Sure, this is coming from a middle-class, white, Australian guy, so that's worth not that much. I am a world away from the situation in Ferguson in more ways than just geographically. Sure, my country doesn't have a great history of racial equality and multiculturalism, but I'm hardly in a persecuted minority (being of Irish heritage hasn't been much of a "thing" in my lifetime, so I'm not even going to pretend that that counts).
There isn't anything I can really do to help justice be achieved in Ferguson, and I'm not going to spend an entire post empathising with people I can't possibly know the experience of. It's a hard truth, but White Privilege is gonna influence anything I write, and I don't want to write something that could be confused with fucking Kipling. So I'm going to use this as a good time to expand on some ideas I've been thinking about for a while.
So, what can I talk about? Well, I do this thing where I talk about anime and nobody reads it, so maybe I should do that again. Let's talk about race in anime.
I swear to fucking Christ I am well rested and of reasonably sound mind right now, so if you're still confused from last time, I apologise and empathise. I was out of my fucking mind. I am now slightly less so, having gotten a little sleep. I am going to do something like last time, and use a thesis statement to focus my ranting. This one may be a little more to the point:
Anime needs less fucking racial stereotypes. They're fucking horrible.
See what I mean with "to the point"? OK, this may seem like a one sided argument. Something no-one would argue against. And, true, no-one has ever argued that racial stereotypes are good, but I have heard the idea that, like fanservice, it isn't a big deal. It's just a part of anime that we put up with for the good stuff. I don't buy this on either count, talking about race or fanservice. I'll call out bullshit in media I like when it's bullshit. It doesn't mean I hate the media itself, but it should always be addressed.
So let's talk about some bullshit stereotypes and how they affect the shows as a whole, beyond being plain old offensive.
Lara Gonzalez:
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| As a Latin American Studies Minor, there is no such thing as too much gratuitous Spanish. |
So, the long and short of it is that Lara is the daughter of a drunken luchador who trained her to follow in his footsteps. She travelled to Japan to learn martial arts and pick fights. She's incredibly easily agitated, holds grudges for life and is very quick to resort to violence.
This all feeds into the outdated and unbelievably accepted stereotype of "The Latin Temper". It goes by many names. There's the "Spicy Latina", "Mexican Spitfire" or "Cuban Fireball" and a host of other names for old-school, never-ending exotified racism. Anyone who says these stereotypes have no lasting effect and exist in a vacuum can go fuck themselves. This bullshit adds up quick. I study Latin American history, and my focus is Cuba. I spend a lot of time around men and women from Latin America and they are no way universally quick-tempered. Any "but this is just reflecting reality!" bullshit can go back to the ill-conceived shithole that birthed it. I come from one of the most multicultural countries on Earth, and live in the capital. I have NO patience for racism.
But I don't want to talk about being offended. The Sparknotes version is: This is offensive, I am offended and anyone who looks at Lara is perfectly within their rights to be offended. Howling about how racist this is (and holy shit it's racist) won't get this article anywhere. Talking about how this undermines minority voices by rendering them "hysterical", also specifically targeting Latina women is the job of the infinite number of smarter, more experienced, more entertaining and ACTUALLY LATINA voices out there. I'm here to whine about anime, and I'm getting woefully distracted.
What I want to talk about, above all, is why these racist stereotypes detract from the actual goals of the show - without focusing on them being offensive. I'm aware that this is bordering on the idiotic clickbait articles that offer to explain "Why White people should care about X" that litter even decent news sites (the answer, for the record IS BECAUSE YOU'RE A FUCKING HUMAN BEING). My goal is not to "white-splain" (is that a thing? Oh, good, it is) the dangers of tropes and stereotypes. I just realise that being offended isn't going to get us anywhere. So, let's get going.
