Remember, for those of you who haven't yet handed in your midterms, next Tuesday is the last day I'll be accepting them.Here are this week's questions; as usual, post your answers by 5 pm on Monday, 29 October:
1) The Wachowski brothers (writers/directors of The Matrix films) have discussed in a number of interviews the tremendous influence that Japanese anime (Ghost in the Shell, Akira) had on their conception of The Matrix, both in story and style.
a) What evidence do you see of Japanese (or other Asian) aesthetics and storytelling techniques becoming prominent in U.S. entertainment? You can describe examples from TV, video games, music, and visual arts, not just from film.
b) Director Shekhar Kapur has predicted that in 10 years, the world will be dominated by Asian media. How likely do you think it is that this forecast will come true? If this does occur, how do you think Hollywood and the West will react?
2) Why do you think that, in the Matrix universe, most of the residents of Zion (the last remaining humans) are not white? Offer your theory about this, and explain how your theory relates to contemporary race issues in the U.S.
3) Nakamura says that "The Matrix constructs a new discourse of race in the Digital Age, one that plugs us in to our own dreamworlds about cyberutopias and cyberfutures. And like any dream, it is conflicted; it opens a window into our cultural anxieties, fears, fantasies, and desires about the Internet and the roles of blacks, whites, machines, and all combinations thereof." (By the way, I think it's very odd that Nakamura, a Japanese-American scholar writing about techno-orientalism, leaves out Asians from her list of races that are interacting in The Matrix.) What do you think The Matrix or The Animatrix - Second Renaissance says about "our cultural anxieties, fears, fantasies, and desires about the Internet," and about race in cyberspace?
16 comments:
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a) Japanese storytelling has, for at least the last fifty years, leveraged its power to experiment in the context of manga, as well as a self-reviving art culture whose willingness to take chances finds its roots in their understanding of their nation as a small country instead of a prominent global destination for culture. While America has long been dependent on Bohemias to grow subculture to be harvested by advertisers hawking it to the mainstream, or to rip for their aesthetic, there's no longer any time to grow a culture with any staying power. Subcultures are too soon harvested for their commercial potential to foster any real roots or growth, giving over their power for creating a truly transformative product or viewpoint to a country more willing to let these cultures with their own specific ways of looking at the world ripen or fester, respectively. Manga in particular gives the power to one or two individuals whose worldview can be translated into a graphic medium without the budget of our culture playground, film; while American comics have exerted incredible influence on American cinema, the Japanese have beaten American comics in variety and sheer volume alone, exploding the perspectives from which media consumers and potential producers can see.
b) I feel like the world is already dominated by Asian media, it just has less Western market penetration. Even though I'm not watching Bollywood musicals or mainland Chinese historical dramas doesn't mean that they aren't being watched overseas. Hollywood has reacted fairly incredulously at the possibilities of countries whose lack of production value has made them balk in the past. Like manga, the sheer volume of Asian film productions beats Hollywood out so many times over in their bid to satisfy a domestic market, it's a wonder that we can even wonder about this question, and seems to beg the question, “how free is our market for media?” When China invests millions into film productions, they do so in a bid to compete with Hollywood by emulating it, and with the rising prominence of Chinese directors in the West, we are already receiving a direct translation of literal Asian perspectives.
2. Skirting any sort of helter-skelter situation, it may be that, with machines in charge of human breeding for so long, there just aren't white people left. If most of the residents of Zion are born outside of the Matrix, then it could be that the binary racial divide is human/robot instead of (contemporary) black/white, so miscegenation wouldn't just be normal, but would be nonexistent to them. It is also important to distinguish between science fiction and and cyberpunk, whose pitfalls are well known to be flash and imagery, little concerned and necessarily disengaged with the workings of any future environment in order to produce narratives from other worlds, instead of about them.
