Thought Provoking Question

[JudeB]

1. If an American cartoon was made by a Japanese writer/director, does it count as a cartoon or an anime?
2. If a Japanese anime was made by an American writer/director, does the question above still stand?

 

[Tired]

In Japan, the word "anime" actually just means any animation (so also Disney and Pixar). The strict distinction mostly exists in Western fandom.

 

[Judge]

Interesting. NOW I get the motivation for asking such a question.

Can We Call It Anime If It's Made in America? Prepare for Controversy

 

[velociraptor]

NOW I get the motivation for asking such a question.

Some people tend to confuse cultural appreciation with cultural appropriation. There is nothing wrong with admiring a culture so deeply that you follow its teachings in your own life. I've had the occasional person climb on my back over this and I don't bother arguing with them. Fanatics. I tell them to bite my arse and move on.

 

[Lou Laurinen]

Some people tend to confuse cultural appreciation with cultural appropriation. There is nothing wrong with admiring a culture so deeply that you follow its teachings in your own life. I've had the occasional person climb on my back over this and I don't bother arguing with them. Fanatics. I tell them to bite my arse and move on.

My husband is Finnish (more specifically Finnish/Swedish-American, if anyone wants total clarity here) and a lot of people find my interest in his culture, and the fact that I've sort of adopted his culture into my own life, very weird and some people have even claimed that it's "problematic."
I'm not fetishizing his culture or anything... and when we met, the first thing we connected over was me being interested in Nordic culture... so it clearly didn't offend him...

I think being interested in your spouse's culture 100% goes in the category of appreciation, not appropriation. Same with liking anime or liking another culture's food or something. Or listening to music or watching films in a different language.
There are definitely ways in which you can be disrespectful or offensive to another culture, but I don't think anything I've just listed here goes in that category.

I don't understand what is problematic about appreciating and being interested in another culture, especially if that is a culture that you've married into. People are weird these days.

 

[velociraptor]

I don't understand what is problematic about appreciating and being interested in another culture, especially if that is a culture that you've married into.

I have a deep admiration for the Japanese worldview. Particularly Shinto and Wabi Sabi. I've tried to adopt these practices and this outlook in my own life. I don't claim that I am Japanese or that I am even doing any of it correctly, but I think they're onto something that can improve anyone's life, not just the lives of people who are Japanese.

And anyone who doesn't like it can bite my arse.

 

[Outdated]

Also, there's Anime and then there's Anime. The origins of that art style aren't a pleasant story.

There was a whole generation of them, little Japanese girls with big sad American eyes, ostracised by mainstream society and left to fend for themselves while their unmarried mothers worked six days a week.

In Australia some forms of Anime will get you arrested for having child exploitation material. The art form itself has evolved a long way from it's early beginnings but the stain is still there.