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kaigouBased on convos with Pix, Saro, Caroline, and a few others. crits and comments are welcome. Final version will likely end up on Zan's site (and Tyr's, if GWA wants it). Right now it's just a bit rambly, and will be reorganized, but I wanted to toss the preliminary out there and see what other GW folks thought.
In an interview with Minami Masahiko, the executive producer for Cowboy Bebop and one of the collaborators on G Gundam and 08th MS Team Gundam, Masakhiko touches on a change in perspective at Sunrise/Bandai in the mid-90s. "I've heard that Japanese animation is getting more popular overseas... I personally believe I am creating something very interesting. For IRON LEAGUER, I actually had fans overseas in my mind when I was creating it." He goes on to imply that much of the reason for this is economics; the state of animation in Japan in the mid-90s was financially tight for many studios. Expanding the anime audience to appeal to a larger audience was beginning to look like the best way (if not the only way) for studios to succeed. "I would like to spread the overseas popularity of animation, so I can get a larger budget (laughs) and create more interesting works."
What caught my eye was the acknowledgment that, even that early in the fansub era, Sunrise/Bandai was aware that the anime population outside Japan was growing by leaps and bounds. This apparently had an impact, possibly causing a shift in their approach to certain characters, plots, and overall stories. The non-Japanese fandom was beginning to be taken more seriously, especially with the rise of anime conventions in the U.S. (you may recall that many of today's largest anime cons were first staged in the early to mid-90s).
There are seventeen Gundam series, including GWing and the newest, GSeed. The only thing of which I'm relatively certain is that all Gundam series always have a young, Japanese male as its lead character; I'm somewhat certain the secondary characters are multi-cultural (to some extent). But from the implications in that interivew, Gundam Wing was created and designed at a point when Bandai/Sunrise was beginning to seriously consider how its multi-cultural characters might be taken by viewers from those cultures. The implication in the interview was that previously this was not taken into consideration, because it wasn't expected that extra-Japan viewers were likely to be a large audience. In that sense, this shift -- and its timing as relates to GWing's production and release -- raises some rather intriguing ideas for me.
These aren't perfect analogies, granted, but they hold up relatively well. What makes them most interesting, to me, is the possibility that these additional archetypes (after the standard young, Japanese male lead) were created/added/smoothed to appeal to the viewer's cultural background as much as the original Japanese audience. A balance, then, must be struck between what a Japanese teenage fan would perceive as "culture A" versus how "culture A" would see itself. I suspect this would require, to some extent, that the archetypes be even more subtle so as to be ambiguous and therefore complimentary to both halves, even in situations where the two cultures may be in conflict (or misunderstanding) more than cooperative.
First, the representations of the characters. Heero represents not only the young Japanese lead, but to a certain extent he's also the embodiment of the last of the Samurai-like attitude during WWII. When the Emperor says fight and die, the young men did so, in droves, with pride. Heero reflects this in his actions, willingly interpreting surrender as total, and self-destructing. His progress through the series -- from fixed-on-death as the ultimate sacrifice, to willing to survive and create a New World -- echoes Japan's arc from pre-WWII to post-WWII.
Wufei is a tougher nut to crack in this analogy, given the animosity between China and Japan for so many centuries. While China had done its share of running roughshod across Japan, in more recent memory (the 30s), Japan occupied China -- a feat that still rankles on many Chinese. Compared to the partnerships between the other pilots in terms of battles and/or planning (Heero/Duo, Trowa/Quatre, Trowa/Wufei, Duo/Quatre, Heero/Trowa, Heero/Quatre), Wufei is not partnered with Heero nearly as much as the rest. If Wufei is an archetype for the rest of the Asian world (but viewed through Japanese perspective), then it's no surprise that he would be more often at odds with Heero than in a partnership. (Also note that Duo and Wufei rarely interact in the series, either; if they are representative of a Japanese perspective of the two countries, it's likely Bandai/Sunrise didn't miss that China and the US have more often been at odds than allied during the 20th century.)
Quatre is often considered Muslim in the fandom, though he never once utters the words 'Allah' or any other Islamic-type phrase. And the clothing worn by the Maganacs and Quatre's father are more reminiscent of some Hollywood notion of Turkey -- or even the stereotypical gypsies -- than the Middle East per se. It's entirely possible that Sunrise/Bandai chose the eye and hair color much like My Little Pony: one green-eyed boy, one light-blue-eyed boy, one pink horse, one blue horse... But it's also hard to discredit T.E. Lawrence as a role model for Quatre, especially with the scene where Quatre and the Maganacs attack the train, with Quatre at the head. If you've seen Lawrence of Arabia, then you've seen what could be a template for that scene in GWing. And if Quatre is a T.E. Lawrence-based archetype, this matches up with some of Quatre's other character traits: wealthy, educated upper class, throwing his lot in with a group of freedom fighters in the desert. (Oh, and gay, but Lawrence apparently considered himself somewhat asexual.)
Contrast with Trowa, who seems in fanon to often be Latin or Hispanic, another fanon assumption that I can't find grounds for in any of the official material. I would instead posit Trowa as the counterpart to Quatre, given that he's cast as such repeatedly through the series. Where Quatre is empathic, Trowa is compassionate. Where Quatre is wealthy and fights from a sense of obligation, Trowa is of mercenary background and fights because it's what he's always done. If Quatre is the European upper-class, Trowa is the downtrodden masses: they play the roles of the lord and the peon, the name everyone knows and the one with no name. In Europe through WWII, like in pre-Meiji era Japan, the faceless masses who worked the lands often had no surname. The lord's name was what others adopted when a surname was required.
