The otaku, as they interpret in Azumas work, no longer care for the deeper narrative in the media they consume. They are rather more interested in the characters, and classifying the character according to their traits and anonymously creating the database that catalog, store and display the results (xv-xvi). This database replaces the works underlying meaning, which in turn are part of a grand narrative. It is implied, then, that the otaku, in becoming a database animal, has become a hollow shell of a person seeking only the surface or immediate gratification of his senses.
While their interpretation of the work holds some truth, I disagree with the general theme of their summary. First, in their brief comparison of the modern worlds grand narrative and the subsequent database, they immediately assume that one has greater value than the other. Second, that the otaku is in general animalized, that they are in complete harmony with the Nature of their world. This article, then will seek to prove that the otaku is a very human culture, and that they express a profound a meaning through the database as consumers under the grand narrative.
The Imposition of the Grand Narrative
Referring to French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard, Azuma describes the movement in the period between the end of the eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth as a vast consolidation of members of society into a unified whole this movement was a precondition for the management of society. These systems became expressed as the ideas of humanity and reason (26-27). This consolidation, he explained, was the grand narrative. Azuma goes on that after this period, the grand narrative collapses, and the cohesion of society as a whole breaks down.
If we can trace this period from beginning to end, by rough estimates we can say that the period covers the French Revolution (end of the 1800s) and the 1960s (mid-20th century). Incidentally, this is also the period of the rise and collapse of modern liberalism. And the breakdown of its institutions, in the tumultuous 1960s, coincides with the emergence of the otaku. Indeed, Azuma relates that the first generation of otaku centers on those who were born around 1960, though he clarifies that otaku as a term was born in the period from the 1970s to the 1980s (6).
Can we therefore say that this grand narrative is the high culture of modern liberalism We can assume this from its effects on otaku culture.
Azuma explains that the otakus search for self-identity out of materials from junk subcultures is an expression of them trying to fill the void caused by the collapse of the grand narrative. The otaku cannot distinguish between the transcendental and the experiential with the result that they are easily hooked on pseudo-religions that draw on themes popular in subcultures (28). Robert H. Bork, in Slouching Towards Gomorrha, explains that the search for a politics of meaning is a feature of modern liberalism, and reflects the human yearning for the transcendental by persons whom religion no longer fills that need (29). He explains that before the eighteenth century, Western society found meaning in religion. When modern liberalism supplanted religion, the need for meaning did not decline but became more urgent meaning must be found in a secular belief system (Bork, 85). If we relate the two statements, we can say that the otaku need for personal meaning is characteristic of modern liberal society.
Otaku then, may be the by-product of modern liberalism. And it would make sense, too, as Borks description of the character of liberalism supplanting religion can find context in Japan, and otaku, as obsession with otaku culture did not develop from Japanese tradition but rather after this tradition disappeared. To put it another way the harsh reality that we had lost any traditional identity lies in the heart of otaku culture (Azuma, 15). Modern liberalism supplanted the role of tradition in Japan as it did religion in Western society.
The Emergence of the Database
Alvin Toffler, in his work The Third Wave, described the emergence of a de-massified media first, the preceding social order which he called the Second Wave standardized media, and multiplied the number of channels from which the individual drew his or her picture of reality (157). With the advent of an accelerated social culture, images grew more and more temporary and with a fast-paced mass distribution of imagery in society, the blip culture emerged instead of masses of people all receiving the same messages, smaller de-massified groups receive and send large amounts of their own imagery to one another (Toffler, 165).
Writing this in 1979, Toffler predictedmore or lessthe trend of narrative consumption of postmodern society, and the otaku. It was just a matter of one further logical step for the simulacra and the database model, to emerge. Azuma, borrowing from Otsuka Eijis Theory of Narrative Consumption, described narrative consumption as one of grand narrative by installments although the actual commodities are grand narratives, it happens to be small narratives fragments of grand narratives that are sold as surrogate products (29-30). The emergence of simulacra was a consequence of the consumer becoming an active participant by contributing his own small narrative, or a work derivative of the original. The derivative works soon becomes less distinct from the original, and both become part of the simulacra, distorting the grand narrative (Azuma, 31). One can say that Tofflers description of a de-massified media, can be analogous to what Azuma describes as the breakdown of the grand narrative.
But more than this, Toffler was also describing the effects of a mass culture, where culture is diffused and every individual can take on the role of producer and consumer. If we relate this to the behavior of otaku, we can say that the emergence of the simulacra is an act of one such diffusion, and then an act of mass culture.
What does that say of the database
Having no underlying ideology, the consumers supplant the void of a grand narrative with a database of imagery and characters taken from the simulacra, for later use by consumers and producers alike. The common ground for the works is neither the authorship of the original creator nor a message but the world of the work or characters alone (47-49). The database is actually a by-product of the simulacra, and thus an expression of popular culture, in opposition to the high culture of the grand narrative, that is, modern liberalism. Otaku was not an expression of post-ideological collapse, but of revolt.
Recreating a New Grand Narrative
There is more at the heart of otaku culture. Azuma describes traditional Japanese elements in otaku literature. He explains that The connection between otaku culture and traditional Japanese culture has been pointed out frequently one can easily pick out the sense of compatibility within Japanese images contained within otaku works (9). He cites as example the work of Takahashi Rumiko, is steeped in characters of local folklore as ogres, snow-spirits and benzaiten (a Japanese version of the Hindu goddess of fortune) (9-10). He points out that the animation styles of one anime artist correspond to the eccentricities of Kano Sansetsu and Soga Shohaku (9). Within the otaku simulacra, then, are facets of traditional Japanese culture tying them together.
This is supported by the following traits of otaku culture the place where otaku fantasies are played out is a replica of Edo merchant culture an era when introverted snobbery flourished (22). Having vague memories of this Edo past, however, otaku culture, admittedly, borrowed the American idea of Japan and adapted it for its own. A pseudo-Japan manufactured from U.S. produced material is the only thing we have left in our grasp, as Azuma sadly relates (20).
All of this indicates one important thing the otaku is trying to create a new grand narrative. Azuma admits that with consumers since Evangelion there seems to be a rising desire for a well-constructed narrative that holds readers (or viewers) attention for a while and makes them think a little (77). There is a growing desire for small narratives, and based on the character of this narrative consumption, its end goal is to recreate a grand narrative. The otaku, then, taken from this overall context, is actually a national cultural movement.
Jonathan Abel and Shiono Kono set out to explain Azumas otaku as consumers lacking the need for profound meaning and looking only for surface valuecharacters, settings and traits. However, by analyzing the grand narrative from the broader, global perspective, and its relation to the otaku database, we begin to realize that the database is merely a Japanese expression of mass culture in reaction to the supposed grand narrative that is Western liberalism.
And far from being a surface culture having no underlying motivation or meaning, we have found that within the otaku is a desire to recreate or restore the old traditions that came before liberalism and Americanization. We see this in the facets of this otaku culture elements of traditional Japanese culture, images of Edo merchant culture, and its attempt to piece out a pseudo-Japan through American stereotypes. Therefore, the otaku culture is attempting to create for itself a new grand narrative.
The otaku, then, is an expression of conflict between two cultures the predominant high culture of Western liberalism and the rising popular culture characterized by diffused media. The Translators summary merely skimmed the tip of the cultural iceberg.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment