of culture and cosplay...
Earlier I was faced with a question relating to what is known as the otaku subculture here in our country, aimed at cosplayers, to be exact. And being such an argumentative person, I immediately sought to combat the rhetoric. BECAUSE I CAN. XD
So the initial question is, "do cosplayers want to be japanese?". But within that comes the real premise of their argument. why do people adhere to yet another foreign fixation when clearly there are a lot of things in this country that has yet to be (not to mention very much needed to be) celebrated and recognized? If not american, japanese. are we that empty we have to identify ourselves, find ourselves in japanese culture? aren't you (the cosplayers) reinforcing and enabling people to abandon their identities and find new ones in a culture they barely know? do you even know who (as in the people) you're trying to emulate? in short. you're celebrating another culture instead of our own. when there are so many things needed to be fixed within our own culture that you look into a different one.
Frankly, I've had time to think of this thoroughly. A few months ago, a friend was confronted with a question from someone about how we uphold nationalism given the fact that our organization primarily focuses on Japanese Culture and media.
Here's my take on the matter.
For purposes of my discussion I will label those with a japanese obsession as "otaku" and the rest of the subculture as "mania"
I understand that there are many people who don't give a damn shit about what happens in the Philippines and finds the Japanese culture more fascinating, mainly because it's foreign. It's also happening all around the world, where people find the Japanese culture very interesting (I myself admit to doing so). For me, I'm more or less knowledgable on Japanese culture, having read numerous articles and such. Also, it's wrong to generalize cosplaying as a "celebraton of the Japanese Culture." I understand that that's a common theme used in many festivals, but the point is we hardly rave about how the country sucks and this one is better, we still converse in Filipino, and conduct things in a Filipino fashion. The culture of the Philippines is too deeply instilled even in the subculture that it's almost instinctive.
However, this is where I make my real point. I myself classify the "mania" subculture into "true mania" and "otaku", wherin the otaku are those who are extremely obsessed to the point of WANTING to be Japanese while the mania just hold a clear fascination.
As a clear point, it's not fair to generalize all cosplayers under the otaku category... Mostly because there are some of us who are actually proud of the Philippines and recognizes its sociocultural plight, some of these are very famous and world-renowned in terms of the mania subculture.
The majority of us don't go on raving aropund how we want to be japanese, live in Japan and start to write and speak in japanese (I myself display that ability but not to the point where I show it off and go "nippon, banzai!" when faced in a situation). As a conclusion, we are not looking into the Japanese culture when we cosplay. It just so happens that it is an artform we enjoy. And as for the point of being other people, we believe that by being other people, we in essence, are becoming ourselves. that ends my argument.
So the initial question is, "do cosplayers want to be japanese?". But within that comes the real premise of their argument. why do people adhere to yet another foreign fixation when clearly there are a lot of things in this country that has yet to be (not to mention very much needed to be) celebrated and recognized? If not american, japanese. are we that empty we have to identify ourselves, find ourselves in japanese culture? aren't you (the cosplayers) reinforcing and enabling people to abandon their identities and find new ones in a culture they barely know? do you even know who (as in the people) you're trying to emulate? in short. you're celebrating another culture instead of our own. when there are so many things needed to be fixed within our own culture that you look into a different one.
Frankly, I've had time to think of this thoroughly. A few months ago, a friend was confronted with a question from someone about how we uphold nationalism given the fact that our organization primarily focuses on Japanese Culture and media.
Here's my take on the matter.
For purposes of my discussion I will label those with a japanese obsession as "otaku" and the rest of the subculture as "mania"
I understand that there are many people who don't give a damn shit about what happens in the Philippines and finds the Japanese culture more fascinating, mainly because it's foreign. It's also happening all around the world, where people find the Japanese culture very interesting (I myself admit to doing so). For me, I'm more or less knowledgable on Japanese culture, having read numerous articles and such. Also, it's wrong to generalize cosplaying as a "celebraton of the Japanese Culture." I understand that that's a common theme used in many festivals, but the point is we hardly rave about how the country sucks and this one is better, we still converse in Filipino, and conduct things in a Filipino fashion. The culture of the Philippines is too deeply instilled even in the subculture that it's almost instinctive.
However, this is where I make my real point. I myself classify the "mania" subculture into "true mania" and "otaku", wherin the otaku are those who are extremely obsessed to the point of WANTING to be Japanese while the mania just hold a clear fascination.
As a clear point, it's not fair to generalize all cosplayers under the otaku category... Mostly because there are some of us who are actually proud of the Philippines and recognizes its sociocultural plight, some of these are very famous and world-renowned in terms of the mania subculture.
The majority of us don't go on raving aropund how we want to be japanese, live in Japan and start to write and speak in japanese (I myself display that ability but not to the point where I show it off and go "nippon, banzai!" when faced in a situation). As a conclusion, we are not looking into the Japanese culture when we cosplay. It just so happens that it is an artform we enjoy. And as for the point of being other people, we believe that by being other people, we in essence, are becoming ourselves. that ends my argument.