Media Analysis and Criticism

For probably a year my editor at Oddball Magazine has been encouraging me to write about culture besides music, and this week I took him up on it.

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I wasn’t gonna post this here cause I didn’t think too much of it, but the author of the book quote tweeted it so I wanna brag.

Replies were surprisingly positive, with one guy saying I was a psuedo-intellectual for using “its” instead of “it’s,” a distinction I consciously decided to never give thought probably a year ago. The restraint it takes to not reply with "It’s a damn poor mind that can only find one way to spell a word’ is excessive, and eased by posting that here.

TomSka breaks down his own series, the popular asdfmovie, and talks about the formula that made his show a success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfhdp5U_J-E

Mark Brown is back with another episode of Design Icons. He talks about Britain’s interesting history with video games–how a hobbyist with access to a computer in the 1980s could make and sell their own games. They started a cottage industry which blossomed into big-name developers who continue to influence game design to this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n79SYpEVMgM

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Noralities’s new video covers the disparity between anime made for men and women by way of isekai anime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4V3vEleTyE

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That YouTube thumbnail is how I feel every time I see anime.

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If a strong woman who owns her own sexuality like Misato Katsuragi is just too frightening to you that’s not her fault.

I don’t know who that is, or how strong she is. I just feel bombarded by boobs.

After watching the first half of the video posted, I’m glad I’ve not seen enough anime to know that “harem show” is a thing there can be so many of you can become sick of them.

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There’s no real accomplishment to be proud of in being disinterested in something.

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So I watch 25 minutes of a video about anime, and that’s a sign of me not being interested?

No, posting about how you’re glad you didn’t understand it is a sign of being disinterested in the subject. I bite my tongue on a lot of media conversations on here that irk me, disturb me, but without knowledge of the source material any post is a waste of time.

I’ve posted about it here many times. The short version is this:

Every time I’m asked to “look into anime” so I’m not judging it as disgustingly misogynistic, all I find is deeper and deeper levels of disgusting misogyny.

More specifically, I watched this video to see if there was more to it than that, and learned that “harem show” wasn’t just a fringe aspect of anime, but one so common that it is drowning out non-harem shows.

I’m aggressively not asking you to look into anime, I’m asking you to have something to say. Conversations about misogyny are there to be had but limiting it to anime requires an in depth knowledge of the tropes that neither you nor I have.

Right. I never said I want an in depth discussion about misogyny in anime.

I made a throwaway comment about a YouTube thumbnail. That’s it. I made no claim to any knowledge or any wish for a discussion.

Fair enough. The post just fell into an archetype of posts on here that I no longer give benefit of the doubt.

It’s not just anime. I’ve had the same issue with superhero comics.

Nobody here disagrees that anime and superhero comics are full of disgusting misogyny, racism, and a host of other awful things. At least I hope not. We are frequently criticizing harem shows, and the like, and telling people not to watch them. The point is that there is basically no medium or genre from almost any country that this isn’t true for.

The reason people get on your case whenever you bring this up is because you are, or appear to be, making a categorical dismissal of anime. How would you respond if I said:

"Every time I’m asked to “look into sci-fi novels” so I’m not judging it as disgustingly misogynistic, all I find is deeper and deeper levels of disgusting misogyny.

I’d say that was spot on for sci-fi for many decades. When I reread novels for the first time since the 90’s, when I was an idiot teenager, I’m often pretty astounded by the sexism and misogyny.

Thankfully it has changed a lot these days. When you look up nominated novels for the top prizes in science fiction publishing, women authors are way more popular than male authors.

Latest Hugo Awards? Whoops no male authors.

Best Novel

A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)

Latest Nebula Awards? Token guy.

Best Novel

Marque of Caine by Charles E. Gannon, published by Baen
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, published by Redhook
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, published by Tor
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, published by Del Rey
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, published by Tor.com
Winner: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker, published by Berkley

If you look at the best anime lists or best superhero comics you also won’t see any trash.

To be clear, I don’t think superhero comics are particularly misogynistic. It’s just the art style means I’m bombarded by boobs.