3.Nakamura makes some valid points about a coded racial reading of The Matrix and TSR, but seems to carry the dialog into the black and white territory that academia is comfortable with probably because this is what material exists to support positions like Toni Morrison's outrage at American media's use of black people as assistants to white protagonists. In The Matrix, I find comfort in ignoring the second two films, and I'm sure that if Nakamura could do the same, she could come to some similar conclusions about the film: the absence of people of color represents a consciousness on the part of the Wachowski's to make their priority producing a sci-fi epic that would become the canonical text it is. The way to produce a cornerstone, we have seen through Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, is to place predominantly white protagonists in the context of an alien world in the service of an enormous special effects budget, intersplice it with some impressive action scenes, and finish the film with just enough mind candy to trip out adolescents for the next couple decades of their lives with some loftier, ambiguously handled heady matter. TSR does represent a triumph of transmedia storytelling, but is only as racially charged as can be a film whose place in the context of franchise is to really be all things to all people. The first time I saw TSR it resonated with me profoundly, and I felt like the film had touched some very sacred historical images that I feel are worth talking about, but felt used by when put into the context of the film. While the implications and echoes of American wars fought in Asia are important to discuss, when paid for by Warner Brothers, I feel like the imagery is being exploited in order to leverage capital for a company whose profits may be inextricably linked to the conflict being discussed.
I feel like Nakamura suffers from a kind of contagious intellectual myopia, whereby the author is rendered unable to see anything except what they are searching for. While this resembles Deconstructionist writing, it fails to encompass the whole text. Nakamura's discussion of the racial types of Neuromancer in particular ignores the point of the book: Case and all of his support cast are being employed by a computer AI whose interest is in connecting with a foreign intelligence. The text is inherently posthuman, and dresses down the desires of humans in a fairly profound way which could probably not exist with the long, stringy, Chandler-esque cliches that pepper the text. Snow Crash even parodies this phenomenon, which, if Nakamura could read all the way to page 488 in The Diamond Age, I think she could find by the end of Neuromancer. Unfortunately, I feel the anxieties about race on the internet are, like Gibson has commented on his novels, “quickly acquiring the quaint patina of age” and reflect a mindset that feels like it was already old when this piece was written in 2002. To be perfectly fair, the only time our culture ever seemed anxious about anyone's personal details on the Internet was when engaging in cybersex. Even though America has legislated some aspects of identity communication on the Internet, it seems to be as of little consequence to actual users whose conception of privacy online is constantly expanding to understand how privacy is dead and anonymity is an illusion. I am reminded not only when stock fraudsters are prosecuted or when net pedophiles are busted but every time I sign on and look at my IP address, nestled next to my name whenever I make a forum post.
1. A. I think the most prominent influence that Japanese have on the U.S. is the amount of video games created, and dare I say (and maybe even be guilty of) worshiped by thousands of teenagers and young adults. Two very popular games created by the Japanese is the Final Fantasy series and the on going saga about a boy on a never ending quest to save his girlfriend, Zelda. These two games alone have spawned curiosity, love, respect and even fantasy about Japan and its culture. And let us not forget about the several different conventions that are held yearly, where fans can dress up, reenact their favorite game or anime, meet other fans, and other crazy fun adventures that happen at these gatherings. Away from that, it can also be said that the music industry both in the U.S. and in England have been influenced by Japan. For example, looking back to the 1970’s at the beginnings of Glam Rock, several musicians (mainly coming out of England) were strongly influenced by the Japanese. David Bowie’s most popular persona, Ziggy Stardust was manifested after Bowie took a strong interest in the art of Kabuki; music group Queen also styled several of their stage costumes in the earlier part of their career off of the fashion styles of Japan (especially after the band had toured to Japan).
B. I think that there is a chance for the world to be dominated by Asian media mainly because I think that even though there is a fear of what “the other” can do, I believe there is somewhat of a romantic fascination with the Asian culture, especially when it comes to Japan and China. It seems more and more film makers are using Asian influence for their story telling, using names, costumes, and philosophies, even historical and recent events. Unfortunately when it comes to other Asian cultures such as those from the Middle East, I feel the only influence it has is the ability to depict them in a negative sense instead of in a respectful tone like they do with those from China and Japan. Due to the current issues surrounding the Middle East it seems as though everyone is taking the opportunity to take their critical shot at this culture. If ever this does happen… well honestly I’m not too sure how Hollywood or the West will react. I know when Japan bought Hollywood, the reaction was very negative, but on the other hind perhaps in ten years we will become more accepting of Asian media especially with the continuing growing fascination with anime, video games, and Japan/China with the younger generations.
