Why I still haven't gotten into the Hetalia fandom
I know that chances are, there are probably a few Hetalia fans on my flist, or at least people who are quite familiar with it. So I guess it's not pointless to mention this, but I hope it won't make anybody feel bad either (just perhaps a bit disappointed at one less shared fandom XP;; )
http://www.punkednoodle.com/champloo/index.php/tag/hetalia/
This article reviewing the comic probably sums up my apprehension about getting into this comic and subsequent booming fandom (I'm running into it all over the place on LJ) much better than I could explain by myself.
"Yes, what is amazing about Hetalia is how you can actually laugh and poke fun at the nations as they plot their military conquests and fail over during these World Wars. Sometimes Himaruya presents it in such a way that you actually forget the tragedy of the situation that you just laugh at what she presents to you in a platter. It is that funny. It is a comic after all. It’s not supposed to make you think too much.
...
What is troubling with Hetalia is how it tries to dilute the meaning of an event because the author gives priority to the punchline more than the event at hand.
Those who understand what historical event he’s referring to would immediately connect the two together and see that event in a new light.
...
However, for those who are unaware of it, they could take the comic at face value and believe things happened that way. That Japan was simply a rude and selfish boy that he just took advantage of China. That Lithuania has a penchant for suffering.
The ease in reading this comic, along with the historical notes of the author can easily make the readers take the comic as the truth and just accept it.
...
For the uneducated, Hetalia has the ability oppress the historical meaning of an event. And that is sad because as much as Hetalia is funny, it is historically flawed and not all people can recognize this."
I haven't read a lot of the comic but I had read a few pages of the beginning and some extras here and there. I had felt this kind of apprehension about it that I perhaps couldn't put my finger on.
The only definite thing was that I had been looking for the relation between China and Japan, and whether it was shown, in some darkly humorous way perhaps, that Japan had pillaged China and tortured its people. ...erm I know that's putting it bluntly, but I remember as well as anyone that Japan in the past decade has been replacing its history in textbooks in a way that downplays Japan's atrocities during the war, particularly in China, and this is a tension point between the two countries even now. In all honesty, I feared, but hoped wasn't the case, that the lack of education about the matter had spurred on a view of history sugarcoated and dismissive of the horrible things that happened.
Reading the above view, I'm glad that this is probably not the case for the author, at least not to the extent I feared. It has all the events in there, the "facts" I suppose. But the reviewer pointed out what it was that bothered me -- it "made you forget history" rather than let you learn it.
Now people will tell me, "It's a comic -- you're not supposed to learn from it, you know it's a story; it's supposed to be funny! And besides, it has basis in truth, so if you look for it you can find it." Again, I agree with what the reviewer said -- many people don't know history to the extent that they can do this (you tell me that most people in the US know their international history and I'll laugh), and in a subconscious fashion, those people may have the same dismissive tone toward the real life events and the comic, because they simply can't clearly distinguish the two.
And again, you can reply that "well, as long as you know yourself what the history is, you don't have to worry about the fans who are ignorant!" That could be true too....that might mean avoiding some of the fandom, although for the most part they seem to be concentrated on pairings (of which I have little interest either) and occasionally acting out some additional country stereotypes or even current events with character interactions (these I find at least somewhat amusing, if only for the current events parody).
But that still leaves the part that instead of learning, you tend to forget history when reading this comic. For me, stories are all about learning more about a world, about characters and developing both, in a way. If Hetalia is mostly about dismissing the gravity of the events and replacing it with humorous versions of the events, rather than presenting history and the spirit of it, while making it laughable (there is a world of difference between the two), then it really isn't of interest to me.
The idea of turning countries into characters and using them in a world history parable is a fascinating idea to me, and I'd love to see it presenting history, and even better if it's funny. Yet it's for the specific approach that it takes that makes me not really wish to get into it.
