“Oh No, There Goes Tokyo”, written by William M. TsuTsui, analyses the way that Japanese popular culture such as films, TV shows, Mangas and animations respond to different disasters that the country encountered. The TsuTsui (2010) argues that “films reflect world-wide anxieties, and they serve to allay them”, which in the movies, the monsters are always defeated in the end. Therefore the writer highlights that Japanese popular culture reveals the vulnerability of its country towards the catastrophic events caused by nature and human, such as atomic bombing, economic crisis and earthquake. The death of the monsters, could comfort the audience while reflects positive attitude of Japanese people towards the disasters and their future.
I agree with the author that, films are always created to respond a situation or attitude of a community. For example Japanese sci-fi animation, such as Battle in Outer Space, was created to response the war. A serious destruction of the world is always portrayed, yet the victory of human being often come to the end. So the audiences would feel tension and an anxiety for the destroyed homeland depicted in the movie or animation. They would associate it with the disasters they encountered, but eventually comforted by the happy ending, when people are survived from the catastrophe. This thus gives a hope for the audience towards their future. Other example, such as the Marvel Heroes, who are actually created by Jewish artists who immigrated to America. The heroes are reflecting the view of the artists themselves, towards their American Dream. In an interview with the artists, they pointed out that the superheroes as if a reflection of the artists themselves, in which from the outside they are ordinary, poor and excluded by the American society, but from the inside who wish to be powerful and gives secure to the country (Terry, 2014). The superheroes all having a tragic and unstable background, which shares a similarity with the artists’ background, as well as reflects the turmoil situation of America during the period of Great Depression and other events. Although the tragic background of the heroes, they believes their mission of protect the world from the villains, and in the end the justices always win. Hence, the popular culture criticizes the catastrophic event happened to the society, and comforts the viewers from it. While the creator’s perception towards their situation is also reflected through it.
“Secure horror” and “open-ended nihilism” are mentioned by the author which has inspired me to reflect on the Japanese popular culture and the message that the producer would like to convey. “Secure horror” is a sense created by the movies, in which the audiences would feel fear even though they are in a safe location. While “open-ended nihilism” suggest the question of whether human could defy the catastrophes in the end, or even who are the actual villain. TsuTsui highlights that the recent manga and anime are more darker than before, in response to the widespread idea of Japan as a hopeless dystopian, where its people always encounter disasters. For example, in the KingKung movies, the monster who symbolize the disasters that people encountered. The death of the monster reassures the fear of the audiences. However this sense of “secure horror” also leads the audiences to reflect deeper on whether the monster or human is the evil. Because KingKung, in another perspective, also symbolizes nature. He destroyed the city merely to express yearn for his homeland, the forest, which has replaced by the tall buildings. In addition, one of the animations that I have watched called “Tokyo Ghoul” also reflects a similar idea. A monster called Ghoul who are trying to killed human in order to survive, which triggers a serious war between the two ethnicity. The story ends with a happy ending, but it also leaves a question of which side is the justice one, because both sides are fight for their ethnicity. Therefore “secure horror” in both examples, besides reassuring the audience from their anxiety, but also to bring a deeper impression of them towards the movie. This thus to trigger them reflect deeper on the current situation of the community. The “open-ended nihilism” in Kingkung and Tokyo Ghoul, suggests a more pessimistic attitude of Japanese people nowadays towards the catastrophic events, in which deaths will always be inevitable and the survival of human ethnicity is more uncertain. In addition, people’s doubt of human existence, and who would be the justice is also revealed.
References:
Terry, Erica. “Comic Book Superheroes and the Jewish Artists Who Created Them.” Jspace News. December 12, 2016. http://jspacenews.com/comic-book-heroes-jewish-artists-created/.
Tsuitsui W.M. (2010). Oh No, There Goes Tokyo: Recreational Apocalypse and the City in postwar Japanese Popular Culture. In Noir urbanisms: Dystopic images of the modern city (pp. 104-126). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
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