The notion that social cohesion trumps the interest of the individual is probably as ingrained in Japanese culture as in any in the modern world, & Japanese media such as anime & manga reflect that. Even those which are most sympathetic to the marginalized individual rarely provide a "win condition" which is not in the direction of conformity & integration. I think, for example, of Frolbericheri Frol in They Were Eleven. The results will generally be appalling to someone whose value system is that of 1970s white America, in which self-actualization is the supreme good, to be pursued at all costs — although I would argue that this results from psychological advertising techniques more than any genuine intellectual movement.
I have no brief to defend or promote My Hero Academia, a show toward which I am basically indifferent, but it does seem to me fairly pointless to criticize something on the grounds that it uncritically embodies widely-recognized underlying assumptions of the culture of the creator. No doubt shonen anime can serve as a vehicle for incisive cultural commentary, but it usually doesn't, & to expect otherwise is to be chronically disappointed.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2020-06-11 08:48 pm (UTC)The notion that social cohesion trumps the interest of the individual is probably as ingrained in Japanese culture as in any in the modern world, & Japanese media such as anime & manga reflect that. Even those which are most sympathetic to the marginalized individual rarely provide a "win condition" which is not in the direction of conformity & integration. I think, for example, of Frolbericheri Frol in They Were Eleven. The results will generally be appalling to someone whose value system is that of 1970s white America, in which self-actualization is the supreme good, to be pursued at all costs — although I would argue that this results from psychological advertising techniques more than any genuine intellectual movement.
I have no brief to defend or promote My Hero Academia, a show toward which I am basically indifferent, but it does seem to me fairly pointless to criticize something on the grounds that it uncritically embodies widely-recognized underlying assumptions of the culture of the creator. No doubt shonen anime can serve as a vehicle for incisive cultural commentary, but it usually doesn't, & to expect otherwise is to be chronically disappointed.