The Japanese as Romantics
Material presented at MCAD's 2001 "Girls and Mobilesuits" Anime Seminar. All images are properties of their respective artist, publisher, or distributor, and used for academic purposes only.
I'm using "Romanticism" loosely, but it often implies the following:
- Strong emotion over intellect
- Imagination
- Rejection or rebellion against strict social order/conventions
- Visionary, transcendental
- Inclining toward appreciating Nature
- Personal, turning inward
- Exploring mood
- Individualistic
- Exotic
- Focus on the hero and his passions
- Glimpse of the spiritual through imagination
- (Also, historically, Romanticism was both an intellectual and artistic movement)
Hmmm, this contrasts rather markedly with the stereotypes of the
Japanese....
Next... stereotypes of Anime