But you never know...for example, if someone were to make a fanfic or comic or something that uses the very same characters but perhaps makes it into more of say, a dramedy with more emphasis on the events of history, I may become a rabid fan of said alternate telling. The core idea behind Hetalia is that close to being something I'd love; that makes so much more important the things that make me think I'd not really enjoy Hetalia.
http://www.punkednoodle.com/champloo/index.php/tag/hetalia/
This article reviewing the comic probably sums up my apprehension about getting into this comic and subsequent booming fandom (I'm running into it all over the place on LJ) much better than I could explain by myself.
"Yes, what is amazing about Hetalia is how you can actually laugh and poke fun at the nations as they plot their military conquests and fail over during these World Wars. Sometimes Himaruya presents it in such a way that you actually forget the tragedy of the situation that you just laugh at what she presents to you in a platter. It is that funny. It is a comic after all. It’s not supposed to make you think too much.
...
What is troubling with Hetalia is how it tries to dilute the meaning of an event because the author gives priority to the punchline more than the event at hand.
Those who understand what historical event he’s referring to would immediately connect the two together and see that event in a new light.
...
However, for those who are unaware of it, they could take the comic at face value and believe things happened that way. That Japan was simply a rude and selfish boy that he just took advantage of China. That Lithuania has a penchant for suffering.
The ease in reading this comic, along with the historical notes of the author can easily make the readers take the comic as the truth and just accept it.
...
For the uneducated, Hetalia has the ability oppress the historical meaning of an event. And that is sad because as much as Hetalia is funny, it is historically flawed and not all people can recognize this."
I haven't read a lot of the comic but I had read a few pages of the beginning and some extras here and there. I had felt this kind of apprehension about it that I perhaps couldn't put my finger on.
The only definite thing was that I had been looking for the relation between China and Japan, and whether it was shown, in some darkly humorous way perhaps, that Japan had pillaged China and tortured its people. ...erm I know that's putting it bluntly, but I remember as well as anyone that Japan in the past decade has been replacing its history in textbooks in a way that downplays Japan's atrocities during the war, particularly in China, and this is a tension point between the two countries even now. In all honesty, I feared, but hoped wasn't the case, that the lack of education about the matter had spurred on a view of history sugarcoated and dismissive of the horrible things that happened.
Reading the above view, I'm glad that this is probably not the case for the author, at least not to the extent I feared. It has all the events in there, the "facts" I suppose. But the reviewer pointed out what it was that bothered me -- it "made you forget history" rather than let you learn it.
Now people will tell me, "It's a comic -- you're not supposed to learn from it, you know it's a story; it's supposed to be funny! And besides, it has basis in truth, so if you look for it you can find it." Again, I agree with what the reviewer said -- many people don't know history to the extent that they can do this (you tell me that most people in the US know their international history and I'll laugh), and in a subconscious fashion, those people may have the same dismissive tone toward the real life events and the comic, because they simply can't clearly distinguish the two.
And again, you can reply that "well, as long as you know yourself what the history is, you don't have to worry about the fans who are ignorant!" That could be true too....that might mean avoiding some of the fandom, although for the most part they seem to be concentrated on pairings (of which I have little interest either) and occasionally acting out some additional country stereotypes or even current events with character interactions (these I find at least somewhat amusing, if only for the current events parody).
But that still leaves the part that instead of learning, you tend to forget history when reading this comic. For me, stories are all about learning more about a world, about characters and developing both, in a way. If Hetalia is mostly about dismissing the gravity of the events and replacing it with humorous versions of the events, rather than presenting history and the spirit of it, while making it laughable (there is a world of difference between the two), then it really isn't of interest to me.
The idea of turning countries into characters and using them in a world history parable is a fascinating idea to me, and I'd love to see it presenting history, and even better if it's funny. Yet it's for the specific approach that it takes that makes me not really wish to get into it.
But you never know...for example, if someone were to make a fanfic or comic or something that uses the very same characters but perhaps makes it into more of say, a dramedy with more emphasis on the events of history, I may become a rabid fan of said alternate telling. The core idea behind Hetalia is that close to being something I'd love; that makes so much more important the things that make me think I'd not really enjoy Hetalia.