For Chinese people born in the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese comics can be said to be one of the memory symbols of childhood.
"Doraemon" and " One Piece " that many people have read are top Japanese comics. The author also liked reading Japanese comics when I was a child. My favorites are "Dragon Ball", "Conan" and "Doraemon" .
There are many topics that can be discussed about Japanese comics, especially those classic works. If you review them carefully, you can also analyze the social style at that time.
On station B, Pan Nini, an associate professor at East China Normal University, has a course on animation analysis. She came to a point: If an anime is very popular, it means that it has grasped the issues of the times and become an outlet for the public sentiment at that time.
Families of different classes
There is a set of numbers, which means that Japanese people love to read. In the 1990s, the most favorite thing for Japanese people to read was comic books and , and the sales volume of those national-level comics exceeded one million.
In the course, the first one listed by Teacher Pan was the national-level comic "Doraemon".
She said, which political party will the parents of Nobita , Shizuka , Fat Tiger and Xiaofu vote for in the general election? When we read comics, we definitely don’t think about this problem.
Fujimoto Hiroshi, the author of "Doraemon", was born in 1933 and experienced Japan's war of aggression against China in his childhood. The manga began serialization in 1970, and the protagonists of the story, Nobita and Shizuka, were born in 1964.
Those of us who are comic book fans are familiar with the families of the four main characters.
Nobita's father is an office worker and can play golf in his spare time on weekends, but his family is not wealthy; Shizuka's parents may be university professors or publishing editors; Panghu's family runs a grocery store; Xiaofu's family is very wealthy, so it should be Is a member of Dai Co., Ltd. The geographical location of the
comic is set in Nerima District of Tokyo. These four families represent the four classes of Tokyo. Then the question comes, why can four children with different family backgrounds play together?
The political background of this era was the long-term rule of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party from 1955 to 1991. This stage happened to be the stage of Japan's rapid take-off. At that time, Japan seized the development opportunity, established itself through trade and technology, and undertook the industrial transformation of the world.
This is the happiest golden age for Japanese people. My husband's family lives in a mansion, and Nobita and Shizuka's family also has a two-story house. For the Japanese at that time, living within the system of a large organization meant they could enjoy social dividends.
The state took the lead in economic development and allocated development benefits to enterprises to provide self-service benefits. Therefore, society at that time attached great importance to the stability of the employment relationship. Fat Hu's family runs a grocery store and is not part of the system, so compared to the other three, they are considered a low- to middle-income group in society.
The Liberal Democratic Party that was in power at the time, mainly through building a welfare state and improving economic development as its main goal, completely controlled social resources, and Japan did develop very well.
Among the four families at that time, the husband's family was a vested interest and would definitely vote for the Liberal Democratic Party. The Fat Tiger family relied heavily on social stability and would also vote for the Liberal Democratic Party. The Shizuka family are highly intellectual and may vote for the left-wing Socialist Party . The Daxiong family belongs to the middle class and may also support the Socialist Party.
So in comics, Fat Tiger and Xiaofu often bully Nobita, but Shizuka is very gentle to Nobita, which is easy to understand.
Doraemon represents technology and the future. For the Japanese at that time, as long as they concentrated on development, they could achieve a better future.
Who does Evangelion represent?
In the 1990s, Japan's rapid development came to an abrupt end and began to slow down. Society has become less desirable, and young people have begun to lie flat.
At this time, another classic comic came out, which was " Neon Genesis Evangelion ". When this comic was first released, the ratings were average, and the last few episodes were even ended hastily due to financial issues.Unexpectedly,
would have more and more influence in the later period, and almost became the savior of the Japanese animation industry at that time. A large number of derivatives subsequently appeared, forming a huge system.
This comic is about three young pilots, one man and two women, operating mecha robots and fighting monsters from another world.
Teacher Pan believes that "Neon Genesis Evangelion" captured the hearts of that generation of Japanese audiences, expressed their desire to no longer pursue consensus, and showed more of the daily life of young men and women outside of war.
The recognized artistic achievement of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" is also in the aspect of character creation.
The male protagonist of the story, mecha pilot Ikari Shinji, is a young man who lacks self-confidence. He never wanted to be a soldier and was forced to go to the battlefield by his father. Every time he went into battle, his mood was dominated by fear, and he always wanted to escape.
In the second half of the animation, he fell into self-doubt and was extremely depressed. This is also a portrayal of Japanese youth at that time. They lived a life of low desires because they could not see the meaning in traditional life and felt that it was not worth fighting for.
The other two heroines are Asuka in red and Rei Ayanami in blue. Asuka's character is arrogant, full of energy and strong fighting spirit. Her character is similar to dopamine . The extremely silent Ayanami Rei is like serotonin . The more serotonin is secreted, the calmer the person's mood.
It is said that Rei Ayanami is the first true virtual idol in the history of animation. It is probably because she gradually developed an emotional personality from an emotionless character under the gaze of the audience. The audience feels as if she is herself. Get involved too. The generation of
just grew up in an environment with low emotional and resource mobility. They could not see how to realize their desires, and the real pressure to survive was not that strong. They just don't want to act and think at the same time.
The soft power of Japanese comics
When animation created a space for teenagers to express themselves, we saw the strong influence of this industry. In recent years, Japan has operated the animation industry as a national brand, which can be said to be the country's influence in culture and ideology .
In the beginning, Japanese politicians looked down on cheap products like comics. By the time of Japan's economic boom in the 1970s and 1980s, the animation industry was just a form of mass entertainment, with the benefit of being green and environmentally friendly.
By the end of the 20th century, Japan's economic and international political influence had weakened, and politicians discovered that the originally humble animation industry had had a huge impact on teenagers in the United States and neighboring East Asian countries, establishing a A beautified national cultural image.
"Pokémon", another national-level Japanese animation, has formed "Pokemon cultural hegemony" in the United States, which is really an unexpected surprise for Japanese politicians.
Then there is the popular anime "One Piece" after the 21st century. The protagonist can be described as starry and adventurous. The author Oda Eiichiro advocates personal views in the comics, reflects Western hegemony, and emphasizes that the world can be changed through action.
Teacher Pan pointed out that because Japanese comics are so popular, they have to be drawn longer and longer. The protagonist’s combat power must become stronger and stronger as the villain becomes stronger, just like Goku in "Dragon Ball".
This is related to the Japanese character and traditional thinking. The protagonists of comics rarely have personality changes, and their behavior patterns are simple from the beginning, with strong self-awareness. Whether it is Conan, Luffy , or Goku, this is different from Japan The state of society is relatively consistent.
Iconic pop culture symbols may seem ever-changing, but in fact they all have clearly visible emotions of the times.