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| Lara is the one attempting to eat little Harima. The giveaway is that SHE'S THE ONLY NON-JAPANESE PERSON IN THE WHOLE FUCKING SHOW. I need to go easy on the caps if I want to make it through the piece. |
Comedy relies on me willing to laugh at the caricatures that are created in the universe the show is set in. Stupid characters? Fine. Unlucky characters? Fine. Characters that HAPPEN TO BE of a particular race? Absolutely fine. Characters who are defined by the fact they ARE of a particular race? Go fuck yourself. In a painful and boring way.
I can't laugh at Lara. She isn't funny. She's not just a cheap caricature. She's a cheap caricature with baggage. Let me try explaining this completely distanced from race. What if a character in a silly school comedic anime was a member of Aum Shinrikyo? I mean, she could have other traits, she could be captain of the Baseball team or something and have a crush on the pitcher. I don't care. But could you ever really stop thinking that she was part of a terrorist movement while the pitcher misinterprets her pickup lines? That's what racist caricatures are like. It doesn't matter what else you add to it (unless you completely subvert the racist bits, and even then, only if you do it WELL), we'll still be thinking about how this character could be on the poster of some hick dipshit who is trying to patrol the Texan border for "illegals". Racism isn't just offensive, it tends to be really fucking distracting while you want us to think about other things.
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| Not pictured: An anime which has diversity. Seriously, I joke to my friends that Trigun is set in a universe where Nazis won the war because everyone is the same fucking skin colour. |
The answer to this, before I go any further, is NOT to stop writing non-white/non-Japanese characters. The answer is to write good minority characters. Sure, having an all white cast will stir less controversy than trying and horribly failing to remedy that. But the media will slowly become outdated as demographics change. The chance to be seen as trying to be more diverse and inclusive is lost. Most importantly? Having a diverse cast is INTERESTING. I'd talk about realism, but that's hardly an argument in anime, but having an interesting cast is vital. Let's talk about interesting.
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| Pictured: Interesting. Also, the best fucking example of diversity making an anime absolutely excellent. |
Now, Michiko isn't exactly the main character in Michiko e Hatchin, that particular title would go to the amazingly drawn and explored setting of not-Brazil. But she and other Latin American women of various skin-colours make this anime fascinating on so many goddamn levels that I can't even attempt to explain it. Just, for the love of God watch it. You will regret absolutely nothing about time invested on this show. This review will back me up.
Shampoo:
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| Shampoo's the one in the middle, with the crazy short dress. Also, I kinda love this shot. |
Who is Shampoo? She is the best fighter from a Matriarchal Chinese village who, after being defeated by the show's main character, the Japanese ex-pat Ranma, is honour-bound to marry him. Shampoo (who, for the record, uses shampoo as her secret power) switches between two emotions : love for Ranma and blind, absolute anger for any who would get between her and Ranma...including Ranma. She sounds...half baked, to say the least. Add in her broken Japanese, which is a trait shared by the other main Chinese character in the first season, an unnamed guide, and her multitude of secret magic techniques, involving shampoos and later her Great-Grandmother's various tricks. Also, she and her great-grandmother run a restaurant called Cat Cafe, which is either named after the fact Shampoo can turn into a cat (it's a long story) or stupid racist old stories about Chinese food.
Whereas my reaction to Lara was more along the lines of "Hahahahano. You're fucking kidding me", Shampoo is an interesting enough character to make me keep watching. Honestly, my main praise for her is that, sure, she does have stereotypical elements, but she avoids the more cliched tropes of Chinese women. Shampoo, for the most part is neither a "China Doll" nor a "Dragon Lady" , and she is never really portrayed as submissive or manipulative. Sure, the latter of those traits is avoided by the fact that she isn't shown to be particularly intelligent, but at least she isn't the obvious cliche. Oh, she's sexualised to no end - just look at the bloody screen cap - and I'm sure I'll talk about sexist tropes surrounding Shampoo another time, but it isn't her race that is sexualised specifically. OK, a little bit, but it could be so much worse, especially considering this is a late 80s anime compared to School Rumble's 2004 premiere.
