Digital Asia: Autoethnography #4 Hi Score Girl (2018-2019, Japan)
So this week is an Anime! The Show is Hi-Score Girl, and focuses on the relationship of two young children growing up during the 90’s at the height of the golden age of gaming. An era where games such as Street Fighter 2 was at it’s height for popularity. Now the show was only viewed from the first 4 episodes, I feel this is a necessary disclaimer when it comes to TV shows, as if it was a standard length movie, it’s the equivalent of watching the first 24 minutes and judging the whole thing based on that.
So this is definitely a lot more of a broader look at Japanese games and movies, and some elements of mythology that may be missing from a western perspective. But curiously, a fact that escaped me while originally watching this media, was the prevalence of roman letters and the English language in the way media was branded and used.
This actually stems from a school of Japanese design, where the mixing of languages is seen as a way to enhance the aesthetic qualities of a given design, as detailed by this article here.
Interestingly in Anime the hitting on the head that is prevalent so often in comedy anime actually stems from a comedy routine from the Heian Period (800 AD- 1200 AD) called Manzai, in which the common recurring joke is the hitting on the head. Interestingly this evolved into the Kabuki plays during the Edo period, where the stage actors used exaggerated monologues, strutting and posing, with heavy face paints to exaggerate their expressions, and battles of posing and heroic dialogue.
The final point this article points out is the concept called “mono no aware” which is an understanding of impermenance, where nothing lasts forever; an element that becomes a heavy theme in stories involving love and other forms of media.
So based on this study while autism is a natural aspect of people in all societies, and that there are some universal indicators of possessing these traits; culture actually makes a huge difference to how these traits are perceived, and expressed. In Japan for example spontaneity is a natural aversion for their culture, and so was less effective at differentiating the children on the spectrum from the control group.
“In Japan, the schools allowed us a lot of freedom within discipline. We did not use textbooks, and instead we worked on one college-level math problem in class from different perspectives or we did research on our interests and presented them in class for social studies. It allowed me to be myself in some ways, but I did not feel comfortable being in class due to sensory issues. Ballet, which I have been doing since I was 3, also hid my autism.” – Kana Umagami, 2017
Interestingly, while culturally people on the spectrum may not be accepted and understood openly in Japan, particularly during the period this show is set; according to multiple sources Japanese culture as it is, is considered much more friendly to people on the spectrum; with the formality and respect of others privacy and quiet, and the way anime explores social issues with easy to understand expressions, and lessons on friendships.
References
Anime | aminoapps.com. 2020. West On The East: Western Influence On Japanese Media | Anime Amino. [online] Available at: <https://aminoapps.com/c/anime/page/blog/west-on-the-east-western-influence-on-japanese-media/3YtB_ugXxDLNKgW4600vJmYd32xLmX> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Blogger, G., 2020. AUTISM IN JAPAN: WHAT TO KNOW. [Blog] Inside Japan, Available at: <https://www.insidejapantours.com/blog/2018/03/30/autism-in-japan/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Hiraiwa, M., 2016. Japanese Trend in Childhood Treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Austin J Autism & Relat Disabil., [online] 2(4):(1027.). Available at: <https://austinpublishinggroup.com/autism/fulltext/autism-v2-id1027.php> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
IMDb. 2020. Hi Score Girl (TV Series 2018– ) – Imdb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8963328/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Lefler, R., 2020. 8 Reasons Why Autistic People Are Drawn to Anime and Fandoms. Reel Rundown, [online] Available at: <https://reelrundown.com/animation/Why-Are-Autistic-People-Drawn-to-Anime> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Molecular Autism, 2018. A Cross-Cultural Study Of Autistic Traits Across India, Japan And The UK. Molecular Autism, pp.https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-018-0235-3.
Razeek, F., 2019. 7 Graphic Design Trends in Japan You Should Follow. [Blog] Design Wizard, Available at: <https://www.designwizard.com/guest-blogs/7-graphic-design-trends-in-japan-you-should-follow/#:~:text=Language%20Mix,mixed%20languages%20in%20their%20work.&text=Most%20Japanese%20designs%20consist%20of,text%20mixed%20with%20Japanese%20characters.> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Stevens, K., 2011. Of Divine and Digital Origin: Mythology in Japanese Video Games. [Blog] Post Bubble Culture, Available at: <https://postbubbleculture.blogs.wm.edu/2011/04/10/of-divine-and-digital-origin-mythology-in-japanese-video-games/#:~:text=Capcom’s%202006%20release%20Okami%20is,the%20divine%20origins%20of%20Japan.> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Tips, C., 2020. Otaku: What Is The Otaku Culture In Japan?. [online] Jw-webmagazine.com. Available at: <https://jw-webmagazine.com/otaku-what-is-the-otaku-culture-in-japan-2283995b38c0/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Umagami, K., 2017. What It Was Like to Grow Up in Japan With Undiagnosed Autism. The Mighty, [online] Available at: <https://themighty.com/2017/10/living-with-autism-in-japan/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Von Lanken, K., 2016. Traditional Culture Exemplified in Modern Japanese Media. [Blog] Gaijin Pot, Available at: <https://blog.gaijinpot.com/traditional-culture-exemplified-in-modern-japanese-media/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Digital Asia: Autoethnography #3 Cake (2018. Pakistan)
So this week the screening was about Asim Abbasi‘s ‘Cake’, a drama, mystery from Pakistan.