And then we get to Duo, which is where the analogies get really interesting to me. I'm sure someone else has drawn these lines, but many of the sites that once housed such essays are falling to the wayside now. It's harder to find previous fans who've analyzed such, so forgive me if I'm repeating what's been written or said before. I had always approached Duo with the curiosity, as an American, of how his representation reflected the Japanese impression of the U.S. But to know that Bandai/Sunrise was writing characters with the emergent intent of appealing to non-Japanese audiences adds an additional level.
But first, we have to address Relena. Although she's decried by many in the fandom as an annoying, mostly-incidental character, if you step away from her wacky characterization (she's put through the wringer by the writers, IMO; they appear to have had trouble balancing her character into something consistently strong without going overboard), plot-wise Relena is the catharsis in most of the series. She begins with a willingness to fight, but knuckles under (or attempts pacification rather than rebellion, if you prefer), and despite essentially cooperating with the enemy eventually realizes that she must do what she can to fight.
I've seen it said that Sanq (Cinq) is Greece, but I've always felt it was more likely France. First, Cinq = five, and France is roughly a pentagonal shape. Second, the costumes and architecture reflect French-European styles, and France does have ports on the Mediterranean. But third, and most important in terms of this analogy, France began WWII attempting to fight, keeled under to the Germans, cooperated with the enemy, until finally its resistance forces rose up -- with considerable help from Britain and the U.S. -- to drive out the Germans. There's also a loose connection, then, between France and French Indochina, which Japan was busy occupying in 1940; troop movement into Indochina brought economic embargo from the U.S. as retaliation. And finally, her continued inspiration for Heero may also be a soft tweak on the longheld Japanese fascination with all things French; until a few years ago, the most common type of foreign food available in Japan was French. (Even other animes from the 70s and 80s reflect a fascination with France, like Rose of Versailles.)
Now, back to Duo. First, when Duo and Heero meet, Heero is striking out at Relena, a perceived enemy. (Like I said, the analogy is not perfect, which is why it's more of a metaphor, unless you stretch and say the French element in this case is French Indochina.) Japan, during WWII, was not acting out of a sense of unification with Hitler's Germany so much as out of a wish for conquest on its own. It had determined that point was the best time to strike, to expand its power base. It was willing to fight to the death, until two cities were decimated by the U.S.; Duo shoots Heero twice. This is where literary fun comes into the metaphor, since the story chronologically doesn't follow history exactly but instead touches on a dynamic that might still be recognizable to those knowing the help/compete relationship between Japan and the U.S.
Moving on. When Une threatens the colonies with destruction barring surrender from the Gundam rebels, she's playing a vaguely American role: if you do not accept the Potsdam Declaration (total surrender), more cities will be destroyed, like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. J's reply is that he surrenders personally, but that the colonies do not. This peculiar phrasing is also reminiscent of Emporer Hirohito's carefully-chosen semantics, in his announcement to the Japanese people that Japan "will end the war for humanitarian reasons"; he never actually used the term "surrender". Heero's actions upon J's announcement (essentially suicide) is exactly what the Imperial family feared in 1945 -- and which did happen in some limited cases; after Nagasaki was bombed, the Japanese government stalled for a week on the Potsdam Declaration while it attempted to get the word out to military officials that the Emporer would capitulate. Although that delay pushed the risk of a third bombing closer, the eventual result was fewer deaths of citizens thinking surrender required their deaths as sacrifice. Heero, in GW, does not hesitate. This is exactly how he interprets it, and it's an attitude that many Japanese would understand, while the American looks on in disbelief.
Heero's attitude after self-destructing is also reflective of the general mode of Japan, immediately following surrender. With Emporer Hirohito revealed as an ordinary human and not a God-like being, Japan flailed for a short period. It was revealed to be led by a falliable person, and the country lost a lot of its confidence and purpose. It basically went through a period of shock, much like Heero's stunned realization that he's dead to the world, and all roads are open. However, like Heero, the Japanese people pulled themselves up and got about the business of rebuilding. For Heero, this means asking for forgiveness; for the Japanese people, it meant accepting the terms of their surrender and getting back to the business of living. The analogy is weaker at this point, but Heero -- as the young Japanese male lead who embodies All That Is Good -- his attempts to rectify his wrong-doings reflect the Japanese people's attempts to repair their damaged international relations. (Heero giving up the gun to Sylvia Noventa could also be seen as a gentle echo of the Japanese agreement of the Potsdam Declaration's requirement that Japan disarm completely.)
The loose metaphor can be drawn through much of GWing, related to WWII and the interactions between the various pilots. Wufei, for the most part, remains distinct and separate, as did China for the majority of WWII. Quatre and Trowa band together at several points. If they are mirrored images of a culture (rich vs. poor), then Trowa's distrust of Quatre's willingness to help is not just Trowa's personality but also a riff on the low-income distrust of the landed gentry's generosity, which is often given and taken away with little warning. And if Quatre is the British assistance (not just in the sense of upper class, but in the sense of power and might), then his willingness to aid Relena/France echoes the British patterns -- even defending her country when she herself refuses to do so --during WWII as well.
