this particular issues, which lead to the development of “more culturally appropriate local animation.”

Finally, throughout the years, animations in Asia has taken many forms and used to accomplish different goals. Most governments realized the power of animations, and have taken steps to offset the negative affects it may cause on its society or younger populations. Politically, anime has fulfilled many goals that serve the numerous agendas of governments. However, after realizing the economic benefits that the media industry may bring, some states such as Japan took the capitalistic stance to maximize on profits. Nevertheless, the Asian powerhouse of anime, China, still remains to campaign for animations that benefit “morals, such as wholehearted service to the people; promoted campaigns, or exposed enemies of the states.” In other words, China supports a conservative view to have full control of media with many restrictions, while Japan supports a regulated open free media market with not restrictions. In summary, economically and politically, both countries have different ways of operating the production and sale of animation, however, more generally speaking, media still holds a very high position as a form of sociopolitical tool in Asian societies as a whole.

Reference:

- Lent, J. A. (2000, November 01). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. La Trobe University, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/jlfr11c.htm