I love him but....

[witchwillow]

Hiro Nakamura is not Japanese.

I know it seems like he is. He speaks Japanese, looks Japanese, has a Japanese corporate mogul father and a Japanese sister and most of all he has a Japanese salary-man as his best friend. But on tv, he's not Japanese.

Comments

[witchwillow]

just because he's fulfilling a common white male power fantasy doesn't mean he isn't also fulfilling a common Japanese male power fantasy.I can see that. I can. And I don't know much more about Japanese culture than I know about California's regional culture (given that I live on the East Coast). My interactions with people who are Asian, have been mostly with people who are Chinese. And either they were members of my family somehow, or people I knew at school

[witchwillow]

With the actor having to correct some of the Japanese the writers are using, even if the character comes across as a typical Japanese male, to Japanese fans. I still think it's possible that he could be being written as a coded white guy. And maybe the writers don't even realize they're doing it.

Just like they haven't thought about how it comes across to have someone called 'The Haitian', who is dark skinned and Haitain, be a character without a name.

[witchwillow]

I've mentioned elsewhere that what I expected of Niki/Jessica in String Theory / Five Years Gone - was Nikki having overthrown Linderman for stealing her son and now being a force to be reckoned with when it came to protecting those with special abilities. And I now add 'especially children'.

We've seen that as Jessica, th girl is a stone, cold mercenary. How could that not be helpful in the new regime? Why make her lose that edge? Why kill off Micah? Why not have him in extreme seclusion/hiding and Nikki helping others as running interference being in the loop to know when people might be going after her son.

Skanky Race and Gender Issues like whoa.

Which is sad, since they're redoing X-Men, and I'd have loved to see gender and race more balanced in that kind of situation. Moreover, as they're redoing 'among those who hate and fear us' they're doing minorities. Wake up and smell the coffee and drop that donut of privilege!

There Is No Spoon ;p

[witchwillow]

My fav hero-sidekick is Xena/Gabrielle. Way before the subtext became text, I loved that it was Gabrielle's light that lit the end of Xena's dark tunnel. Just as Hiro might seem to be the optimistic one. But Ando walks around with quiet strength just being 'Back-up Guy' and 'UnSpecial Ando'.

Enjoy the privilege/anti-racism posts. Some of it drove me crazy at the time. But it's good to know that other people can find the conversations, no matter how belatedly and go 'Ohhhh!'.

Life is worth the 'Ohhhhs!'

[hederahelix]

You know, I didn't read comic books, so I'm coming to Heroes without some of the necessary geek background (and also, I'm several episodes behind . . . so, take that as you will

[witchwillow]

Huh, I'd have said he struck me as driven and obsessed and perhaps self-sacrificing in terms of what he'd do to achieve his goal of stopping the explosion in NYC.

[sabonasi]

After ".07%" aired, there was a discussion in my blog about depictions of sacrifice in American media in terms of race and gender. I was kind of hashing out how you see two different categories:

1. The sacrificial lamb, who's okay with dying for the greater good, who stays dead, and whom may not be recognized by anyone but the audience as a hero. Generally Characters of Color and female characters.

2. The heroic last stand, who heads the battle, goes down fighting, is brave and courages up against greater odds, and may not stay dead but whom will at least be mourned. Generally white men.

Isaac's in the first category, but I'd say that Future Hiro is more in the second category.

[evilgrins]

1) this is an interesting twist

2) speaking just from an ethnic point of view, there are "brown" Japanese people. they tan very nicely :)

[witchwillow]

...there are "brown" Japanese people...

But 'Hiro' isn't. :)

There are brown Chinese people too :) I'm related to a some who live in the tropics. They're very lovely golden-brown.

[evilgrins]

True but even after reading the post I don't get the non·Japanese aspect you're going for. 'sides, it doesn't matter how he acts or what he does...the character was born and raised in Japan so he's Japanese.

[witchwillow]

I was trying to discuss how he might be viewed by white-fans. Recently someone revealed to me that they had no idea a Filipino-Canadian actress was in fact a person of color

[genderblender]

I don't want you to seem abrasive, but you seem to have have no former knowledge of the Japanese "otaku" culture. WHICH, is completely separate from the rest of the world's preception of "otaku" So he's most definately a japanese otaku who becomes a Hero, in a very Densha Otoko kind of fashion (in which a dorky fanboy becomes 'popular' in so many words

[witchwillow]

I did end my post saying it's possible Hiro is 'exotic for the win'. I have agreed that he might be a Japanese Power Fantasy (in ways the writers of the show may not fully comprehend). And I admit in my post that what I know of Japanese culture could probably fit in a handbag, no matter how much I've read, I'm well aware it all gets watered down by the very next tv show or movie I see.

That said, I personally don't believe in being accepting and so grateful for Characters of Color that I don't discuss how they could have more depth, or how they might be invisible in the eyes of white viewers.

but you have to come to grips with the fact that it's producers and network on which it airs originally (NBC) are not the most diverse companies.

I don't have to come to grips with it. I really, really don't.
____

Re: Mohinder - Mohinder is a college professor who comes to NYC and drives a cab. While I appreciate they wanted to give him a job he could ditch at the drop of a hat - I see the stereotype there

[lilacsigil]

But didn't the show address this? Mohinder was angry with his father for replacing a high-status job in India with a low-status job in the US (where his father thought he could better carry out his research). Both Suresh men have been shown at their high-status home and jobs. Mohinder hasn't been working as a cab driver, as far as we've seen - he used the cab to transport the "dead" Peter Petrelli.

And your argument seems a bit confused - Hiro is coded as a white male power fantasy AND a wimpy Japanese stereotype at the same time? I don't mind his references to US comics - there were certainly plenty of US comic book shops in Japan when I was there - but it would be great to throw in manga references, too. DL and Micah - who can both use their powers effectively - are less into the mythos than Hiro and Peter? But I have to agree that the way Simone was used was a terrible waste.

[sabonasi]

Wasn't it Nirand who was angry that Chandra for ditching his high-status job or the low-status one? I thought Mohinder just became a cab driver because that's what Chandra had done. Kinda that's-what-was-on-his-mind combined with following-in-his-father's-footsteps. (But I also understand what witchwillow means about people not getting it and just seeing the stereotype.)