Mukokuseki: Difference between revisions
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Implications of the term in visual media can vary considerably between artstyles,<ref name="CBR" /> either employing culturally "neutral" elements or [[cultural hybridization|hybridizing]] multiple disparate cultural influences.<ref name="Cute" /><ref name="Fantasy">Ruh, Brian. “Conceptualizing Anime and the Database Fantasyscape.” Mechademia: Second Arc, vol. 9, 2014, pp. 164–75. JSTOR via [[Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library|Wikipedia Library]], https://doi.org/10.5749/mech.9.2014.0164. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.</ref> One author nonetheless argued that "[o]n closer inspection [...] the communication of cultural markers and characteristics is far more intricate than the mere display of Japanese facial features."<ref name="Gruyter" /> Notable examples of ''mukokuseki'' characters include [[Hello Kitty]],<ref name=Cute /> [[Light Yagami]] from ''[[Death Note]]'',<ref name=CBR>Altiok, Revna. "[https://www.cbr.com/mukokuseki-no-nationality-importance-in-anime/ What Is Mukokuseki in Anime – And Why Is It Important?]" from ''[[Comic Book Resources]]'', 24 June 2022.</ref> and [[Asuka Langley Soryu|Asuka Soryu]] or [[Rei Ayanami]] from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''{{Fact|date=March 2024}}. |
Implications of the term in visual media can vary considerably between artstyles,<ref name="CBR" /> either employing culturally "neutral" elements or [[cultural hybridization|hybridizing]] multiple disparate cultural influences.<ref name="Cute" /><ref name="Fantasy">Ruh, Brian. “Conceptualizing Anime and the Database Fantasyscape.” Mechademia: Second Arc, vol. 9, 2014, pp. 164–75. JSTOR via [[Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library|Wikipedia Library]], https://doi.org/10.5749/mech.9.2014.0164. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.</ref> One author nonetheless argued that "[o]n closer inspection [...] the communication of cultural markers and characteristics is far more intricate than the mere display of Japanese facial features."<ref name="Gruyter" /> Notable examples of ''mukokuseki'' characters include [[Hello Kitty]],<ref name=Cute /> [[Light Yagami]] from ''[[Death Note]]'',<ref name=CBR>Altiok, Revna. "[https://www.cbr.com/mukokuseki-no-nationality-importance-in-anime/ What Is Mukokuseki in Anime – And Why Is It Important?]" from ''[[Comic Book Resources]]'', 24 June 2022.</ref> and [[Asuka Langley Soryu|Asuka Soryu]] or [[Rei Ayanami]] from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''{{Fact|date=March 2024}}. |
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A ''[[Language Awareness]]'' study of Japanese popular media found traits such as blonde hair and marked speech were widely used as shorthand for depicting foreign characters, described as a "quintessential" image of foreigners, with Americans being the most affected nationality.<ref name=Aware>Rika Ito & Megan Bisila (2020) Blond hair, blue eyes, and “bad” Japanese: representing foreigner stereotypes in Japanese anime , Language Awareness, 29:3-4, 286-303 Retrieved 25 March 2024.</ref> |
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In addition to the increased international appeal of culturally neutral properties, Brian Ruh paraphrased [[Susan J. Napier]] in describing ''mukokuseki'' as "a way for contemporary Japanese to playfully escape their own concepts of Japan and their own feelings of Japaneseness... fantasized ''mukokuseki'' anime bodies can be free from the cultural and societal baggage of physical bodies."<ref name="Fantasy" /> Other popular narratives have stated that, due to their fictionalized or aestheticized settings and "abstracted" representations of the human body, manga and anime are inherently divorced from real-life categories of ethnicities and that their characters are therefore all naturally ''mukokuseki''.<ref name="Fantasy" /><ref name="CBR" /> |
In addition to the increased international appeal of culturally neutral properties, Brian Ruh paraphrased [[Susan J. Napier]] in describing ''mukokuseki'' as "a way for contemporary Japanese to playfully escape their own concepts of Japan and their own feelings of Japaneseness... fantasized ''mukokuseki'' anime bodies can be free from the cultural and societal baggage of physical bodies."<ref name="Fantasy" /> Other popular narratives have stated that, due to their fictionalized or aestheticized settings and "abstracted" representations of the human body, manga and anime are inherently divorced from real-life categories of ethnicities and that their characters are therefore all naturally ''mukokuseki''.<ref name="Fantasy" /><ref name="CBR" /> |
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Revision as of 15:53, 25 March 2024
