4. 1. Secondary art form
The commercial success of Japanese animation lies in its creation of a large number of virtual idols. The over-perfection of Japanese animation is not only reflected in the characters, but also in the overall fantasy world created by animation. I'm afraid Japanese animation can't accept 3D animation in a short time, because the pursuit of Japanese animation is not to make the picture real, but to make people realize the illusory beauty. Because the mainstream of Japanese animation is two-dimensional graphic works, comics, animations and other works of the same fan with similar spirit become "two-dimensional art", which implies that they are two-dimensional art on the one hand and create a world different from and similar to this world on the other, that is, "different dimensions".
In other words, the whole ACG industry is secondary. The establishment of secondary spirit was mainly completed during the period of 1987- 1997, and animation was his core. At the end of this decade, animation and real shooting are almost incompatible. This situation eased later, but the conflict was the most intense at that time.
Only a few works, such as Jin Tianyi Youth Affairs Book, have realized the amphibious development of animation and live-action movies, and comics are needed as a relatively compatible medium. The real scenes in animation have only appeared in recent years, and most of them are processed by computer special effects, or connected with the already real animation background, which makes people unable to distinguish between true and false for a time. In the history of Japanese animation, there is probably only one famous example of inserting real shots into works without scruple, that is, the real shots of trash cans, cinemas and letters cursed and supervised in "New Century Gospel Warrior Theater Edition: Sincerely for You" released in July 1997. In fact, these scenes are meaningless. They may just be monitoring Hideaki Anno's boring behavior of retaliating against the audience. After that, Hideaki Anno also developed in real life shooting. Even such a masterpiece, such a picture, such behavior can not be accepted by the public. The gap between the second dimension and reality is profound.
4.2. Otaku culture
Otaku culture is the most important part of secondary culture and the representative of Japanese animation culture.
Otaku means "the home of the emperor", which is your home. In Macross, the heroine once used this word to address the hero. After that, the word otaku was used by anime fans to address each other. In other words, the word otaku was originally defined as an anime fan. The definition and development of the word otaku is related to the status of Japanese animation at home and abroad. First of all, let's review the development of the word otaku.
(1) On derogatory parochialism;
1983, social critic Mori Mingfu published a column in the magazine Comic Burikko, and defined "otaku" as "a person obsessed with animation and science fiction without connotation". The name "otaku" first appeared in the media. It should be said that the first appearance of the word "otaku" is negative. However, this does not mean that "otaku" has been known to the public. After all, the "anime science fiction" at that time was only a niche industry.
(Data) The reason why the definition of otaku began to narrow is the famous Japanese "Miya Chyi Chin Incident". From August 1988 to February 12, three cases of missing girls aged 4-7 occurred in saitama, and the body of one of the victims was found. In February of the following year, a suspect named "Yoko Imada" sent the skeleton to the home of the deceased with a criminal statement attached. A 5-year-old girl disappeared in Tokyo in June and was later found dismembered. The murderer's means of killing can only be described as "dehumanizing", which has attracted the attention of the Japanese police authorities. Later, after many attempts, Gong, a 23-year-old criminal suspect, was arrested in July. When collecting evidence in his residence, the police accidentally found a lot of information about cartoons, as well as a large number of cartoons, fan stories and pornographic films describing sexual perversion and abuse, as well as abnormal videos he shot when abducting girls. He also admitted to killing and dismembering four girls ... Later, after psychiatric appraisal, it was confirmed that Gong had multiple personality split tendencies. (Information) At this point, the mainstream definition of "otaku" in society has become "a subculture group that is easy to immerse itself in the fantasy world and lacks normal social life experience."
(2) narcissism:
Okada Toshio is a famous Japanese otaku king. His book Introduction to Otaku gives the following definitions to Otaku: "He has a high ability to search for reference materials", "He has the vision to adapt to this over-image era, has the ability to search for information in different fields, is a greedy connoisseur, and never misses the secret words suggested by the creators", "It also includes-insatiable ambition and self-expression." "In the 20th century, known as the image century, a new race, in other words, a race whose sensitivity to images has greatly evolved."
This definition may be the most positive, but there is this obvious otaku component. This statement may be more from my own experience. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to think of an otaku as a person with some special abilities. I think its rationality lies in the particularity of animation.
