Critical Returning1-Translating

 

Summary

For my project about why Anime or Japanese animation is a respectable art form I found many different websites, articles and books about my subject. The one I chose for this post was an article done by Shinobu Price. I felt Cartoons from Another planet: Japanese Animation as Cross-Cultural Communication had everything I needed to explain my subject and my viewpoint.

In Price’s article he beings by explaining what anime is and its history. This gives the viewer, even those not sure what anime is, a good sense of what it is. Price also discuses the stylistic differences of Japanese animation and the reasons behind them. The article also talks about the themes anime expresses, as well as the misconceptions of anime. He basically was trying to clear animes name in our nation. Because most people in America and many other countries feel anime is for children or porn.

 

Response

As I have stated before my subject for my project was to defend anime as a legitimate art style.  Like Price wrote, “Westerners often treat animation, or ‘cartoons’, with such hierarchical disdain that forces it to be labeled as an inferior art form”, which has happened to me(Price, 154). Many of my art teachers, throughout my life, have told me my art style was too childish or I should not draw anime. I would often question why and it would always frustrate me. I think if more people were like Price and saw how “ child-only animated fare makes up only a small portion of the greater art form as a whole”, then maybe they would change there minds!(Price, 154) I loved that fact he stated this as well as the fact that he is Japanese. I feel since he is he gives us a more up close and personal view of what animation is really about. This is another reason why I chose this article. As for the more adult content Price explains that “anime artist [use anime], “1) as a realm of fantasy in which pent up repression can be released in an exciting and justifiable arena, and 2) for a direct confrontation of  those  very issues that plague human society and consciousness” (Cartoons from Another Planet,159). I agree with this statement as I feel that is what all art does. It allows us to convey and feel emotions that other wise might not be acceptable. This is why anime is a respectable and legitimate art form.