An apology.
I'm not really back, mostly because I'm in the middle of hell week for the production I'm working on and today's my only free day until next week, but I've been doing some thinking over the weekend, and I wanted to say this.
I reacted badly last Wednesday, and I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have said that the behavior of dub fans "sickened" me. There are a lot of things to like about the dub, and I've mentioned them in the past on this journal. And I think there's this kind of complicated equation in a lot of people's heads (including mine) when they watch stuff that I haven't paid enough heed to: the balance of cool-versus-fail. Liking things that have problems, acknowledging that those problems exist, but finding other parts of the thing cool enough that you're still invested in the thing as a whole, even though the problems don't go away.
Let's talk about the original Hetalia canon for a second, because it is offensive, and I don't think I've really talked about that enough. The way Himaruya depicts pretty much every East Asian Nation that isn't Japan is really really loaded, because there's a lot of vicious history between Japan and China, and Japan and Korea, and Japan and a lot of other East Asian countries. And it's not just history, either, it's prejudices that are alive and well today. I'm not an authority on East Asia by any means, but I've heard enough people who know better than I do talk about their problems with the stereotypes Himaruya chooses to use, and I know his portrayal of China (the East Asian country whose history I actually do sorta know) has always made me uncomfortable even though he doesn't mean ill by it. The "he doesn't mean ill by it" is why I can keep reading the strips, because I think Himaruya has a lot of affection for all of his characters even when there are problems there he doesn't quite see or isn't looking for, but there are still problems, you know?
I do stand by what I said earlier about the dub's sense of humor skewing a lot less towards Affectionate Parody and a lot more towards South Park, but that doesn't mean the original doesn't have its own problems. I find those problems easier to deal with in the original because the offensiveness, for me, is balanced by the countries are pretty decent sorts underneath it all, but I understand why the original offends people, and I don't begrudge them that. I've never really been a fan of South Park-style humor, and I'm still not convinced it's the best fit for Hetalia, but that's as much a matter of personal preference as anything else, and I don't have anything against people who do like it. Maybe one of the reasons I reacted so adversely to the dub was that it did force me to confront the fact that Hetalia is offensive, and I wasn't acknowledging that enough.
And just like I can make my peace with the original strips in spite of some things that make me uneasy or some things I don't like, there are people who can make peace with the dub in spite of things that make them uneasy or things they don't like, and you know what? That's cool, too. I don't think any of us are bad people, and I'm sorry that the tone I took and the arguments I used helped lead to the discussion taking such a negative turn.
In the future, I will try to be less judgmental on the Internet, and I will employ a healthy dose of perspective.
Thanks for listening.
.
I reacted badly last Wednesday, and I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have said that the behavior of dub fans "sickened" me. There are a lot of things to like about the dub, and I've mentioned them in the past on this journal. And I think there's this kind of complicated equation in a lot of people's heads (including mine) when they watch stuff that I haven't paid enough heed to: the balance of cool-versus-fail. Liking things that have problems, acknowledging that those problems exist, but finding other parts of the thing cool enough that you're still invested in the thing as a whole, even though the problems don't go away.
Let's talk about the original Hetalia canon for a second, because it is offensive, and I don't think I've really talked about that enough. The way Himaruya depicts pretty much every East Asian Nation that isn't Japan is really really loaded, because there's a lot of vicious history between Japan and China, and Japan and Korea, and Japan and a lot of other East Asian countries. And it's not just history, either, it's prejudices that are alive and well today. I'm not an authority on East Asia by any means, but I've heard enough people who know better than I do talk about their problems with the stereotypes Himaruya chooses to use, and I know his portrayal of China (the East Asian country whose history I actually do sorta know) has always made me uncomfortable even though he doesn't mean ill by it. The "he doesn't mean ill by it" is why I can keep reading the strips, because I think Himaruya has a lot of affection for all of his characters even when there are problems there he doesn't quite see or isn't looking for, but there are still problems, you know?
I do stand by what I said earlier about the dub's sense of humor skewing a lot less towards Affectionate Parody and a lot more towards South Park, but that doesn't mean the original doesn't have its own problems. I find those problems easier to deal with in the original because the offensiveness, for me, is balanced by the countries are pretty decent sorts underneath it all, but I understand why the original offends people, and I don't begrudge them that. I've never really been a fan of South Park-style humor, and I'm still not convinced it's the best fit for Hetalia, but that's as much a matter of personal preference as anything else, and I don't have anything against people who do like it. Maybe one of the reasons I reacted so adversely to the dub was that it did force me to confront the fact that Hetalia is offensive, and I wasn't acknowledging that enough.
And just like I can make my peace with the original strips in spite of some things that make me uneasy or some things I don't like, there are people who can make peace with the dub in spite of things that make them uneasy or things they don't like, and you know what? That's cool, too. I don't think any of us are bad people, and I'm sorry that the tone I took and the arguments I used helped lead to the discussion taking such a negative turn.
In the future, I will try to be less judgmental on the Internet, and I will employ a healthy dose of perspective.
Thanks for listening.
.