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Regarding anime, I think anime has its fair share of constant politicking. In fact, I recall several important anime being discussed in political discourse in j

Regarding anime, I think anime has its fair share of constant politicking. In fact, I recall several important anime being discussed in political discourse in japan- especially among the depiction of homosexual relationships/homosexuality as an identity and how sexualised depictions of young girls can be. I myself am not japanese, but I am aware of this discourse occuring among people I know who are far more expertise on the subject than I am. I encourage looking into this matter if you are curious. I think that the balance is quite confused- as I stated before, the most well-lauded works are almost all highly political, especially in science fiction. My confusion is that there is a claim there is too much politics in a field whose foundational works are all political works. This makes me believe that it is not that it is political, but that political views around certain narratives are less acceptable than other political views, and are considered "too far". The actual lines are quite fuzzy and filled with nuance, similar to the essayist's experiences with being an "African writer".

jerf 8y ago
I wasn't clear. It isn't that anime never has politics. It is that there is anime that isn't political, and quite a lot of it. (I mean, you can always read something in, but if there is a such thing as "not political", there are many animes that are this.) In the west, the latter is becoming rare. At least, in the mainstream. If I may anthropomorphize a bit, the dominant political narrative in the West for the past ~60 years is sensing it's own growing weakness and facing significant challenges for the first time in several decades, and it has responded by cranking up the volume. If you are not precisely in lockstep with it, the volume is quite deafening and it's hardly a wonder that it's turning a lot of people off. I would also distinguish "political" from "philosophical". A lot of anime is philosophical. That's not what's bothering people. Ghost in the Shell musing about what it means to be human and what the line between human and machine will someday be isn't telling me which candidate I need to vote for or else I'll be cast into the outer social darkness where there is much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and deplatforming.
- SolaceQuantum 8y ago
  Ghost in the shell is a direct exploration into the ramifications of sentiment after nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan. This is a really political event and it explores the ramifications of this political event. It's steeped in politics, and even explores the gender identity of being an android. Also, for what I've experienced in the west, I am not seeing what you are seeing- the " telling me which candidate I need to vote for or else I'll be cast into the outer social darkness where there is much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and deplatforming". I'm unsure where Star Wars has done this, or, say, that weird female-cast remake of Ghostbusters? These were fairly mainstream works from what I understand, but they weren't about voting or who to vote for. Their politics, from what I understand, was entirely about who was casted and the choices in casting them, not about candidates. I'm really confused now. I don't understand where you're discerning politics from philosophy. An anime about exploring the ramifications of the nuclear bomb and the human identity including gender of androids is philosophical, but the dominant western media is about candidate voting- of which I don't know any mainstream western media directly saying who to vote for?
  - jerf 8y ago
    I take it you are mainstream politically for silicon valley? You won't see the colored tint of the politics of the media culture if you're already wearing spectacles of the same tint. New Ghostbusters absolutely has opinions about what you should believe and who you should vote for. Hollywood is drenched in it nowadays. It can't hardly produce anything without it. Recent Star Wars was full of it too, yes. I'm not sure why you think Ghost in the Shell was about the nuclear bombing. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone take that angle on it before, and I've read some stuff about it. It's primarily about technology, most of which doesn't exist yet. And if it differs, it is that it doesn't necessarly take a stand and tell you what to believe, like Hollywood does so much today. I guess that's my primary line-draw on philosophy vs. politics. I see so much less "cartoonish buffoon with obvious badthink vs. righteous, all-virtue rightthinker" in anime. If you don't believe me, you can easily put it to the test, if you're on social media. Just try posting that you'd like to see some bit of media that reaches across the aisle and treats a Trump voter with some degree of respect, in the interests of human brotherhood. Warning: You may lose friends if you do this. I've posted this challenge three or four times to people before now, and nobody's reported trying it, because on some level... you know.

jerf 8y ago

I wasn't clear. It isn't that anime never has politics. It is that there is anime that isn't political, and quite a lot of it. (I mean, you can always read something in, but if there is a such thing as "not political", there are many animes that are this.) In the west, the latter is becoming rare. At least, in the mainstream. If I may anthropomorphize a bit, the dominant political narrative in the West for the past ~60 years is sensing it's own growing weakness and facing significant challenges for the first time in several decades, and it has responded by cranking up the volume. If you are not precisely in lockstep with it, the volume is quite deafening and it's hardly a wonder that it's turning a lot of people off. I would also distinguish "political" from "philosophical". A lot of anime is philosophical. That's not what's bothering people. Ghost in the Shell musing about what it means to be human and what the line between human and machine will someday be isn't telling me which candidate I need to vote for or else I'll be cast into the outer social darkness where there is much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and deplatforming.

SolaceQuantum 8y ago
Ghost in the shell is a direct exploration into the ramifications of sentiment after nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan. This is a really political event and it explores the ramifications of this political event. It's steeped in politics, and even explores the gender identity of being an android. Also, for what I've experienced in the west, I am not seeing what you are seeing- the " telling me which candidate I need to vote for or else I'll be cast into the outer social darkness where there is much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and deplatforming". I'm unsure where Star Wars has done this, or, say, that weird female-cast remake of Ghostbusters? These were fairly mainstream works from what I understand, but they weren't about voting or who to vote for. Their politics, from what I understand, was entirely about who was casted and the choices in casting them, not about candidates. I'm really confused now. I don't understand where you're discerning politics from philosophy. An anime about exploring the ramifications of the nuclear bomb and the human identity including gender of androids is philosophical, but the dominant western media is about candidate voting- of which I don't know any mainstream western media directly saying who to vote for?
- jerf 8y ago
  I take it you are mainstream politically for silicon valley? You won't see the colored tint of the politics of the media culture if you're already wearing spectacles of the same tint. New Ghostbusters absolutely has opinions about what you should believe and who you should vote for. Hollywood is drenched in it nowadays. It can't hardly produce anything without it. Recent Star Wars was full of it too, yes. I'm not sure why you think Ghost in the Shell was about the nuclear bombing. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone take that angle on it before, and I've read some stuff about it. It's primarily about technology, most of which doesn't exist yet. And if it differs, it is that it doesn't necessarly take a stand and tell you what to believe, like Hollywood does so much today. I guess that's my primary line-draw on philosophy vs. politics. I see so much less "cartoonish buffoon with obvious badthink vs. righteous, all-virtue rightthinker" in anime. If you don't believe me, you can easily put it to the test, if you're on social media. Just try posting that you'd like to see some bit of media that reaches across the aisle and treats a Trump voter with some degree of respect, in the interests of human brotherhood. Warning: You may lose friends if you do this. I've posted this challenge three or four times to people before now, and nobody's reported trying it, because on some level... you know.