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| Shampoo is portrayed as a rather dim-bulb, but I'm willing to acknowledge that this isn't racism, just plain old sexism. |
Well, the main issue, beyond the previously approached idea of "not fucking funny" is the fact it prevents the viewer really being invested in their character arc. How is it possible for someone watching this show, faced with the mysterious and sexualised Chinese Amazon, complete with unknown magic and broken Japanese, to really expect Shampoo to be a character worth taking seriously? OK, maybe that's not the point. Maybe she's there for a cheap laugh. But if she's there for a cheap laugh, why is she still here? So far in the second season, Shampoo has been a major figure for the majority of the plots. Clearly she is meant to be taken seriously as a character with ambitions and goals, character traits and a personality. Even if this show succeeds at making me view her as that, rather than a slightly on the nose cliche, they couldn't have picked a weaker starting point. Racial stereotypes: Not a good way to introduce your character or have me take them seriously.
So, as I've talked about so far with these stereotypes, they prevent characters being either funny or deep. Honestly, the majority of anime presumably want characters who are both. I can't for the life of me work out why a racist stereotype would seem like a good idea. I understand the majority are (presumably) unintentional, attempting to use old stereotypes to save time in fleshing out a character there isn't time to dwell upon. I understand the goal, but fucking hell I wish they would find better stereotypes or just better characters. Like I argued in the last intermission, I'd say less characters is an easy solution to this problem.
Well, Chinese characters seem a rather common inclusion in anime, considering a presumed closer relation to Japan than Latin America. So, let's look at two Chinese characters done well.
Rebecca "Revy" Lee:
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| One of the rare examples in which Revy isn't inflicting pain on someone. Just planning it. |
Her character isn't completely different from Shampoo - the two are both easily convinced that inhuman acts of violence are the best answer to a given problem. But at the core of it, Revy is a complete contrast to any stereotypes of Chinese or Chinese-Americans. She's independent, doesn't rely on some kind of shady magic, and most of all, her race isn't a big thing. If you removed the fact Shampoo was Chinese from her character, you would hardly have a gimmick for her. She'd just be another girl with martial arts powers who has an exceptional love/hate for Ranma. Revy? I didn't even know Revy was Chinese for the first handful of episodes. It isn't even slightly a part of her character. The same isn't as true for Chang, the head of the Triad, but he still manages to be a well-rounded character (far more reasonable and down to earth than Revy) despite his ethnicity being a major part of his characterisation and place in the city. Revy: Not a great character, but a subversion of any idea of the "submissive" Chinese woman.
Hei "Li Shunsheng":
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| I spend way too long trying to find a good screen cap - a character why wears a mask a lot doesn't help at all. |
Anyway, Li is a relatively sympathetic character, showing a degree of emotion and pity that is uncharacteristic of his job. I'm not going to explain the entire premise of Darker than Black here, but Li isn't supposed to have emotions but he does. That's the gist of it. His character, despite the dangerous position of anime protagonist, manages to be interesting and well considered. His relationships with those around him are fascinating and he never appears to take joy in the violence he perpetrates (in contrast to the previous two characters). If you want a character with goddamn depth. Li is the guy - not a character who is surrounded by cheap "Chinese food is cats" jokes like Shampoo. Li - kinda awesome, and his race never really comes up.
Let's move on to the final ethnicity I want to talk about the portrayal of in anime. Considering one of these characters specifically denies being from the country I figured they were from...let's call this portrayals of people from the Indian subcontinent, if not India itself.
Kaolla Su:
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| Erm...ignore the credits. Su is depicted here, several shades paler and considerably more naked than usual. Her sexualisation is a running theme. |
ANYWAY. Kaolla actually had a lot of potential in my opinion. Love Hina is horribly cliched, sexist and dull, so having a character who wasn't the embodiment of an anime cliche was fantastic. The problem was that Kaolla fell in many of the same pitfalls as Shampoo. She comes from a distant land, and the fact she is a foreigner is used as an excuse to fill her backstory with poorly-explained magic, objectifying marriage traditions and really goddamn outdated cliches about "feral" children. She has many seeds of an interesting character, but this is crippled by the fact her character is written shot for shot with the racist tropes she is designed to fit into.