2. There is a very interesting section in the Nakamura article which explains why this might be true. Nakamura points out, and I do agree, how some white individuals (especially men) are not acceptant of the real world outside of racism. She states, “It is not possible to ‘liberate’ such humans; like the majority of whites as described in Lipsitz’s work, they are dependent on the system of privilege that allows them to be on the winning side of Information-Age… To unplug then from their dreams of whiteness and its attendant comfort would be to kill them.” I feel this quote sums up the current racial issues we have in the U.S. Instead of accepting the world for what it is, some whites choose to “close their eyes” and view the world as they see it, not as it truly is. When hating someone of another culture, you are truly hating your brother. Having the Agents represented by dominate white males is showing how there are very strong willed whites out there wishing to never break down the racial barrier because of the fear of the power that may fallow the unity of all races against them. My favorite quote out of this entire article seems to nicely sum everything up is, “Freeing your mind of racism is a task as hard as learning to fly from building to building, it would seem.”
3. I honestly think there is less fear on the Internet than there is in real life. People who create personas on the Internet seem freer with how they look and with whom they associate with. It seems as if because they cannot physically see or associate with those people there is no true barrier between them other than a computer. To argue that, there are also individuals out there trying to call followers to their aid to bring down other races whether it be black, Asian or white. I think The Matrix is trying to display that the world of the Internet is a way to try and free individuals from the norm in search of the truth beyond the real world. It would seem that Nakamura shares this idea when she said, “This signifies the desire for elasticity in identity construction; it gestures toward a sense that we are more than we appear, or wish to be read differently than we are, and can use cyberspace to create versions of ourselves that look and in some sense are different from ourselves.” We want to find the person we are that the real world will not accept and become them in this other world. In the movie the characters are given the chance to live in both the “real” world and in the world of the matrix where they can fight the same fight for acceptance and survival, much like many tend to do with their Internet persona.
1. it’s obvious that as a society we see Asian and Japanese influences in Television and Video games. A video game that comes to mind that reminds me of such is Mortal Kombat, the video game is based in an Asian environment and the characters fight one another. The Golden Child has images of Asian influence, any movie with Jackie Chan that is based in Asia, Korea etc.
b. I don't think that media will be saturated with Asian influence however; I do think that Hollywood will continue to take images and examples of Asian culture especially when the movie is Sci-Fi.
c. To me I interoperated the residents of Zion not being completely white because of Bi racial influence and a culture that is changing. Since the Matrix is based on a future society I think residents of this other world are a result of a society that is constantly changing.
3. I think that in animation and Sci Fi movies the level of terror or anxiety about the internet and race is intensified drastically. There was anxiety at the turn of the century because everyone was worried that computers would crash and the world would end....nothing happened. We're just a paranoid society where everyone thinks the worst. As far as race issues, it’s nice to see women that are powerful and independent, which is a far cry from western film where they are portrayed as damsels in distress.
1a.) I see evidence of Asian story telling techniques being incorporated into films such as the Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha, etc. It seems now a days the Asian culture is being soaked in and whilst still a mystery of the unknown, there also seems to be an unexplainable fascination with the people, clothing, history, and culture. I also have seen examples of it being prominent in the U.S because there is an entire film festival devoted to it. In San Diego, there is an annual Asian Film Festival just dedicated to Asian independent films. There website is quite fascinating and as of 3 days ago the most recent event that’s occurred was the 8th annual Asian Film Festival which was held on October 25, 2007. It was reported that 15,000 attendees watched over 50 short films from 15 different countries. I also am seeing the story telling techniques in American/Asian Anime such as Aeon Flux or Kurenai. Asian story telling is also seen in comic books/mangas such as 2003’s Shinobi no Onna or Gokko. I actually also see it in fashion now a days too, there is this trend of Asian inspired clothing and I actually recently saw a white girl standing next to me on the subway wearing Asian inspired shoes which strongly reminded me of the Chinese women’s bound feet shoes. I don’t know, I see Asian aesthetics everywhere.
b.) I am pretty sure that this forecast in fact WILL come true. I believe this because if you look at where the world is now, it’s already moving at a rapid pace towards an Asian media dominated society. If this would happen… Hollywood and the East will clash and compete for power for who is #1 in the business or the opposite will occur and there will finally be unity and they’ll work together to make amazing movies.