So the political climate for the LGBTIQ+ community in Pakistan is a mixed bag, on the one hand they recognise the third gender; as it is traditionally called Khawaja Sira or Hijra, which is different to western ideas of Transgender, and is considered a normal and accepted form of identity for those that were born and assigned male; but does not formally recognise those who were born and assigned female, and until recently (around 2018 around the same time as this movie) meant the sacrifice of a lot of social rights in regards to voting, and inheritance of property.
This appears to be mostly from the fiercely patriarchal society that affords males in Pakistan a preference for inheritance, among many other privileges. This is also compounded by the illegality of same-sex intercourse (but critically not relationships), with the death penalty still the official form of sentencing for those that are charged.
While it has been touted by several newspapers that these charges are infrequently enforced, and sentencing for many have been markedly less harsh (in 2011, 2 people were sentenced 10 years in prison); this severe hate towards the LGBTIQ+ community is reflected in the treatment by many civilians, as it has been reported that police will often turn a blind eye to accounts of abuse towards those from the LGBTIQ+ community.
But on to a bit of a lighter note, onto the second tweet.
During the viewing I did not hide my distaste for the editing and audio mix, I initially loved the music and appreciated the romantic style audio; but I assumed it was used for narrative weight but found that this music was used universally throughout the film. Pakistan much like India’s Bollywood, has it’s own style of film and appreciation for film qualities, known as Lollywood.
According to this article about the major differences between the two film industries; while the two were initially cut from the same cloth, an example of why the film Cake uses such theatrical music throughout the film, and that the editing style and story is almost a larger than life representation, Lollywood, as it has grown especially in the last few decades, has had a greater focus on accurate representations of social drama, and a focus on smaller tighter scripts, as opposed to the long spectacles of it’s neighbouring Bollywood.
And so with this the Lollywood scene is producing more films that have appeal and recognition as they try new forms of storytelling, in contrast to the majority of Bollywood films, which are made to satisfy their existing audience, and not challenge them.
This structuring of Lollywood film practices is also prevalent in it’s use of language.
While this statement by me isn’t wrong per say, this article here actually details that the multilingual nature of Lollywood films actually stems from a cultural hierarchy of language, in which certain languages are represented as being higher than others. In this English is seen as the top, followed by Urdu, followed by regional languages, but Hindi is almost never used in film. Even the accents of the people in the films, is designed to be as an ‘educated, urban, standard Urdu’.
References
Azhar, M., 2017. Pakistan’s traditional third gender isn’t happy with the trans movement. TheWorld, [online] Available at: <https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-07-29/pakistans-traditional-third-gender-isnt-happy-trans-movement> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Equaldex.com. 2020. LGBT Rights In Pakistan | Equaldex. [online] Available at: <https://www.equaldex.com/region/pakistan> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Humandignitytrust.org. 2020. Pakistan | Human Dignity Trust. [online] Available at: <https://www.humandignitytrust.org/country-profile/pakistan/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
IMDb. 2020. Cake (2018) – Imdb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7715988/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Looch, C., 2019. Why Pakistan’s Lollywood Is Better Than India’s Bollywood. Culture Trip, p.https://theculturetrip.com/asia/pakistan/articles/why-pakistans-lollywood-is-better-than-indias-bollywood/.
Lynch, L., 2018. “There’s Research on That!” Gender, Identity, and Pakistan’s “Third Gender”. The Society Pages, [online] Available at: <https://thesocietypages.org/trot/2018/07/03/gender-identity-and-pakistans-third-gender/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
OutRight Action International. 2020. Pakistan. [online] Available at: <https://outrightinternational.org/region/pakistan> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Rahman, T., 2013. The Languages of Lollywood. Himal South Asian, [online] Available at: <https://www.himalmag.com/the-languages-of-lollywood-pakistani-cinema/> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
The Express Tribune. 2020. Everything You Always Knew About Lollywood | The Express Tribune. [online] Available at: <https://tribune.com.pk/article/6191/everything-you-always-knew-about-lollywood> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Digital Asia: Autoethnography #2 Furie (2019. Vietnam)
Oh boy do I love martial arts movies, and this one is awesome, thoroughly recommend. Sorry couldn’t help myself, onto the auto ethnography of this gritty and stylish action film by Vietnamese Director Le-Van Kiet.