Otaku may be very sensitive to the information in anime because he has been watching anime for a long time. This expression of Japanese animation was essentially created by a group of people in the 1960s +0987- 1997. Take the lens as an example, this expression is like a language. If you use a language for a long time in a specific language environment, you will master it. It's like if a person speaks Chinese to us, we can understand the rich content behind those words. If he says that we have studied English for many years, we will not be able to see through him so easily. The expression of animation is essentially a complete way of thinking.
One sentence will make different people have the same association. For otaku, the picture reflected in his mind when he despises novels may be similar to that in real animation. When we hear a person's sentence, we know what he will say next. For otaku, you will know what the next shot is when you see the first shot, and you will know the general development of the whole drama when you watch the opening animation. We can tell the true feelings behind a person's words. There is no suspense in the general animation of otaku, because they know how to see through them ... For otaku, animation is inseparable from their mother tongue, hoping that something can stimulate their nerves, so there is an otaku animation that challenges intelligence and "the ability to search for reference materials".
(3) Otaku is in China
There are also young people who call themselves otaku in China today. However, the mainstream research on otaku in China believes that the so-called otaku culture phenomenon does not exist at all.
The first statement of this concept is that otaku is an economic phenomenon, not a cultural phenomenon. Even in Japan, there may be a small-scale otaku phenomenon, but now it is impossible to have a large-scale otaku phenomenon, which is only the result of some media hype and a commercial means to stimulate purchasing power. Because a sign of otaku is a certain addiction to peripheral products, the positive publicity of otaku by the media is a commercial act, and a truly large-scale otaku group does not exist. In recent years, the promotion of the status of Japanese otaku is mainly a commercial behavior.
The second view holds that there is otaku in Japan, but denies the possibility of otaku in China. According to this view, the essence of otaku culture is "addiction culture", which is ubiquitous, and there is also an "internet addiction" in China, but as for otaku culture, it is a product of Japanese special social conditions, that is, a special expression of "addiction culture". There will be no large-scale otaku phenomenon in China.
On the other hand, outside Chinese mainland. The meaning of the word "otaku" has been broadened. In Taiwan Province Province, there is a term called "otaku", which mainly refers to men who have social difficulties and stay indoors for various reasons.
In a word, "otaku" is a subculture phenomenon, which exists in a certain range at least in Japan.
Otaku germinated because of animation, mainly because of the characteristics of Japanese animation to create an illusory world. However, Japanese society has the characteristics of rejecting and accommodating young people with dreams. When the first batch of Japanese otaku appeared, they showed the characteristics of "Palace Incident". In the long run, when the first batch of Japanese otaku began to serve the society, the subculture phenomenon of Japanese otaku can give us a good reference.
In fact, when China preached the "space race", it was difficult for us to understand what the Japanese were doing. Japanese lawmakers commented on the existence of alien UFOs. "Moon Goddess" is exploring whether there are toilets and kitchens for aliens under the surface of the moon, and some people are studying and making paper planes to fly back to Earth from the space station. Needless to say, the great commercial value created by otaku culture is also enormous. Without Astro Boy, Japan could not have gone so far in the robot industry. The Japanese first invented the invisibility cloak. It should be said that although Japanese society is conservative, it can make dreams and reality coexist, and such thoughts rule society.
On the other hand, otaku culture has also caused serious social problems, which can not be ignored. The abnormality of subculture ecology in Japan and even the whole East Asia is related to Japanese otaku culture.
During the period of 1987- 1997, the new generation of animators, including the first generation of otaku, produced otaku animations that challenged otaku's brain power. The most representative of this period are three otaku animations in the 20th century: Eva, Nadeshiko, and Udina.
The Youth Revolution Utena started broadcasting on February 2nd, 1997, with 39 words in TV version and theater version. The popularity of the TV version in that year was second only to that of Transformed Gundam, and the producer Kunihiko Ikuhara was the second Japanese animation genius who had produced The Beautiful Girl Warrior, ranking second only to Hideaki Anno. Unlike EVA and Battleship Nadeshiko, Girls Revolution is not an ordinary excellent animation. Its story is a prince and a princess, and the plot of every sentence is a routine, which makes people sleepy. In addition, there are GL charts that were not recognized at that time. It is hard to imagine that such an animation will be very popular.
The reason why girls' revolution is respected by otaku is mainly because it challenges otaku's perseverance and intelligence. The girl revolution is full of puzzles, metaphors and, of course, profound thoughts, which can't be carried by a cartoon.
Otaku culture is a relatively complicated problem, because it is covered with the coat of truth and illusion and changes with the times. It will continue to develop in the future.