2.) I think that the last remaining humans are not white because if you think about it now there are still a lot of white people but most prevalently mixed babies are being created. As a product of Japanese, Korean, and white, I feel as though it would only make sense that the world would move in a direction of an interracial society. It would also make sense that in the Matrix if you look at (the chosen one) Neo, he is a mixed Asian baby. My theory makes sense for there are SO many types of Asians and numbers of them that it would make sense if the whole world were crossbred with Asian. My theory relates to contemporary race issues in America, because if you look at large cities across America you find large Asian populations and breeding of “half babies.” I am vaguely reminded of the “Japan scare” though because if the U.S. was so afraid of the Japanese being integrated into their culture and becoming similar to them, can you imagine the fright that is being arisen when thinking that one day they could actually BE one of them? I think there is a separation in society today separating the old from the new. I mean this in the sense that some of the elders in society believe you should marry your own race and only make babies with that one culture whereas the younger generation is all about being attracted to different races and perhaps even making babies with them. I feel like the issue now a day that is being posed is, there is a sense of loss of identity by cross breeding and losing history roots, but at the same time, the other side of the issue posed says that perhaps you’ll find your racial identity because you aren’t limited to one race.
3.) “This signifies the desire for elasticity in identity construction; it gestures toward a sense that we are more than we appear, or wish to be read differently than we are, and can use cyberspace to create versions of ourselves that look and in some sense are different from ourselves.” It is interesting to observe at the beginning of the movie when you look at Neo’s pseudo life and how it truly it is just him and a computer. There is not a need for emotional ties or personal connections. It simply is easier to live a life without emotions. It’s the same today for the internet provides a way out and does not judge who the user is. In the matrix it seems Neo was fighting to save the world, but he was also fighting for racial acceptance.
1. It kind of seems to me that perfection and peace can only be explained visually by using Asian aesthetics. Since the western cultures have had so much hardship and history of war and destruction it is different to a western audience how conflicts and conflicts with the self can be solved in a nonviolent manner. This is where I think the allusion to the Buddhist way of life in the Matrix comes from. It seems that all the characters that have the wisdom and answers are characters based of Buddhist monks. This is a very common thing that is seen on TV and in movies because it seems like another world to us who are merely physical to be at mental peace with yourself and the world, which in turn would produce a better understanding of life in general. It is likely that Asian media will prevail in Hollywood just because of the ingenuity that lies behind Asian made films and the vast contrast it has to Western films.
2. It doesn’t seem that complicated to me at all. I don’t think that “any” white race doesn’t exist as much as it is just mixed in with all the other races. All the residents are not definitely black or white or anything in-between for that matter as much as they are just combinations of each other. I think that it just predicts the idealistic thought that in the future there will be not so many racial differences between us and we will all kind of blend into one single, or a few, races.
3. Simply put, the majority will always find a minority to pick on. It has been this way for ages now and when races have become inappropriate, and then the next logical step is machines or robots. But in turn the definition of a living being is also being argued with the robot that has developed free will and emotions, the name escapes me for a moment that did not want to die and in turn protected his own existence by murdering his owners. He got a “fair” trial, what does that say about viewing him as an equal citizen? And why is it okay to be able to give him that trial but to condemn his kind to extinction because of the actions of one? It also doesn’t make sense in the way that it is okay to try him as a human but not to give him the choice of being a member of society and climbing the ladder like all other humans do. I don’t like using the slavery analogies for this even though it does make sense because people don’t normally know to make distinctions between a simple race and the nationality of a person. That kind of drives me crazy, but that gets into a whole other argument. It is also logical to assume that even in a supposed utopian world, the fears, fantasies, desires, and anxieties are still present because we are still human and it is just human nature to be imperfect.
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a) What first jumped to my mind is the amount of Asian horror films that Hollywood is remaking. Also the techniques from those horror films are being copied by the way some of the American horror directors choose to stylize their pieces. We are heavily influenced by the Japan culture. How many of the top directors were influenced by Akira Kurosawa films? In regards to video games the Japanese have a lot of huge franchises, one of them being Sony. So it’s pretty evident that they are becoming more prominent in American entertainment.
b) I think it’s an entire possibility. Well more a probability because it seems like it’s going to happen. I’m glad for it really because I prefer a lot of the Japanese techniques used in horror films and other entertainment. It’s slowly becoming that way right now and I don’t think it’s just a fad, it’ll stick around. Hollywood would fight it at first and then they would embrace it, in a way, by trying to Americanize all of their films. It’ll cause a lot of stir eventually. Hollywood is already obsessed with getting shit out the door that they don’t take time to make sure that their product has quality to it.