But between Duo and Heero, as the American and Japanese archetypes, the metaphor isn't of WWII, but post-war. At the beginning of the series -- episode 2 or 3? -- Duo shoots Heero. If this were strictly playing against the WWII metaphor, this action should have happened near the end of the series. Instead, while other metaphors are playing out a WWII pattern, Duo and Heero have begun the series with the end of WWII. In that sense, the relationship between them sheds some light on how Sunrise/Bandai perceived both the Japanese/American socio-political interaction, as well as what they thought would also be a representation that would appeal to Americans. First, Duo shoots Heero (while concurrently planning to strip Heero's Gundam of all useful parts, much as American soldiers carted out many irreplaceable Japanese national treasures in the weeks following Japan's fall). Heero is left wounded, and assumed terribly injured; Sally's litany of his injuries is extensive, and if you think of Japan as a human body, I'd expect at least that many wounds to be analogous post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But Duo follows this up by bailing out Heero; America rebuilt Japan, in some places from the ground up. Then Heero takes Duo's technology and finishes the rebuild/reconstruction. They have become uneasy allies moving into some kind of friendship, but most definitely one based on competition: each is tracking the other and keeping score.
When they meet up again, and Duo has been captured and beaten down, it's Heero's turn to rescue. It's been remarked often that this back-and-forth is a hallmark of their relationship, but it's also a hallmark of Japanese-American relations for the past sixty years, too. When American hit a severe economic downturn, its manufacturing technology bogged down by legacy systems and archaic patterns, it was Japan that stepped in to educate American corporations in better methods of efficiency. Somewhere [must find to credit], there's a work on the economic lessons America taught Japan, which during the 60s and 70s America then left behind, while Japan improved on these lessons -- eventually, Japan was the one teaching the lesson back to America. This is the dynamic between Heero and Duo, and it's repeated throughout the series up to EW where Heero requests a punch before knocking out Duo. It's not a textbook friendship so much as an alliance of rivals, each seeking to one-up (and improve) the other through friendly competition. One could even go so far as to pinpoint Duo's excellent piloting skills (and Heero's reliance on them) as a nod to America's predominance in the Space Age, and its continuing superlative position in military technology such as fighter jets.
While the dynamic is not a flawless analogy to Japan-U.S. relations, it's close enough that such positive perception of both sides (interpreted as an equal exchange, taken over the entire stretch) could be potentially flattering to both the Japanese audience that relates to Heero, and the American audience that relates to Duo. The American archetype has an emphasis on indepedence, even to the point of Duo 'stealing' his Gundam while Heero 'trained' on his for years, but balanced by the Japanese archetype's emphasis on honor (eye for an eye being one part, and fulfilling debts being another).
I'll stop there because it's late and I'm tired. But that's the essay in its preliminary rough draft form. Will reread and revise later. As said before, insights and comments are welcome. Really good comments may even get quoted (but I'll ask first). Thx, all.
reminders to myself:
http://www.ex.org/2.7/04-exclusive_sunrise1.html
http://www.ex.org/3.6/09-feature_kawamori1.html
partnerships: duo/trowa/quatre, wufei, heero, comparison to WWII alliances
In an interview with Minami Masahiko, the executive producer for Cowboy Bebop and one of the collaborators on G Gundam and 08th MS Team Gundam, Masakhiko touches on a change in perspective at Sunrise/Bandai in the mid-90s. "I've heard that Japanese animation is getting more popular overseas... I personally believe I am creating something very interesting. For IRON LEAGUER, I actually had fans overseas in my mind when I was creating it." He goes on to imply that much of the reason for this is economics; the state of animation in Japan in the mid-90s was financially tight for many studios. Expanding the anime audience to appeal to a larger audience was beginning to look like the best way (if not the only way) for studios to succeed. "I would like to spread the overseas popularity of animation, so I can get a larger budget (laughs) and create more interesting works."
What caught my eye was the acknowledgment that, even that early in the fansub era, Sunrise/Bandai was aware that the anime population outside Japan was growing by leaps and bounds. This apparently had an impact, possibly causing a shift in their approach to certain characters, plots, and overall stories. The non-Japanese fandom was beginning to be taken more seriously, especially with the rise of anime conventions in the U.S. (you may recall that many of today's largest anime cons were first staged in the early to mid-90s).
There are seventeen Gundam series, including GWing and the newest, GSeed. The only thing of which I'm relatively certain is that all Gundam series always have a young, Japanese male as its lead character; I'm somewhat certain the secondary characters are multi-cultural (to some extent). But from the implications in that interivew, Gundam Wing was created and designed at a point when Bandai/Sunrise was beginning to seriously consider how its multi-cultural characters might be taken by viewers from those cultures. The implication in the interview was that previously this was not taken into consideration, because it wasn't expected that extra-Japan viewers were likely to be a large audience. In that sense, this shift -- and its timing as relates to GWing's production and release -- raises some rather intriguing ideas for me.
These aren't perfect analogies, granted, but they hold up relatively well. What makes them most interesting, to me, is the possibility that these additional archetypes (after the standard young, Japanese male lead) were created/added/smoothed to appeal to the viewer's cultural background as much as the original Japanese audience. A balance, then, must be struck between what a Japanese teenage fan would perceive as "culture A" versus how "culture A" would see itself. I suspect this would require, to some extent, that the archetypes be even more subtle so as to be ambiguous and therefore complimentary to both halves, even in situations where the two cultures may be in conflict (or misunderstanding) more than cooperative.
First, the representations of the characters. Heero represents not only the young Japanese lead, but to a certain extent he's also the embodiment of the last of the Samurai-like attitude during WWII. When the Emperor says fight and die, the young men did so, in droves, with pride. Heero reflects this in his actions, willingly interpreting surrender as total, and self-destructing. His progress through the series -- from fixed-on-death as the ultimate sacrifice, to willing to survive and create a New World -- echoes Japan's arc from pre-WWII to post-WWII.
