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-Z- (z@gundam.com)
Tue, 21 Nov 2000 12:06:43 -0800
> Making fun of other countries is not
> enjoyable unless you're a racist. I choose not to enjoy G-Gundam because it
> is silly, cruel, racist, mean, and pointless. I'm a stubborn guy. But I
> stand up for my beliefs.
Almost all propular entertainment, especially cartoons -- and don't fool
yourself, anime is rooted squarely in the Disney tradition of cartooning --
depend on the use of stereotypes and popular imagery. For example, unless the
creator of the show is trying to make a point about people's perceptions of one
another, the heroic figures will always conform to the average or be
good-looking, while the villainous figures will have some deformity or another.
A villainous female will either be a harridan or an unwholesome but alluring
beauty. The "good girl" will not be as good-looking, but will compensate by way
of innocence and character.
Now, for his time -- pre Civil Rights movement America -- Disney was considered
quite liberal and inclusive in his views and bent over backwards to portray
American Indians, Africans and so on in a positive light. But by today's
standards, much of Disney's work seems painfully racist, all because the
stereotypes that were acceptable and, to some extent, unavoidable in his day are
not so today. Consider SONG OF THE SOUTH, an homage to the Uncle Remus stories,
intended to do for black folk lore what CINDERELLA or SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN
DWARVES did for Europeans. Disney's portrayal of the Amerindian as a "noble
savage" is almost as offensive, in the opposite, as the casual reference to a
"log cabin set afire by raiding Indians" (since changed to a mishap in the
kitchen) on the Rivers of America boat ride.
One of Disney's contemporaries, George Pal, did stop-motion animation called
Puppetoons. One of these was a Christmas special that followed Santa Claus
around the globe. This film, if shown today, would offend 99.94% of the Earth's
population, yet it wa never intended to make fun of anyone. It's simply that
the national, ethnic and racial stereotypes in force at the time and in the
place where it was made are totally at variance with our modern view.
If you think the national stereotypes in G Gundam are bad, I suggest you watch
GI Joe or Rambo, in which anyone with a "foreign" accent is a villain....
-Z-
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