2) I have two theories for this. I don’t know how many generations have gone on in Zion, but it could be a possibility that there was mainly interracial coupling and eventually pure Caucasians were wiped out and they eventually became mixes. The second guess is that the people of Zion are different races is because they’ve gone through a lot of abuse in their lives and have learned to accept all skin colors whilst the white humans aren’t ready to make that jump yet so they will remain in their virtual reality until the veil of racism is pulled from their eyes. Not sure if that made any sense, but it was an idea that came across when thinking about the topic.
3) As we progress through our technological lives I think that racism at one point will become an obsolete function of society. In regards to the internet you can never tell the race of someone that you’re chatting with or e-mailing unless you know them or they have a picture posted, even then the picture could be a fake and you could be talking to someone else. This anonymity lets people judge people on a different level that forgoes the thought of judging them by their skin color. This is an interesting idea and scary at the same time because you never know the real people you talk to. The Matrix isn’t different than our real lives today. Both in the movie and life we are constantly plugged into some form of electronics, whether it’s your phone, iPod, computer, tv or video game system. We are extremely dependent on technology and in The Matrix it is brought up that even when the machines wage war we still depend on them to live as we are useless without them.
1A.)In almost every action film of today, I see a majority of styles of martial arts. Not only do the chinese/orientals know it. But the prodominantly white lead characters in films and videogames as well. From seemingly thin air, our western heros become martial arts masters. Instead of firing off guns, they engage in hand to hand combat, swordplay, and mixtures of fighting styles incorporated with gunplay. The fact that all or most of the universes created by Western artists are so immersive and interesting when they use foreign/Asian narratives and mixthem with more traditional western styles of story telling makes for new and interesting media. There are hundreds of videogames where the lead protagonists is a ninja, like one of my favorite games of all time Ninja Gaiden.
1B.)I feel like the world will never be dominated fully, and truly by Asian media. Maybe a westernized style or take on different aspects of Asian culture and media but never just completely dominated. There are too many incredible and creative ideas from American, and other nationalities of film maker for them all to submit to Asian dominance in film. I feel that in 10 years, there will be new landmarks and franchises in film from current media television, and videogames, comic books, history, in different parts of the world, and everywhere in between. In ten years the US might be tired of the same narratives that so many films have adapted from Asian cinema; like martial arts, ninja, samuri, China, feudal Japan, etc. If this was to come true I feel that Hollywood and the West would be at a place where they would still have the creative say on what films and tv shows were being made. Maybe Asian media will share the spotlight with Western media, in different forms,especially anime but it won't dominate.
2.)I think the reason that most of the remaining peoples in Zion are not white is because of interracial relationships. The Matrix showed us a world of rebirth in a digital aeon. People were just happy to be reborn and set free, they were not concerned with race, and color, only survival, and truth. Exceptance was, and still is constantly changing. Like now. Racism is not gone, but times are better than they were 50 years ago. The divide between the races gets smaller and smaller as new ages come. It's very possible that in 1000 years there will be no pure black, white or asian races, instead there will be mix breeds of all races. The dominant white race will no longer be, because he(the white race) won't have anything to dominate, other than what has become of himself. The white man will become the mix breed, and the mix breed, black, white, asian, mexican etc. will dominate.
3.Cyberspace is a way for people to escape the harsh reality of everyday life. No racism because you can control your race. In the Matrix, actual life sucked. It was dull, boring, and hard. But when they plugged themselves into the system, they could become whom ever they wanted. This is almost exactly like real life. People in the real world go to the internet to become whatever they wish to be. Whether it be a hero in an online role playing video game, a midget posing as a six foot basket ball all star, or a pervert destined to be on MSNBC's to catch a predator. People can become who they truly wish to be in the fanatical society of internet. The Matrix turns our deepest fantasies into reality by making the internet, or Matrix the actual world. One could ask why the heroes from the film ever go into the Matrix? They always live in it with the fear that Agents will kill them, and the Matrix will ultimately never end. So why keep going back? My answer to this question would be, to escape the limitations and harshness of reality, just like in real life.