Wufei is a tougher nut to crack in this analogy, given the animosity between China and Japan for so many centuries. While China had done its share of running roughshod across Japan, in more recent memory (the 30s), Japan occupied China -- a feat that still rankles on many Chinese. Compared to the partnerships between the other pilots in terms of battles and/or planning (Heero/Duo, Trowa/Quatre, Trowa/Wufei, Duo/Quatre, Heero/Trowa, Heero/Quatre), Wufei is not partnered with Heero nearly as much as the rest. If Wufei is an archetype for the rest of the Asian world (but viewed through Japanese perspective), then it's no surprise that he would be more often at odds with Heero than in a partnership. (Also note that Duo and Wufei rarely interact in the series, either; if they are representative of a Japanese perspective of the two countries, it's likely Bandai/Sunrise didn't miss that China and the US have more often been at odds than allied during the 20th century.)
Quatre is often considered Muslim in the fandom, though he never once utters the words 'Allah' or any other Islamic-type phrase. And the clothing worn by the Maganacs and Quatre's father are more reminiscent of some Hollywood notion of Turkey -- or even the stereotypical gypsies -- than the Middle East per se. It's entirely possible that Sunrise/Bandai chose the eye and hair color much like My Little Pony: one green-eyed boy, one light-blue-eyed boy, one pink horse, one blue horse... But it's also hard to discredit T.E. Lawrence as a role model for Quatre, especially with the scene where Quatre and the Maganacs attack the train, with Quatre at the head. If you've seen Lawrence of Arabia, then you've seen what could be a template for that scene in GWing. And if Quatre is a T.E. Lawrence-based archetype, this matches up with some of Quatre's other character traits: wealthy, educated upper class, throwing his lot in with a group of freedom fighters in the desert. (Oh, and gay, but Lawrence apparently considered himself somewhat asexual.)
Contrast with Trowa, who seems in fanon to often be Latin or Hispanic, another fanon assumption that I can't find grounds for in any of the official material. I would instead posit Trowa as the counterpart to Quatre, given that he's cast as such repeatedly through the series. Where Quatre is empathic, Trowa is compassionate. Where Quatre is wealthy and fights from a sense of obligation, Trowa is of mercenary background and fights because it's what he's always done. If Quatre is the European upper-class, Trowa is the downtrodden masses: they play the roles of the lord and the peon, the name everyone knows and the one with no name. In Europe through WWII, like in pre-Meiji era Japan, the faceless masses who worked the lands often had no surname. The lord's name was what others adopted when a surname was required.
And then we get to Duo, which is where the analogies get really interesting to me. I'm sure someone else has drawn these lines, but many of the sites that once housed such essays are falling to the wayside now. It's harder to find previous fans who've analyzed such, so forgive me if I'm repeating what's been written or said before. I had always approached Duo with the curiosity, as an American, of how his representation reflected the Japanese impression of the U.S. But to know that Bandai/Sunrise was writing characters with the emergent intent of appealing to non-Japanese audiences adds an additional level.
But first, we have to address Relena. Although she's decried by many in the fandom as an annoying, mostly-incidental character, if you step away from her wacky characterization (she's put through the wringer by the writers, IMO; they appear to have had trouble balancing her character into something consistently strong without going overboard), plot-wise Relena is the catharsis in most of the series. She begins with a willingness to fight, but knuckles under (or attempts pacification rather than rebellion, if you prefer), and despite essentially cooperating with the enemy eventually realizes that she must do what she can to fight.
I've seen it said that Sanq (Cinq) is Greece, but I've always felt it was more likely France. First, Cinq = five, and France is roughly a pentagonal shape. Second, the costumes and architecture reflect French-European styles, and France does have ports on the Mediterranean. But third, and most important in terms of this analogy, France began WWII attempting to fight, keeled under to the Germans, cooperated with the enemy, until finally its resistance forces rose up -- with considerable help from Britain and the U.S. -- to drive out the Germans. There's also a loose connection, then, between France and French Indochina, which Japan was busy occupying in 1940; troop movement into Indochina brought economic embargo from the U.S. as retaliation. And finally, her continued inspiration for Heero may also be a soft tweak on the longheld Japanese fascination with all things French; until a few years ago, the most common type of foreign food available in Japan was French. (Even other animes from the 70s and 80s reflect a fascination with France, like Rose of Versailles.)
Now, back to Duo. First, when Duo and Heero meet, Heero is striking out at Relena, a perceived enemy. (Like I said, the analogy is not perfect, which is why it's more of a metaphor, unless you stretch and say the French element in this case is French Indochina.) Japan, during WWII, was not acting out of a sense of unification with Hitler's Germany so much as out of a wish for conquest on its own. It had determined that point was the best time to strike, to expand its power base. It was willing to fight to the death, until two cities were decimated by the U.S.; Duo shoots Heero twice. This is where literary fun comes into the metaphor, since the story chronologically doesn't follow history exactly but instead touches on a dynamic that might still be recognizable to those knowing the help/compete relationship between Japan and the U.S.