So first point of cultural difference I wanted to look at was the apparent matriarchal culture portrayed in this film, whether that was part of a traditional viewpoint, or a new revolution in gender roles; and also the inclusion of younger family members as full humans of independent thought and opinions, and not a shelter culture where children are intentionally kept in the dark.
In this regard I found two different ideas of matriarchy vs patriarchy. First I will talk about Vietnam as Patriarchy, freshly informed by this article here, in the more built up areas of Vietnam, i.e. Cities, the people were more heavily influenced by the impacts of colonialism from the Chinese, and Confucianism, robbing what was a more traditionally Matriarchal society, and imparting the rules against education and therefore work for women.
However in contrast, as reported by VovWorld, the matriarchal societal values is still actively practised by traditional ethnic groups in the more rural areas of Vietnam. Considering much of this movie takes place in these rural areas, I feel it isn’t unreasonable to assume that this has been taken directly from this aspect of Vietnamese society; at the very least unintentionally as a result of these cultural aspects in the larger society.
In regards to the parenting culture to quote SBS World Atlas
“Traditionally, children do not keep any secrets from their parents as most information is shared within the family. However, children whose moral or ideological opinions differ from those of their parents will generally keep their views to themselves. “
So my initial reaction was fairly accurate, children in general are given a more important and active role in the general activities and care of family members.
So luckily (as evidenced by the above) I do actually have some previous experience (not as a practitioner) with the primary martial art used as inspiration for the choreography in this film. But after some research into the source of Vovinam, while a lot of it’s techniques were taken from traditional weapons and techniques within Vietnam, but also taken from Chinese, Korean, and most controversially at the time, Japanese techniques.
The form was introduced in 1938, and was created to be easy to learn to empower the people of Vietnam, this was partially because around that time, they were being invaded by the Japanese; and this pride and resentment would of made the origin of many of the Vovinam techniques a sore spot for people of the time, and so the founder Nguyen Loc, kept this hidden.
Another interesting aspect of Vovinam in a more fun fact kind of way, in contrast to a lot of perceptions, White Belt in Vovinam is actually the highest belt. But it was really cool to see this martial art form represented in media, with it’s focus on agility and speed creating some extremely flashy fight scenes.
Enjoy this competition match of Vovinam as a farewell present for the week.
Bibliography
References
Cultural Atlas. 2020. Vietnamese Culture – Family. [online] Available at: <https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/vietnamese-culture/vietnamese-culture-family> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Danang Property, 2019. The formation and development of the patriarchy in Vietnam. Medium, [online] Available at: <https://www.integral-vovinam.com/2integral_concept/3ic-no_nonsense_technique/3ic_no_nonsense_technique.html> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Hays, J., 2020. CHILDREN IN VIETNAM | Facts And Details. [online] Factsanddetails.com. Available at: <http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Vietnam/sub5_9c/entry-3391.html> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
IMDb. 2020. Furie (2019) – Imdb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9412268/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Integral-vovinam.com. 2020. Integral Concept. [online] Available at: <https://www.integral-vovinam.com/2integral_concept/3ic-no_nonsense_technique/3ic_no_nonsense_technique.html> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Müsker, P., 2020. Vovinam Viet Vo Dao – Vietnamese Martial Arts. [Blog] The Warriors Travel Guide, Available at: <http://thewarriorstravelguide.com/vovinam-viet-vo-dao-vietnamese-martial-arts/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Nga, T., 2013. Cham matriarchy. VovWorld, [online] Available at: <https://vovworld.vn/en-US/colorful-vietnamvietnams-54-ethnic-groups/cham-matriarchy-176290.vov> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Sports Know How. 2020. The Story Of Vovinam | All About Vovinam | Origin Of Vovinam. [online] Available at: <https://sportsmatik.com/sports-corner/sports-know-how/vovinam/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Digital Asia: Autoethnography #1 Love for Sale (2018. Indonesia)
So this first viewing is Love For Sale, a 2018 film by Indonesian Director, Andibachtiar Yusuf. Before we get started if you haven’t already I would suggest reading my first post in this series to provide some personal context on my understanding.
So first tweets I would like to analyse is this.
Now these two tweets are obviously quite linked, socioeconomic class, and aspirations of work. It’s interesting seeing this high focus on the middle class workers of Indonesia, as detailed in the article by World Bank; the middle class is actually an expanding class in Indonesia, with 80% of the people who were identified as ‘poor’ in 1993, by 2014 were no longer apart of the demographic, and in this explains the pride in the work culture that the film portrays.