1.) a) I see Japanese influence in many video games. Mortal Kombat is a Kung fu fighting game that stems from Japanese culture. They also are a huge influence on many arcade games like “Dance Dance Revolution.” On television they have the show “MXC” which are these Asian games dubbed in English. I think that they are definitely prominent in U.S. Entertainment and have influenced many games/TV. Shows/movies.
b) I don’t think that Asian Media is going to completely take over. You still see American influences in movies and TV programs. I do think however, that we won’t stop using Asian Media. It will always be a reference to something.
2) I am not positive on why most of them weren’t white. They might have been either wiped out all together because other races had taken over, or there were interracial couples that continued to reproduce causing no more white humans.
3) I think it shows our anxieties of computers and technology taking over. I think that one day race just won’t be a concern and people will not even think twice about it. I think the Internet acts as a fantasy because it’s a way for certain people to mask themselves on who they really are. The Internet is the only place where people really wouldn’t know if you were lying or telling the truth. I think that is also why it is so feared.
1. a) There are many forms of entertainment today that have borrowed elements from Asian culture and entertainment. From American cartoons taking on the visual elements and storytelling techniques of anime, to Hollywood movies incorporating large amounts of martial arts and visual representations of Asian culture. For example The Nickelodeon cartoon “Avatar: The Last Airbender” borrows mass amounts of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and other Asian cultures and incorporates it into the show. While being more Americanized in the visual sense from other pure anime shows, it is but a stones throw away from being anime itself. Many other forms of entertainment have started adopting this practice as well, borrowing large amounts of Asian culture, but Americanizing it so the general American public can relate to it.
b) I think this is somewhat likely to occur. Asian entertainment has always carried something with it that western audiences love. It’s not one specific element but the feel of it on general. It is this feel and aesthetic that many American entertainers have tried to incorporate into their own work. So it would only seem logical that this trend would continue and flourish. Hollywood’s reaction however would vary, because it is American entertainers doing this work they would be less opposed to it than Asian entertainers “taking over,” so to speak, their industry
2. The majority of people born outside the matrix are primarily of African American decent. But conversely the majority inside the matrix is primarily Caucasian. This could be for many different reasons, for instance because African Americans are a minority on the matrix it could be easier for them to escape its grasp and fly under the radar of the machines so to speak. Another instance could be that the Caucasian race is harder to unplug from the reality to which they are presented. They are so dependent and trusting of the system that has placed them at the top of the social food chain that they themselves have forever become a component of that system. They, like many instances in real life, have chosen ignorance over reality; ignorance in terms of racial issues which has thus clouded their judgment and falsely put their race up on an untouchable pedestal. Forever locking them within the confines and boundaries of their own misconceptions and, ironically enough, keeps them slaves to their own system.
3. Nakamura talks about post-human and post-racial coding in the cyberpunk genre. Stating that “the genre’s emphasis on machine enabled forms of consciousness seems to glorify, at times, the notion of the post human, which is also coded, at times, to be the post racial.” I think this means that in a future where machines and technology control human and post human consciousness, race tends to disappear within the basic outlines of life itself. Such as in the matrix, when Neo wakes up for the first time in the real world. Every single other body in the fields of human power seem to be the same “race”, a basic human outline of life consisting of no particular classification to identify itself with a particular race. This is a fear of the technological age and what the internet does to racial identities. Race will disappear and we will all become indistinguishable from one another. This fear is realized and fought against in cyberpunk works in terms of the future being a multi-cultural and multi-racial world. Hardly ever is the future shown to be a cold, logical world where the human race has become a grey, indistinguishable, almost robotic, race-less people.
1) a) I’ll be honest when I say that I’ve never really gotten into video games and I don’t really know a whole lot about the following, but video games such as Mario, Pokemon, Final Fantasy and Zelda are all Japanese video games that got hugely popular in America. Teenagers, young adults and even adults got drawn into the guilty pleasure of video games. Final Fantasy made its published splash in America in 1990 and since then, 11 more were made. But it’s not just video games but also Japanese anime has become popular. Vampire Hunter D, Ghost in the Shell, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach and many more have inspired conventions, action figures and people who will dress up as the characters (Cos Play) spread dramatically throughout the US.
b) I think that it will fluctuate for many years. Each will constantly try to “out do” the other making popular demand change. Hopefully, though, the two cultures, East and West, will combine what is liked and create some sort of hybrid entertainment.