Moving on. When Une threatens the colonies with destruction barring surrender from the Gundam rebels, she's playing a vaguely American role: if you do not accept the Potsdam Declaration (total surrender), more cities will be destroyed, like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. J's reply is that he surrenders personally, but that the colonies do not. This peculiar phrasing is also reminiscent of Emporer Hirohito's carefully-chosen semantics, in his announcement to the Japanese people that Japan "will end the war for humanitarian reasons"; he never actually used the term "surrender". Heero's actions upon J's announcement (essentially suicide) is exactly what the Imperial family feared in 1945 -- and which did happen in some limited cases; after Nagasaki was bombed, the Japanese government stalled for a week on the Potsdam Declaration while it attempted to get the word out to military officials that the Emporer would capitulate. Although that delay pushed the risk of a third bombing closer, the eventual result was fewer deaths of citizens thinking surrender required their deaths as sacrifice. Heero, in GW, does not hesitate. This is exactly how he interprets it, and it's an attitude that many Japanese would understand, while the American looks on in disbelief.
Heero's attitude after self-destructing is also reflective of the general mode of Japan, immediately following surrender. With Emporer Hirohito revealed as an ordinary human and not a God-like being, Japan flailed for a short period. It was revealed to be led by a falliable person, and the country lost a lot of its confidence and purpose. It basically went through a period of shock, much like Heero's stunned realization that he's dead to the world, and all roads are open. However, like Heero, the Japanese people pulled themselves up and got about the business of rebuilding. For Heero, this means asking for forgiveness; for the Japanese people, it meant accepting the terms of their surrender and getting back to the business of living. The analogy is weaker at this point, but Heero -- as the young Japanese male lead who embodies All That Is Good -- his attempts to rectify his wrong-doings reflect the Japanese people's attempts to repair their damaged international relations. (Heero giving up the gun to Sylvia Noventa could also be seen as a gentle echo of the Japanese agreement of the Potsdam Declaration's requirement that Japan disarm completely.)
The loose metaphor can be drawn through much of GWing, related to WWII and the interactions between the various pilots. Wufei, for the most part, remains distinct and separate, as did China for the majority of WWII. Quatre and Trowa band together at several points. If they are mirrored images of a culture (rich vs. poor), then Trowa's distrust of Quatre's willingness to help is not just Trowa's personality but also a riff on the low-income distrust of the landed gentry's generosity, which is often given and taken away with little warning. And if Quatre is the British assistance (not just in the sense of upper class, but in the sense of power and might), then his willingness to aid Relena/France echoes the British patterns -- even defending her country when she herself refuses to do so --during WWII as well.
But between Duo and Heero, as the American and Japanese archetypes, the metaphor isn't of WWII, but post-war. At the beginning of the series -- episode 2 or 3? -- Duo shoots Heero. If this were strictly playing against the WWII metaphor, this action should have happened near the end of the series. Instead, while other metaphors are playing out a WWII pattern, Duo and Heero have begun the series with the end of WWII. In that sense, the relationship between them sheds some light on how Sunrise/Bandai perceived both the Japanese/American socio-political interaction, as well as what they thought would also be a representation that would appeal to Americans. First, Duo shoots Heero (while concurrently planning to strip Heero's Gundam of all useful parts, much as American soldiers carted out many irreplaceable Japanese national treasures in the weeks following Japan's fall). Heero is left wounded, and assumed terribly injured; Sally's litany of his injuries is extensive, and if you think of Japan as a human body, I'd expect at least that many wounds to be analogous post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But Duo follows this up by bailing out Heero; America rebuilt Japan, in some places from the ground up. Then Heero takes Duo's technology and finishes the rebuild/reconstruction. They have become uneasy allies moving into some kind of friendship, but most definitely one based on competition: each is tracking the other and keeping score.
When they meet up again, and Duo has been captured and beaten down, it's Heero's turn to rescue. It's been remarked often that this back-and-forth is a hallmark of their relationship, but it's also a hallmark of Japanese-American relations for the past sixty years, too. When American hit a severe economic downturn, its manufacturing technology bogged down by legacy systems and archaic patterns, it was Japan that stepped in to educate American corporations in better methods of efficiency. Somewhere [must find to credit], there's a work on the economic lessons America taught Japan, which during the 60s and 70s America then left behind, while Japan improved on these lessons -- eventually, Japan was the one teaching the lesson back to America. This is the dynamic between Heero and Duo, and it's repeated throughout the series up to EW where Heero requests a punch before knocking out Duo. It's not a textbook friendship so much as an alliance of rivals, each seeking to one-up (and improve) the other through friendly competition. One could even go so far as to pinpoint Duo's excellent piloting skills (and Heero's reliance on them) as a nod to America's predominance in the Space Age, and its continuing superlative position in military technology such as fighter jets.
While the dynamic is not a flawless analogy to Japan-U.S. relations, it's close enough that such positive perception of both sides (interpreted as an equal exchange, taken over the entire stretch) could be potentially flattering to both the Japanese audience that relates to Heero, and the American audience that relates to Duo. The American archetype has an emphasis on indepedence, even to the point of Duo 'stealing' his Gundam while Heero 'trained' on his for years, but balanced by the Japanese archetype's emphasis on honor (eye for an eye being one part, and fulfilling debts being another).
I'll stop there because it's late and I'm tired. But that's the essay in its preliminary rough draft form. Will reread and revise later. As said before, insights and comments are welcome. Really good comments may even get quoted (but I'll ask first). Thx, all.
reminders to myself:
http://www.ex.org/2.7/04-exclusive_sunrise1.html
http://www.ex.org/3.6/09-feature_kawamori1.html
partnerships: duo/trowa/quatre, wufei, heero, comparison to WWII alliances
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 08:29 am (UTC)It makes sense in a way. I mean, if you stand to become popular somewhere, it would behoove you to not shoot yourself in the foot by characterizing that place or it's people too badly.