So, returning to the "don't get offended, make a point" argument, how is Kaolla an example of racist stereotypes limiting anime?
Simple. The stereotypes these characters are designed around often dictate the way the character will develop, preventing creativity and innovation having any role. This argument centers around the idea that these racist cliches aren't deliberate. I'm presuming, perhaps naively, that these characters were created either in an attempt to have a more diverse cast, or to fill a cast position that a Japanese character would look odd in. The latter is kinda bullshit, and I'd say that's where characters like Kaolla and Shampoo come in. They need to act strangely to justify their magic and their strange "customs" create artificial conflict.
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| Y'know that bullshit magic I mentioned? Yeah, Kaolla sometimes just grows up by half a decade. Because all female characters in anime have to sexually available. |
The other idea, that these characters exist because people who have grown up in a homogeneous society and have no familiarity with these cultures or people of that demographic are writing anime, allows for these characters to evolve, but it is a difficult process, and I can't think of an example where someone only appeared to be a stereotype, but actually subverted it.
The solution, which is hardly rocket science, is to stop writing characters to provide "otherness". If your plot device bullshit is so blatantly unbelievable you have to rely on an ignorant, Raj-era style caricature to make it look believable by comparison you have to fix some things. Starting with the fact that non-Japanese and non-White people should be included because that's what goddamn society looks like. Sure, Japan is predominantly Japanese, but why the hell is something like Trigun so fucking homogeneous?
OK, let's move on to an example of an Indian character who doesn't feel like they're straight out of Said's "Orientalism".
Homi Nandie:
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| Homi is the one in the middle. The skintight costumes make a little more sense in context. |
Homi is level headed, very intelligent and overly reliable kid who always is the voice of reason in the constant arguments had by his friends. He also spends an absurd and dangerous amount of time trying to convince people to do what's best for them and to protect them at the cost of his own safety. Homi is a really well developed character, and he really is the glue that adds a layer of believability to the more colourful personalities of his companions, Ren and Chiara. His race, as seems to be the case with the majority of well developed non-white and non-Japanese characters, is never brought up or made a big deal of. He is sheltered and quiet due to his family, but due to their wealth, not their culture.
Overall, Homi is only able to become a well fleshed out character because he isn't placed into any particular role. He isn't just "the smart one", he's also the heart of the group. As an aside, Element Hunters is really fucking good. Watch it.
Conclusions:
Anime has some really goddamn obvious problems. I'll admit that anime has a lot more issues with the portrayal of gender than it does with race, but I think I've proved that work definitely has work to do there as well. I'm perfectly aware that some of the things I've described as "racist" may not appear to be necessarily racist to everyone. I might be seen as reaching or overreacting. That's fine. As long as you can see the core idea I'm trying to describe, and the portrayal of some characters is a problem, you don't need to agree with me on every count.
I like anime. I wouldn't call myself an obsessive, but it's something I enjoy. I spend too much time trying to read into it and picking it apart, and I'm perfectly aware I might go a little too far sometimes. But I feel on the charge of poorly developed diversity I'm perfectly justified. These half-baked characters aren't funny. They aren't particularly interesting in a constructive manner. They are distracting. They are inherently limited and limiting.
I didn't stop listing examples because I ran out of them. Listing more examples would simply just add nothing to my argument. Anime needs to drop the fucking racial stereotypes because they do nothing except limit the medium.
There is one reason for this that should be obvious. I've called the idiotic racist characteristics a number of things: stereotypes, cliches, tropes and the like. All these phrases mean the same thing - it's been done a million goddamn times before. Race aside, why on Earth should anime use concepts that have been used so often? They're boring and overdone. That's all I'm going to say about it.
I'm sorry this went up a day later than intended, but it was fascinating to write in all the worst ways.
Thanks for reading,
H. Rourke.
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