2) We currently live in a world where interracial relationships and mix-ed culture children happen more and more often. To me it only makes sense that in that in the future, there will most likely be very few, if not no, strictly white, black, Asian and so on. It’s the same with religion. There are many families where one parent is one religion and the other parent and different religion. In some sort of way it’s a different form of evolution. Instead of perhaps sprouting wings or no longer having the pinky toe, we’re mixing up the gene pool with all countries.
1 a) When I was a child, around 8 or 9, i used to wake up at 7 in the morning just so I could watch a segment on the Sci-Fi channel called "the saturday anime". They used to show late 80's/early 90's anime movies like Akira, Green Legend Ran, Tenchi-Muyo In Love, and Robot Carnival. On sundays they would show the original Dragonball series on sundays. That's what got me in to anime as a child and back then, those were the only real chances that a kid from New Jersey could see REAL anime. Nowadays, i have an 8 year old brother who is chronically addicted to screens and it seems that kids these days are just BOMBARDED with asian or pseudo-asian media. It also seems that there are a lot of american made children's cartoons that are trying to be VERY japanese (Code Lyoko, Teen Titans, Avatar: The last air bender, Totally Spies) both aesthetically and conceptually. These cheesy american anime's darn their characters with huge eyes and multicolored hair, use "face-faults" like sweat drops, and even use japanese references like names and other cultural elements.
b) I wouldn't say that we're going to be mobbed with media FROM asia, but i will say that asian themes are very prominent especially in children's media. The west and Hollywood have already reacted, and you can see a change in action movies, especially in the aesthetics of destruction and violence. The use of hybrid martial arts and use of religious and cultural themes from asia are used all the time now.
2) Deep into the future, it just doesn't make any sense at all that there would be a purely white, black, or asian race. Even though there are some who are in the movie, in a futuristic sense, we now have no reasons to NOT breed outside of our colors. The situation in the matrix reminds me of a documentary about the future of mankind. In this documentary, a modern day philosopher was talking about the melting of the polar ice caps and how the rising waters would force people from all over the world to move to the one last stretch of dry land and that we'd be forced to breed interracially to survive as a species. The same theory would apply to Zion, the last purely human city on a planet ruled by machines.
3) I think that the "second renaissance" reflects our anxieties about war and our fear of losing control over everything we've created. I feel like we live in a world based around the idea of being able to control every aspect of life. Machines and technology help us to control our lives in various aspects. I think that the second rennaissance and other post apocalyptic media tries to reflect our fear of losing this control, or everything we use to control using us.
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[a] I may be blind, but I relly don't notice a huge amount of Asian aesthetics in our entertainment. Then again, I don't watch that much television.
[b] I really don't believe that Asia will completely dominate our media, there may be more than what there is now, but I think that's quite a big assumption.
[2] When you asked this question, I thought of the bald guy who betrays everybody in the real world as he eats lunch with a Smith. I think he represents all the white people in the Matrix. The fact that they don't care what is actually happening, as long as they have luxuries. It makes me think of global warming and the fact of some people owning huge houses and running all of the lights on at once. Also driving gas-hungry hummers. Global warming? Who cares as long as I have cool stuff.
[3] One thing about the internet is you can say what you want and people don't judge you by your skin color...because they can't see it. There is no race on the internet, just a huge online community. I don't believe anyone of our generation fears the internet. It is our life source. People put their lives up on blogs, talk to people, and find any information you want. In fact, it is more of a fear to lose the internet. If it just disappeared, I believe some people just wouldn't be able to function.
1:a)The clothing and the martial arts was the most prevalent factor for me. The scenery was also very Japanese.
b)I think it's very true, looking back at the early movies in the 80s and how they are now. It has become more asian focused. I think it will be good in the future; but Hollywood and the west will be mostly run by the east.
2:Well there has been a steadily growing number of multiracial people within the past few decades and I think that by that time the majority of people will be mixed. Racism wouldn't be a factor for the residence of Zion.
3:In the cyber world the race aspect wouldn't matter as it does for us now. It would become a trivial aspect of a person. It's man vs. machine and that's all that matters.
1A) I have found not just Japanese but Asia in general to be the best creators of Anime games and RPG (Role Playing Games). Their storylines are very in-depth, but they usually all have “western fantasy” as we described earlier in class this year. Some specific examples would be my all time favorites the Final Fantasy series. The stories are usually about an underdog who has some mysticism to him that gives him the edge against. Also sword play has a very prominent role over firearms in most of the games.