Thanks for giving me something to think about. ;)
no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 08:44 am (UTC)It's also rather amusing to me that Wufei is the pilot with probably the worst mouth of the bunch when it comes to cussing, and generally being unbelievably rude. There's always the quiet question in my head of whether the animators/creators/authors were taking their turn to thwap China on the nose, by portraying its archteype as rough trade. Then again, if you're familiar with the Cultural Revolution, China did turn rather rough trade at that point, and lose much of its elegance, if not outright destroy much of it...
no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 12:12 pm (UTC)Since your essay talks about countries, what would you think about the Wufei/Heero relationship if Wufei had a constant grudge against Heero for the entire series? Or something that L1 did to L5 a while ago, even? This would parallel the situation with the Nanjing Massacre, which is something the mainland (and even Taiwan, to some extent) is really sore about even to this day, and is the main source for anti-Japanese sentiment.
And yeah, the Cultural Revolution certainly did its part to destroy a lot of cultural heritage; something that my relatives, who fled to Taiwan after the war, find especially reprehensible. My mother actually says that due to Communism and the Cultural Revolution, China's become rough trade and different from the ones who fled to Taiwan, who, to her, have preserved their culture and manners. Unfortunately, this has become a springboard for her (and other like-minded people) to look down on mainland Chinese...
If you think Wufei has the worst mouth of the bunch, what do you think about fanfics portraying him as rather well-spoken (i.e. not so much use of contractions, well-thought out phrases) other than the "kisama"?
Personally, if I'd rate the roughness of speech patterns, it would be Duo, Wufei, Heero and Trowa, and then Quatre. But that's just me.
no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 02:44 pm (UTC)(I've heard numerous stories of when people tried to bring the Cultural Revolution to Hong Kong, and the tensions and destruction there, and that was minimal compared to the mainland.)
I've also seen bits and pieces in histories that I can't quite now recall that imply part of Japan's attitude about China was a perspective that China wasn't cultured enough. I suppose we always fight our (cultural) cousins far more viciously than our complete opposites, since they remind us too closely of our own flaws. But I'd have to ask the anthropologists in the group to weigh in on that...
As for fanfics, I think 90% of that can be blamed on English-speaking audience whose only basis is Sunrise/Bandai's inadequate translation. Duo gets the most cuss words - shit, damn, hell. Wufei cusses less, IIRC, but his verb tenses (I've been told) are far harsher and cruder. It would not be unexpected for Wufei to say to Queen Elizabeth, "hey, you" instead of a more formal greeting. It's the utter lack of respect for anyone, in a way that can really only be demonstrated that completely using a language (like Japanese) in which every word conveys the respectful relationship between two speakers. Wufei talks down to everyone. It's harder to show that in English just by words alone. Not impossible, just harder.
But then, don't even get me started on speech patterns. It still bugs me that fanfic writers use honorifics, when the only characters I heard using honorifics in the series were Relena (Heero-kun), Howard (Duo-kun), and Quatre (Trowa-kun). I can't even remember if Sally uses them.
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 03:07 pm (UTC)I'll have to see the series in Japanese, now that I have a better handle on the language and can tell faster. Assuming, however, that Wufei represents pre-liberation China, his speech shouldn't have been rougher, given that he probably follows Confucian edicts to some degree and there's a lot of stress on manners 'n stuff. Oh, and tons of proverbs, since that's the entire freaking Chinese language in and of itself.
As for the Japanese attitude about lack of Chinese culture, that was before the Second World War, closer to the first. It was because China was weak around that time (what with imperialism) and weren't all that interested in being progressive (Boxer Rebellion was recent in that time). I remember seeing political cartoons where the Chinese are represented as insects and not all that close to human anymore.
Oh, Lord, the honorifics. "Hee-chan" still has me twitching. And how many times in the series did Heero actually say "I'm going to kill you?"
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 03:23 pm (UTC)Oh, and tons of proverbs, since that's the entire freaking Chinese language in and of itself.
*falls over laughing*
Ahem. I'm not sure if Wufei's language is necessarily coarse/rough in and of itself, so much as the fact that he speaks to everyone as though they were the lower on the respect levels. That's what I meant by it's probably harder to convey this in English, because (again with the laissez-faire class attitudes) we don't have a language that emphasizes who is On Top and who is Underneath. In the US, Wufei's alleged lack of respect would be seen as a straight-talker, if abrupt and rude. Duo's mouth would probably lose him more points than Wufei's attitude, if not equally but for different reasons.
As for Heero's phrase...actually, I recall he said it a great deal. He says it to the unknown fighters (Zechs and co.) in episode one, and to Relena (a bunch of times). Says it to Duo once or twice, I think, and to Wufei several times. Oh, and to Quatre. But Relena gets it the most -- but he does say it. Quite often, compared to some of the other phrases reused in fanfic. Duo, for instance, only gives his little introduction speech of run/hide just once.
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 03:39 pm (UTC)Wufei spouting proverbs would have been cool, but it would have been a hell of a problem to translate into English or Japanese without him coming off as anything short of hilarious.
I think in Chinese that there's more of an on-top and underneath conveyance in the actions, rather than the language. Granted, there's more polite language, but in Japanese, there's honorific speaking and humble, which I've been told younger Japanese have a hell of a hard time doing today. The Chinese, from what I know (granted, I was brought up speaking more directly in Mandarin), have maybe a few honorific words, but that's about it.
