The 1980’s sparked an uproar in anime, allowing it to become mainstream in Japan due to its growing popularity and boom production. Anime otakus’ would agree that ever since the era of anime uprising, anime no longer identified amongst the niche genres. In fact, it’s previous standing as a low cultural medium promoting fictitious kids cartoons, and trivial themes arise from the stigmatisation and constant comparison of anime, amongst high cultured Japanese forms of art such as Haiku and woodblock prints. In terms of whether anime is a high or low cultural medium, Napier (2005) questions the need to compare anime amongst other high cultured forms of art, her stance questions whether anime should be analysed as a whole, based on it being a social phenomenon and form of entertainment.
Unfortunately, vehement debates encouraged by scholars and anti anime ‘fans’ promote anime as being ‘cartoonish’, and unsophisticated- resulting in it being identified amongst a ‘low’ cultural medium. Unsurprisingly, this opinion is inconsistent and rebutted by Napier (2005), who indicates that anime at present belongs to a ‘popular’ or ‘mass’ culture in Japan in comparison to America, where anime is undervalued, and classified as a sub-genre. Anime’s hybrid take on animation and cinematography, in comparison to traditional japanese forms of art have quite frankly left viewers divided when classifying the genre.
Fortunately, Napier (2005) nails the root of the problem by diving into the history of animation. She explains the reputation of anime has always been undermined and viewed as a low cultural medium, particularly amongst the western world. Anime has been compared with disney due to it being perceived as entertainment for young children, completely disregarding the complexities of themes present within and beyond the animations, failing to recognise its extensive target audiences. She indicates that the Japanese have always used animations post world war two, and its recognition is respected amongst the Japanese society. Its ability to combine many sub genres into one, alongside making inter textual references from western ideologies rightfully so, classes it as a high cultured medium of art.
Moreover, anime follows similar strategies from other forms of art such as novels, paintings, films and music, often combining various sub-genres in many of its works.For example, Akira is one of the many works that combines post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk, thriller, drama, epic, adventure as well as action altogether. The fusion of sub genres to form anime is notable as it often contains sophisticated and exceptional themes that stimulate audiences in a way that regular or older forms of art could not. (Napier 2005). Napier also points out Shojo, being a popular subgenre as it has a strong influence on young females worldwide, promoting female empowerment.
Additionally, the complexity of the themes present within anime makes it far from a ‘low medium’. Naruto is an example of anime that draws on underlying societal issues such as maintaining strong family bonds, and making sure to follow your dreams regardless of the circumstances that one may encounter. Sailor moon also promotes women empowerment and feminism, an ongoing plight of emancipation from gender discrimainton. The complexity of these themes are usually found in ‘high’ cultured texts globally, so to class anime amongst a low culture medium would be conflicting, at the very least.
Napier (2005) reflects on anime as being an ever changing intellectually challenging form of art. The 1990’s evidenced for anime making its appearance in academic discourse due to it being a high form of art in terms of sociology. To classify anime as a low culture medium would be discriminatory due to the complex sub genres, themes, intertextual references and engaging animations, present within many of the works. The stigma around anime roots from comparing anime to western animations that are targeted for a completely different audience. Napier (2005) disagrees with the classifying of anime as a ‘high’ or ‘low’ cultural medium, instead- she evidences the many reasons as to why anime is far more revolutionary.
References
Napier Susan, J. (2005). Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle.
Napier, S. (2005). Anime and Local/Global Identity. In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.15-34). Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillan.
Denison, R. (2015). Anime: A critical introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing.
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