Not tonight, dear, I'm disgusted.
I finally got around to reading chapters 304 and 305 of Bleach manga. I've been putting it off, really. Over the holidays, I wasn't in the mood for seeing Nemu being raped, be it literal or symbolic.
Perhaps I should have held out for another chapter, just to get rid of the bad taste in my reader's mouth, because all my fears were confirmed and those got to be the sickest chapters of Bleach. Even the angles in which Nemu was drawn -- first hanging so cutely and innocent from a distended tentacle, only to shown with legs akimbo and in pain in the next frame -- it's all rather sadistic. I don't mind pain and suffering if there's a point to it, but at this point I am not sure where KT is going with all this.
Man. I need to read something cheesy and romantic again -- like, another 100 chapters of pure josei -- to get that out of my head. And this is not just moral indignation or religious squeamishness, because I am the crazy chick who cheered when Al Pacino executed double murder in The Godfather and laughed with schoolgirl squee when Elijah Wood turned out to be a geeky cannibal in Sin City. (Oh, Frank Miller I looooove you.)
Heck, my favorite classic anime is Neon Genesis Evangelion, and there are more disturbing Biblical references in that. I mean, you got this bloated monster named Adam impaled on a crucifix -- so you can't say I'm an unreasonable chick who can't stomach twisted metaphors.
Perhaps my issue with the chapters in question are due to my feminist background. I mean, Nemu is a pretty defenseless female -- she's never even shown her shikai, I think. The whole issue of rape is one of control and ownership of the female body and its reproductive abilities. Rape is a tool of subjugation, and that's why it is often use in war by aggressors as a means of physical and social oppression.
In fact, the more I think about it, Nemu's entire existence is based on violation -- she is Mayuri's science project, her body is a receptacle for his poisons, and now she is used to spawn the re-birth of a mad scientist. Argh. I mean, how much abuse can a single female character receive? Momo being skewered on Aizen's zapankutou seems almost kind at this point.
I wonder if I would be amused, or at least less repulsed, if Szayel did his little trick on another man -- theoretically, it might be possible, because he does his thing via the navel. He can't always rely on having a handy defenseless female around during a duel. Hmph. How would Renji looked if he was the one flailing about with Szayel invading his six packs?
Perhaps I can forgive KT for these chapters if at the end of Bleach Nemu suddenly power ups and just incinerates every mad scientist who's used her as an object. (I do believe that Ishida and Rukia will cheer her on.)
Incidentally, just in time for these chapters I finally went back to reading Umberto Eco's On Ugliness too. There's so many quotable things from it, but for the moment since I've mentioned grotesque Christian imagery in manga here's something from the chapter entitled Passion, Death, and Martyrdom:
In the Christian world sanctity is none other than the imitation of Christ. Suffering, atrocious suffering at that, was the lot of those who gave their lives to bear witness to their faith, and these were the people addressed by Tertullian (second-third century AD) in his Exhortation to Martyrdom, inviting men and women to bear the unmentionable sufferings (described with ill-concealed sadism) they were doomed to face. In medieval art the martyr is seldom show as deformed by his torments, as some had dared to do with Christ. When portraying Christ, artists emphasized the incomparable immensity of his sacrifice, whereas martyrs (to exhort people to imitate them) are depicted with seraphic serenity with which they went to their respective fates. And so decapitations, roasting on the gridiron, and the removal of breasts can give rise to graceful compositions, almost balletic in form.
Hmm. Here's something on "The Origin of Monsters" by Ambroise Pare (1573), excerpted in the chapter on Physica curiosa:
Various causes give rise to monsters. The first is the glory of God. The second is His wrath. The third, a superabundance of semen. The fourth, the superabundance of it. The fifth, the imagination. The sixth, hypertrophy, or the reduced dimensions of the uterus. The seventh, an incorrect way of sitting on the mother's part, for example when she is pregnant and spends too much time sitting with legs crossed or pulled up towards her belly. The eighth, on account of a fall or as a result of blows to the belly of the pregnant woman. The ninth, hereditary or accidental illnesses. The tenth, the putrefaction or corruption of the semen. The eleventh, the mixing or blending of semen. The twelfth, deceit on the part of wicked scoundrels. The thirteenth, demons or devils.
I highlighted the bits that reminded me of Szayel and Kubo Tite himself.
It's not the same photograph used in the chapter -- I don't want to scan and ruin my beautiful hardbound edition -- but here's an image of Clemente Susini's Venerina, which is a modular statue of a woman with removable body parts. This particular sculpture was originally used to teach anatomy in the 18th century. Anyway, it also echoes poor Nemu:
Major Warning: Do Not Click if you are eating, drinking or squeamish
There's something particular disturbing that the artwork has such beautiful skin, hair, and even has a beaded choker around her neck. The photo in the Eco book is even more fascinating/disgusting because all the different removable body parts are laid out beside the body. This one is... er, almost modest.