In Japanese, if it wasn't for the usage of "kisama" Wufei's language would be on the same level as Heero and Trowa, I think. The way those two speak are standard for Japanese males; not necessarily rough, but definitely not to be used in the classroom or to higher-ups.
Hmmm. A re-watching of the series is in order, because I only remember two instances when Heero said that phrase. In fanfic, though, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't use it as much as he does in those stories...
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 05:03 pm (UTC)As for Heero's favorite phrase. Let's see. He says it to Relena when he tears up her invitation, again at some point (either before the dance or when he's about to shoot her, can't remember), again when she's been crowned, another time on Libra, I think? Says it to Zechs two or three times. Duo, once or twice. Quatre, once (when trying to stop Quatre from killing Trowa). I think he even says it to Trowa when he thinks Trowa's gone to the Dark Side. Then again, I think it's also the creators/writers way of highlighting that of the five, Heero is as disliking of actual killing as Quatre; he talks, but doesn't follow through.
There are also embedded criticisms of Japan in GWing, and in many of the other Gundams, but I'll leave that for a separate section of the essay. Whew.
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Date: 20 Jan 2005 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2005 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 08:54 am (UTC)Now knowing that there was this shift in perception of the popularity of anime in a non-Japanese market, this makes a great deal of sense. I'm finding that, as I read this, there could definitely be very strong parallels between the way Bandai/Sunrise have handled cultural blends - the point about Wufei/China vs Heero/Japan being, for example.
I'm getting the feeling of a cultural inspiration and/or introspection here, rather than an exact formula, that could account for the fluctuating dynamic you mentioned here:
(Much like the movie 'Pretty Woman' being more reminiscent of 'My Fair Lady', which was more reminiscent of 'Pygmalion', than either film being a direct remake of the previous one - Oh God, I don't believe I referenced those films! :P)
I fully agree that it's definitely close enough, and flattering enough to appeal across the board. No one great power comes out as completely dominant (although, of course, being a Japanese program, one expects the overall 'hero' to be Japanese ^_~).
And thanks for clearing up that annoying piece of fanon re: Quatre = Arabic, Trowa = Latin(o)! That dynamic, put in those terms, also now makes much more sense!
Only 'crit' comment I might have is that, for some reason, my personal 'readability radar' blips at 'extra-Japan' as the opposite of 'intra-Japan' - sounds kinda like there's another Japan waiting out there in the wings in case this one falls over! :D
My mind's been going a mile a minute to think of the phrase on the tip of my tongue ^^ inter-Japan? (I'm thinking intra-state = our state, inter-state = states outside of mine) I think that's it. Just a suggestion, though.
Tagging this for a read later on! Certainly comes in handy.
Cheers for now!
PS Comment enough for ya? ^_~ Geez, even when I type, I can't be quiet. ^^
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 09:14 am (UTC)Yes, the whole Quatre/Trowa dynamic is its own intriguing aspects, especially when you step back and look at the fact that the G-girls mirror the G-boys. Hilde is a pilot and mechanic like Duo; Relena is as principled and driven as Heero. It's in Trowa's and Quatre's mirrors that the comparisons are flipped. Dorothy is the warmonger to Quatre's cries for peace, while Cat loathes war and all things war-related while Trowa is ready to die in battle. The series has many flaws, but one thing that has always bugged me (as a writer) is that Dorothy, at the end, is shown to have far more in common with Quatre than previously expected. Ignoring the fact that this revelation was rushed, and her character abruptly twisted in the last few episodes, but my point is that we never get to see Cathy acknowledging that sometimes, one might fight to defend/create peace, too.
Uh, I should probably go to bed now. I'll save the Quatre/Trowa comparisons for a second part of this essay or another on its own. *sigh*
Mah head huhrts.
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 09:16 am (UTC)Sleepy-byes for Sol ^_~
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 06:03 pm (UTC)She may not say it, but her actions speak to it. She does haul off and clock Trowa one in the name of convincing him not to self-destruct, and her defensive stance towards Quatre when he comes to find Trowa (post Wing ZERO vs. Vayate) indicated - to me, anyway - that she had no qualms about physically keeping Quatre away from Trowa if she had to.
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 07:05 pm (UTC)Then again, it's also possible that Dorothy's twist at the end (which was badly set up, and a radical departure from her previous position requiring some skillful retconning on the part of the writers and viewers) was not planned from the start. Instead, I wonder if they gave Dorothy that last bit (after the duel with Quatre) as a way to redeem her, since there are no completely-bad villians, and she was moving fast towards becoming one without some explanation for her motives.
The dynamic isn't perfectly balanced, and while I wouldn't want it perfectly so, the writer part of me can see where the symmetry is lacking in terms of driving home the usual Gundam message (which is not cut and dried, either).
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 12:00 pm (UTC)As an American currently living in Japan, I liked the part between the Japanese-U.S. relations a great deal, and find a lot of truth in them; while there's definitely competition between the two countries, there's also a great deal of respect in each regards to the other.
One thing I would like to say about Duo's character, which could be way off the mark; in a class, we were doing presentations on our countries, and there were tons of anti-American sentiments bounced around. Now, having been a child of Chinese parents, it's not really anything new to me, but in a way, to me, Duo takes one American stereotype of being goofy and happy-go-lucky and not looking all that serious about his job, and then turning out to be one of the better pilots in the group, if not at least just as competent (they're all equal, in my opinion, but I'm thinking about that episode where Duo beats the Mercurius and Vayeate without Zero). One thing I heard from elders was that there was a lot more discipline and strictness in The Home Country compared to America, and that America was the worse off for it, but they never seemed to see that despite all that, it's a pretty damn good country.
