Share the endless fun of anime, analyze the deepest essence of anime, and unite the power of all anime. Hello everyone! I am Maple Jun.
Speaking of the Japanese island country, I believe that the feelings and impressions of it are different in the hearts of every generation, of course, the history of the past makes us have to be more vigilant and vigilant against Japan, which is only about one-fifth of China. If we leave aside political and historical factors, in many fields such as etiquette, education, and science and technology, Japan's approach may really have something worth learning and learning from, of course, here Kaede Jun only expresses his own personal views, and does not dare to let others agree with himself.
Even in the 21st century, in addition to correctly viewing the history of the country and ethnic hatred, the country of Japan has engraved the label of "anime kingdom" in Kaedegi Jun's mind, or this is the reason for my love of anime works. As we all know, the 1980s was a leap forward in the Japanese animation industry, and since then, Japan's anime culture has continued to develop, making it a well-known anime kingdom. Of course, Japanese anime has also become a genre with a unique style and huge influence in the world, so much so that in many anime works, people can recognize at a glance that this is from Japan.
Perhaps, the topic that Kaede Ishime jun is going to talk about here today seems to have nothing to do with Japanese anime, but when you think about it, there is actually a certain origin. Did you know that Japan after World War II was once called a "twelve-year-old boy" in the U.S. Senate? Did you know that japanese manga in the eyes of Westerners at that time was considered a "picture of moral indulgence"? With these questions, Feng Mujun and all the friends analyzed the beginning and end of these stories.
Speaking of Douglas MacArthur, it is too familiar for those who know a little American history, but to understand this rare legend in American military history may be equivalent to reading a very thick book. Of course, our description of such a legendary figure here can only be said in a few words, and the deepest impression of MacArthur in Maple Jun's mind is that he was born into a military family, the youngest principal of the U.S. Army Officer School (West Point) since its founding, the most medals awarded by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, and the only American general who participated in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
MacArthur at West Point
Not only that, but after the dismissal of MacArthur, the then orthodox Truman general in the United States, MacArthur was heroically welcomed in Washington when he returned home, but President Truman's approval rating dropped to 26%, and we can see that the American people at that time made a choice between president and general. Perhaps even more incredible is that in June of the same year, the U.S. Congress made an exception for MacArthur to create a gold special medal of honor, which was engraved with "Defender of Australia, Liberator of the Philippines, Conqueror of Japan, Defender of Korea", which is an honor that has never been seen in American history. From the above simple description, we have already felt how legendary MacArthur was.
MacArthur attending a speech to the U.S. Congress
As we all know, in August 1945, Japan, the defeated country in World War II, announced its unconditional surrender and held a surrender ceremony on the usser Missouri, and MacArthur signed the surrender on behalf of the Allies. In the five or six years from 1945 to 1950, MacArthur laid the political foundation for Japan's post-war reconstruction. We know that MacArthur stepped into Japan as a victor and became the de facto supreme ruler of Japan. If the Emperor of Japan is compared to an emperor, then MacArthur is the Emperor Taishang.
However, MacArthur's policies in Japan won great support from the Japanese people, such as retaining the status of Emperor Renyu of Japan, pardoning many Japanese war criminals (fueling Japanese militarism), and providing funds and food for the Japanese people to rebuild their post-war homeland, but the most important MacArthur even kept the Japanese Yasukuni Shrine for the benefit of the United States. But these moves led macArthur to be dismissed from his post in 1951 for opposing U.S. President Harry Truman's policies and to be greeted by a heroic mesmerizing farewell from the Japanese crowd on both sides of the airport.
But after General MacArthur's return to the United States, the admiration of the Japanese people for him vanished overnight, because in MacArthur's three-day statement to the U.S. Senate, he described the Japanese as a "twelve-year-old boy." Unfortunately, the Japanese did not understand MacArthur's words, believing that the fox had finally revealed its tail, and he looked down on the Japanese from the bottom of his heart. MacArthur's real intention, however, was to express that Japanese people were as receptive to new things, new models, and new ideas as children, but the clumsy way of making statements turned out to be a bad language. In today's Internet language, it's "MacArthur: I'm too hard!" ”
Douglas MacArthur in Keiji Ze's manga Barefoot Kid by Japanese manga artist Keiji Ze
In the eyes of Westerners, especially with the superiority of the victorious powers, Japan is as easy to control as a child, immature, and can only survive by relying on the protection of the United States, the patriarch. Unfortunately, this illusion began to shatter in the late 1960s, Japanese industry developed rapidly, Japanese products such as cars and electronic products began to come out of the trough and occupy the global market, and the concept of a technological power made Japanese products a label for innovation and quality assurance. Of course, at this time, the Japanese anime industry also began to regain its vitality, such as in 1959, the original weekly manga magazines "Weekly Shonen Sunday" and "Weekly Shonen Magazine" were launched; Osamu Tezuka, known as the "father of anime" in Japan, also began to emerge; the animation master Noburo Oto, known as the "strange man" in the Japanese animation industry, produced a color version of "Whale" in 1952, becoming the first Japanese animation film to win an international award...
This "twelve-year-old boy" began to "grow" in all respects.
Since the 1970s, Japanese anime has begun to enter a mature period, and the distorted Japanese manga and anime images in the 1980s have begun to spread abroad. Because at this time, Japanese anime is full of a lot of violence, pornography, disgusting and other elements, but many People in Japan are reading everywhere in the streets and alleys, this phenomenon has been criticized by Many Westerners. So in a 1987 Wall Street Journal article, it was ridiculed that "Japanese adults are still reading manga and immersed in fantasies." It can be seen that at that time, the West's imagination of Japan's obsession with manga and unable to extricate itself was incomprehensible and critical
Do you know? The English translation of the word "manga" for "manga" in the Oxford Dictionary is "Japanese manga (often with violent or sexual content)". From the explanation in parentheses, it can be seen that the English word manga itself contains a pejorative meaning, which is also one of the proofs of the early "prejudice" of Westerners against Japanese manga.
In 1983, The American comic book scholar Frederick Short wrote in his book Manga! manga！ He first argued that "man" meant "undesirable" or "not by oneself", and that "ga" was a picture and a picture book, and later Short once again expressed "man" with a second meaning, that is, "moral corruption", and thus "manga" was translated as "a picture of moral indulgence". Short, who has a certain reputation in the American comic book industry, coupled with western prejudice against Japanese comics, and the hype in the media and newspapers, Japanese comics have since become more firmly regarded as unethical pictures in the eyes of Westerners.
1944 American propaganda poster for japanese exclusivity
In fact, the above Maple Jun tells two stories related to Japanese history, one is the profound influence of General Douglas MacArthur on the reconstruction of Japan after World War II, and the other is how Japanese manga has gradually developed into a culture that westerners dislike. From Douglas's mouth, we know that After World War II, Japan like a child like a child like to explore new things, easy to accept new models, new ideas, thus laying an important foundation for post-war reconstruction, economic recovery and so on. At that time, the development of Japanese manga, although not popular with Westerners, was nothing more than a microcosm of the public's exploration of the field of animation culture. Everything has a process, and the development of Japanese manga to today has become an important label and imprint in the hearts of many anime fans in Japan.
ps: The above content is originally launched by "Maple Jun Anime", I am Maple Wood Jun, an anime explorer who wanders in the two-dimensional world, like to pay attention, more wonderful animation information invites you to share!
Reference: Paul Gravette, 60 Years of Japanese Manga