Yes, it's Nemu. Definitely.
Perhaps I should have held out for another chapter, just to get rid of the bad taste in my reader's mouth, because all my fears were confirmed and those got to be the sickest chapters of Bleach. Even the angles in which Nemu was drawn -- first hanging so cutely and innocent from a distended tentacle, only to shown with legs akimbo and in pain in the next frame -- it's all rather sadistic. I don't mind pain and suffering if there's a point to it, but at this point I am not sure where KT is going with all this.
Man. I need to read something cheesy and romantic again -- like, another 100 chapters of pure josei -- to get that out of my head. And this is not just moral indignation or religious squeamishness, because I am the crazy chick who cheered when Al Pacino executed double murder in The Godfather and laughed with schoolgirl squee when Elijah Wood turned out to be a geeky cannibal in Sin City. (Oh, Frank Miller I looooove you.)
Heck, my favorite classic anime is Neon Genesis Evangelion, and there are more disturbing Biblical references in that. I mean, you got this bloated monster named Adam impaled on a crucifix -- so you can't say I'm an unreasonable chick who can't stomach twisted metaphors.
Perhaps my issue with the chapters in question are due to my feminist background. I mean, Nemu is a pretty defenseless female -- she's never even shown her shikai, I think. The whole issue of rape is one of control and ownership of the female body and its reproductive abilities. Rape is a tool of subjugation, and that's why it is often use in war by aggressors as a means of physical and social oppression.
In fact, the more I think about it, Nemu's entire existence is based on violation -- she is Mayuri's science project, her body is a receptacle for his poisons, and now she is used to spawn the re-birth of a mad scientist. Argh. I mean, how much abuse can a single female character receive? Momo being skewered on Aizen's zapankutou seems almost kind at this point.
I wonder if I would be amused, or at least less repulsed, if Szayel did his little trick on another man -- theoretically, it might be possible, because he does his thing via the navel. He can't always rely on having a handy defenseless female around during a duel. Hmph. How would Renji looked if he was the one flailing about with Szayel invading his six packs?
Perhaps I can forgive KT for these chapters if at the end of Bleach Nemu suddenly power ups and just incinerates every mad scientist who's used her as an object. (I do believe that Ishida and Rukia will cheer her on.)
Incidentally, just in time for these chapters I finally went back to reading Umberto Eco's On Ugliness too. There's so many quotable things from it, but for the moment since I've mentioned grotesque Christian imagery in manga here's something from the chapter entitled Passion, Death, and Martyrdom:
In the Christian world sanctity is none other than the imitation of Christ. Suffering, atrocious suffering at that, was the lot of those who gave their lives to bear witness to their faith, and these were the people addressed by Tertullian (second-third century AD) in his Exhortation to Martyrdom, inviting men and women to bear the unmentionable sufferings (described with ill-concealed sadism) they were doomed to face. In medieval art the martyr is seldom show as deformed by his torments, as some had dared to do with Christ. When portraying Christ, artists emphasized the incomparable immensity of his sacrifice, whereas martyrs (to exhort people to imitate them) are depicted with seraphic serenity with which they went to their respective fates. And so decapitations, roasting on the gridiron, and the removal of breasts can give rise to graceful compositions, almost balletic in form.
Hmm. Here's something on "The Origin of Monsters" by Ambroise Pare (1573), excerpted in the chapter on Physica curiosa:
Various causes give rise to monsters. The first is the glory of God. The second is His wrath. The third, a superabundance of semen. The fourth, the superabundance of it. The fifth, the imagination. The sixth, hypertrophy, or the reduced dimensions of the uterus. The seventh, an incorrect way of sitting on the mother's part, for example when she is pregnant and spends too much time sitting with legs crossed or pulled up towards her belly. The eighth, on account of a fall or as a result of blows to the belly of the pregnant woman. The ninth, hereditary or accidental illnesses. The tenth, the putrefaction or corruption of the semen. The eleventh, the mixing or blending of semen. The twelfth, deceit on the part of wicked scoundrels. The thirteenth, demons or devils.
I highlighted the bits that reminded me of Szayel and Kubo Tite himself.
It's not the same photograph used in the chapter -- I don't want to scan and ruin my beautiful hardbound edition -- but here's an image of Clemente Susini's Venerina, which is a modular statue of a woman with removable body parts. This particular sculpture was originally used to teach anatomy in the 18th century. Anyway, it also echoes poor Nemu:
Major Warning: Do Not Click if you are eating, drinking or squeamish
There's something particular disturbing that the artwork has such beautiful skin, hair, and even has a beaded choker around her neck. The photo in the Eco book is even more fascinating/disgusting because all the different removable body parts are laid out beside the body. This one is... er, almost modest.
Yes, it's Nemu. Definitely.