I apologize profusely if this doesn't make sense; I've been doing papers all week, but I wanted to throw that point in about Duo and the U.S. before I forgot it completely.
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 02:49 pm (UTC)One way to express that with a slighly positive twist would be to show Duo as relatively laissez-faire, but still very good at what he does, which is what I think Sunrise/Bandai did. That's both playing up to the Japanese/non-American perception and still stroking the egos of the American viewers, because most Americans (myself among them) are not bothered by such a reputation but flattered. It fits with our looser class structure, our belief in the 'self-made man', the plain talker who's not in it for Getting A Title or Being Recognized but just 'cause it's the right thing to do.
Duo, strangely, reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt; someone who laughs loud and has a great time and seems to be quite easy-going and full of verve...but when it comes down to brass tacks, he'd slam America's enemies hard, and fast. Teddy being the one who coined the phrase, "speak softly and carry a big stick." While that could also be applied to Quatre, I think it fits Duo more, overall. Except not big stick. Lots of explosives. ;D
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 10:44 pm (UTC)However, Quatre and Trowa are the only two of the five with French-based numerical names. While 'duo' is also an Italian word, it's the only one of the five that is also an English word. I would be more inclined to believe the fanon 'Hispanic/Latin' basis for Trowa if his name were Tres (trace), not Trois (trowa).
Personally, I've always liked to lean towards Trowa having Basque roots, simply because they're such a proud, independent people who are relatively isolated -- and traditionally quite ruthless in battle.
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Date: 20 Jan 2005 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2005 01:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 12:43 pm (UTC)Mh. I'll have to go over this in quiet once more.
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2005 09:43 pm (UTC)I may have to look into this on my own now... Will you be posting a link to the final version when it's finished?
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 10:47 pm (UTC)The thing that I admire, as a writer, is the mix. That for some of the characters, the template is the war; for others, it's post-war. That makes for a nice series of contrasts, mixing up the metaphors a little so it's not quite as laid-out. Or simple for readers to determine (and thus predict). ;D
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Date: 19 Jan 2005 11:25 pm (UTC)I love the correlations between the characters and cultural archetypes but I'm less convinced about the reasons for this - does it just have to do with expanding the anime fanbase internationally or could there also be other reasons? It could be just that the Japanese creators are particularly interested in exploring that piece of their history rather intensely, as they've done in other anime and manga, as well as trying to explore the horrific fallout of the worst-case scenario of the nuclear possibilities on WW2 (Tokyo is destroyed and there's a horrible new world out there). I think that it's interesting that studios are thinking about their international audiences but you haven't made a strong link between that and the plot, characterisation etc in GW. The stronger part of the article is the character/culture link.
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Date: 20 Jan 2005 12:35 am (UTC)Actually, there are other reasons as to the POV that's expressed, which is really nothing new to the Gundam folks. But since I wanted to focus on the dynamics between Heero and Duo as an archetype itself, I figured I'd put the "what are they really saying and why" (in the overall picture) off for the next part of the essay. It just happened to be that the essay made me think about the fact that they might not have just been trying to communicate to Japanese audiences (like previously) but to make non-Japanese audiences included in the overall message.
Currently the draft is badly warped as I fill in blanks, but generally it's:
Heero/Duo, Jap-Anglo Relations
Quatre/Trowa, Class Relations
Relena & French Connection
Wufei/Heero vs. the Allies
Stuff like that. I'll keep posting drafts, I suppose, although there may be some duplication as I move sections from one place over to a different section if it fits better.
And weren't you the one who pegged the Maganacs as Turkish? Or was that someone else? Hmm.
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Date: 20 Jan 2005 09:47 pm (UTC)Okay, quite willing to take your word that there are more arguments for your initial thesis and will look for them in future drafts.
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Date: 20 Jan 2005 04:04 am (UTC)And speaking of Quatre, I recall reading something about his middle name, Raberba being taken from the name Berber. And the Berbers were at one time supposedly all blond-haired and blue-eyed. (I don't think they are today because of intermarriage.)
I was a bit skeptical at first of the connections you made between WWII international relations and those of GW, but the more I read, the more you convinced me that the writers actually wrote with those thoughts in mind.
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Date: 20 Jan 2005 05:01 am (UTC)I think Berbers are historically blue-eyed, but I'd have to check on that.
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Date: 1 Feb 2005 03:07 am (UTC)Just curious. THANKS.
PS. I've read some of your work (All of Me, Cinnamon, Mint, and Smoke), and have come to the conclusion that you're a force of nature. If you ever do independent work and get published, PLEASE make it known. I really wish I were as good a writer as you. Thanks for sharing.
Lead character in gundam series
Date: 19 Sep 2011 04:51 pm (UTC)I think it might be misconceived to say that the lead character in Gundam series is always a younh Japanese male. It's not true.
In Gundam 00 the lead character is Setsuna F. Seiei, and while he does have a Japanese name his real identity is Soran Ibrahim. The Japanese name of him is just a codename, therefore he isn't Japanese. In Gundam 00 he came from Krugis, Azadistan.
Just to let you know, didn't mean to really criticise you but I think it's wrong to generalize all the Gundam series since not all have a Japanese lead character.
Re: Lead character in gundam series
Date: 19 Sep 2011 10:29 pm (UTC)