1B) I can see that Asian influence will continue to increase in the media but I don’t believe it will take completely over the media. Styles change of once and a while, and right now I believe that Asia is the current trend. If it does happen I believe Hollywood will try to stay western until it stops making money then I bet it will go with what ever is popular.
2) Well I have been mulling this one over for a while and I believe the reason that most of the people of Zion are not white is because of greed. It seems that North America had the most hatred for the machines and draw first blood or in the robots case first oil, causing the robots to retaliate against them first. Seeing how robots complete tasks in a through and efficient manor, I assumed that most of the white race was eliminated in that first huge fight. Then when the robots decided to use the humans as batteries, all that was left were the non-white humans.
3) I believe that there isn’t as much racism and such on the web as there is in real life. People have a lot better things to be doing on the internet then being racist bigots. A lot of the computer literate people out there are the ones who grew up with out racism and all the hate that occurred long ago.
1. a.)Asian has clearly invaded the u.s. in a major way. There are tons of shows that have japanese influences in them. From pokemon to dragon ball and all the anime shows on the cartoon network asia definitely has had an effect on american television. I feel a lot of theses shows draw attn because they have a lot of action in them and the charaacters are very interesting to watch and I think that they just draw people to the television. I still watch some anime shows I think one of my favorite ones was sailor moon. I was in.love w/ the grls who had super powers from the planets it was great to watch. Video games is another asian invasion. A lot of these action games like mortal kombat which is one of my favorties.
b.) That's a very interesting theory. I don't know exactly how i feel about that though based on the fact that the market that asian actors and just asian shows and stuff in general is stritcly action/adventure geared. Almost every movie that i have seen that has a lot of asian actors is fighting movies w/ jet li and jackie chan. Even television shows the cartoons are mainly about fighting and action /adventure. For asia to take over i think they would have to breakthrough in more than just the "action" scene. If this were to occur however i do feel there would be some sort of a backlash because i don't think that americans are ready for an asian takeover. I think there is still some pre.judasim and it would be really hard for me to see americans excepting that drastic change.
2. I think they are not white because white would be da supremacy race (agents). Whites would not be zion because the zions are not dominate in the movie and they seem almost helpless against the agents. I think there is some racism w/ this because I feel that sometimes white people might look @ themselves as THE superior race and therefore anything other than white is just merely inferior.
3.) I think that people feel a lot more comfortable on the internet than in person. I think the internet is almost an outlet for those people who can not neccessarily handle meeting people in person. I know for myself i am not the most outgoing person and i tend to be a bit shy around people when i first meet them. I find it easier to talke to people online cause i guess i have a better comfort level because i know that they can not physically see me. I do feel people are more comfortable and hande cultures pretty well. there are a lot more interracial dating and partnering goin on and culturea anxiety i feel is decreasing.
1a. Asian culture has a huge amount of influence on today's society in every aspect. From religion to entertainment, the U.S. has inhaled and engulfed Asia's lifesytle. For an example most of the cartoons on television today mimic Japanese anime. I think we are interested in the brilliant colors and almost divine lifestyle that has been portraid to us threw film, books, comics, videogames and tv.
1b. I believe it will be less than 10 years before the world is dominated by Asian media. It basically already has. Look at every electronic system and device that you own. Look where it was made. Asia has set the standards of what quality is in every field of the market. I think at first we had a hard time excepting that the west is no longer the definition of quality. But I believe we have finally excepted it and are now learning to cope and move along with this change. Look at what the Asian's did to video games. They brought us the Nintendo, Wii, and Playstation. Which now suck the lives out of all of us.
3. In this day and age the internet is becoming a part of our every day lives. It has given us the convience beyond any invention known or created by man. You no longer have to get out of the house to go shopping. Your medication, clothes and groceries can now be ordered via internet. The internet has also turned into a living pimp. With all the online dating sites and services you don't even have to go outside to the real world to meet your significant other. You can just feed E Harmony or whatever site your dirty dollar to help you find your "compatible" partner. It is almost like we fear face to face human interaction. Granted laziness is defiantely a factor but or identity and personality is now a screen name or a login name. It's no longer who you really are. We are our own creators in the internet. We can become who we wish we were.
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