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Mukokuseki (Japanese: 無国籍, translated as "statelessness" or "nationlessness") is a Japanese term describing fictional characters in visual media depicted without a concrete ethnicity or nationality. It is commonly invoked in visual media, including anime and manga, such as when a character is described as having stereotypically European or racially ambiguous characteristics in a setting where they might otherwise be assumed to be ethnically Japanese.[1][2][3] It is thought to be particularly significant in the context of foreign influences on Japanese entertainment properties as well as the subsequent marketing of such properties towards non-Japanese audiences.[4]
Analysis
One of the reasons for mukokuseki might have been the desire to market Japanese products worldwide without making it obvious that they are Japanese, due to troubled relation between Japan and the United States as well as many other Asian countries, particularly dating to the World War II era and issues such as attack on Pearl Harbor and Japanese war crimes, resulting in enduring anti-Japanese sentiment in those regions.[5]
Implications of the term in visual media can vary considerably between artstyles,[6] either employing culturally "neutral" elements or hybridizing multiple disparate cultural influences.[4][7] One author nonetheless argued that "[o]n closer inspection [...] the communication of cultural markers and characteristics is far more intricate than the mere display of Japanese facial features."[3] Notable examples of mukokuseki characters include Hello Kitty,[4] Light Yagami from Death Note,[6] and Asuka Soryu or Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion[citation needed].
A Language Awareness study of Japanese popular media found traits such as blonde hair and marked speech were widely used as shorthand for depicting foreign characters, described as a "quintessential" image of foreigners, with Americans being the most affected nationality.[8]
In addition to the increased international appeal of culturally neutral properties, Brian Ruh paraphrased Susan J. Napier in describing mukokuseki as "a way for contemporary Japanese to playfully escape their own concepts of Japan and their own feelings of Japaneseness... fantasized mukokuseki anime bodies can be free from the cultural and societal baggage of physical bodies."[7] Other popular narratives have stated that, due to their fictionalized or aestheticized settings and "abstracted" representations of the human body, manga and anime are inherently divorced from real-life categories of ethnicities and that their characters are therefore all naturally mukokuseki.[7][6]
Criticism
Mukokuseki has particularly received some criticism in the context of the soft power it does or does not afford Japanese culture in the Western World,[4] with the lack of distinct Japanese values described as rendering the cultural capital of Japanese media "nothing but an illusion".[3] A writer for Comic Book Resources also criticized Western film adaptations for taking mukokuseki characters as an opportunity to whitewash lead roles in works such as Death Note (2017) or The Last Airbender (2010).[6]
See also
References
- ^ Oana-Maria, Birlea. "Hybridity in Japanese Advertising Discourse", Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: Philologica, Vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 55 – 71, December 2019.
- ^ Nakagawa, Martha. "Analyzation and critique of a cute global character", Review of Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific by Christine R. Yano, Nichi Bei News. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ a b c Kato, Hiloko and Bauer, René. "Mukokuseki and the Narrative Mechanics in Japanese Games". Narrative Mechanics: Strategies and Meanings in Games and Real Life, edited by Beat Suter, René Bauer and Mela Kocher, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, via De Gruyter, 2021, pp. 113-150. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839453452-006
- ^ a b c d Bîrlea, Oana-Maria. “Soft Power: ’Cute Culture’, a Persuasive Strategy in Japanese Advertising.” TRAMES: A Journal of the Humanities & Social Sciences, vol. 27, no. 3, July 2023, pp. 311–24. EBSCOhost via Wikipedia Library, https://doi.org/10.3176/tr.2023.3.07.
- ^ Siuda, Piotr; Koralewska, Anna (2014). Japonizacja: anime i jego polscy fani [Japonization: Anime and Its Polish Fans]. Kontinuum (in Polish). Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra. p. 70. ISBN 978-83-63434-17-5.
- ^ a b c d Altiok, Revna. "What Is Mukokuseki in Anime – And Why Is It Important?" from Comic Book Resources, 24 June 2022.
- ^ a b c Ruh, Brian. “Conceptualizing Anime and the Database Fantasyscape.” Mechademia: Second Arc, vol. 9, 2014, pp. 164–75. JSTOR via Wikipedia Library, https://doi.org/10.5749/mech.9.2014.0164. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.
- ^ Rika Ito & Megan Bisila (2020) Blond hair, blue eyes, and “bad” Japanese: representing foreigner stereotypes in Japanese anime , Language Awareness, 29:3-4, 286-303 Retrieved 25 March 2024.