Another thing that I had noticed while watching was this reverence afforded to the main character as an employer; abuse was expected and criticism was never given. Using the website Paul Hype, a Singaporean Consultant (side note, both the film and this website feature WhatsApp, pretty heavily), this stems from a culture of the employer and the employers pride being of central importance in their culture, and so criticism is expected to be withheld, and the standards set by these employers isn’t necessarily expected to be met by the employer themself.
As a note on the relationship culture, the film relies heavily on this idea of a long courtship between the main character and Arini, and only shows this newer side of casual dating that apparently has become less popular. Quoting Asimonoff, a blogger on the Indonesian Language Blog
In Indonesia, where family plays an important role in partner selection, a courtship and finding the right partner is a family affair. Most parents believe that the best candidates for their future daughter or son-in-law should have a good background based on the crucial aspects of “Bibit, Bebet, Bobot” which has a Javanese origin, referring respectively to family wealth, social rank, and ancestry. Parents believe that their future in-laws should at least come from the same social status and religion.
But also in some research that will now forever be a blight on my Google Search History, “sugaring” is actually an increasingly popular practice in Indonesia, particularly in the same city that this movie takes place. Vice reports that more than 10,000 young females on one of the most popular sites in Jakarta alone, with less than half that from males on the same site.
This is touted because the gender pay gap is on average 27% lower than males in similar positions, and many of these people seek a higher education. This actually ties itself quite well with the first post; a lot of the females that were shown in the film appear to be in a worst economic and professional state than the men in the film. With Indonesian culture a growing economy with a rising middle class, but still a growing infrastructure to support it’s citizens, this practice of ‘sugaring’ from both a ‘daddy’ and ‘baby’ perspective (I feel dirty typing that) becomes an understandable growth from a rising cultural force.
Bibliography
Blogs.transparent.com. 2020. Love And Courtship In Indonesian Culture. [online] Available at: <https://blogs.transparent.com/indonesian/love-and-courtship-in-indonesian-culture/#:~:text=Even%20though%2C%20they%20are%20involved,with%20friends%2C%20siblings%20or%20family.&text=They%20don’t%20show%20physical,just%20holding%20hands%20in%20public.> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Company Incorporation and Setup in Indonesia. 2020. Indonesian Work Culture | About Indonesia. [online] Available at: <https://www.paulhypepage.co.id/indonesian-work-culture/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
IMDb. 2020. Love For Sale (2018) – Imdb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8065796/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
The World Bank, 2020. Aspiring Indonesia: Expanding the Middle Class. [online] Available at: <https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/publication/aspiring-indonesia-expanding-the-middle-class> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Vice, 2020. Sugar Dating Gains Popularity in Indonesia As More Youth Seek Comfortable Lifestyles. [online] Available at: <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ep4kj7/sugar-dating-indonesia-popularity> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Digital Asia: Auto Ethnography #0, Primer
So this isn’t an auto-ethnography based on reactions to media from another culture; but like a fine painting the primer is important; to provide context both to the following posts without having to explain the process each time (hooray for being laz…efficient), but also as a kind of background into my own cultural viewpoint, and so have an understanding of how I respond to these texts.
So First
The Process
So the process that this auto-ethnography process will take is first a live viewing of a selected media through my twitter account, I will throw up all the thoughts that I think at least warrants the 30 seconds for me to type it there, and respond to some other peoples who are also viewing the tweets at the same time.
After the viewing has finished, I go through and pick out the key tweets to do with cultural views and observations, and anything of any sort of mild interest; look up the meaning of these observations and comments, and place back into a blog post on the final reflections of my own response to the media and culture.
My Own Cultural View
So without going into a full auto-biography; I am a 26 year old male student of graphic design, with interests in games, movies, science, animation, fiction, art, and martial arts; the more of these words that can be used to describe something, the more I will like it. While I was definitely raised within a White Australian background, I myself actually come from mixed heritage of Chilean and Australian, and without sounding too soppy, never fit fully with either.
So my cultural views especially as I have gotten older; at least from my perspective; share very little in common with culture in general, and I mostly try to be as objective and factual as I can; and actively change or ignore any viewpoints that I recognise to be from any sort of purely cultural perspective.
Now obviously, I am not a robot; as far as you all know with COVID-19 going on, I haven’t been seen in days; so this isn’t possible, and will always have elements of the cultural understanding that I have been raised in, interacted with, and media I’ve consumed. But I make a diligent effort to recognise these, and change them when they appear.
Well, onto the content!
mooshbag 