Wednesday 26 September 2007

Pic of the day: Here, the male main character happens upons a bathing girl. Moments later he will be beaten up. This is perfectly normal in Japanese entertainment.

Porn or anti-porn?

Some of the anime I watch is decidedly not worksafe. I think today's picture fits in that category, although it should probably not be enough to automatically get you fired if you rapidly press "back" on your browser. Of course, I will assume that you read this at home instead. It is not as if I haven't color-coded my entries exactly to avoid that kind of confusion. Actually, there are probably some homes where you can't read it either. I think this is a bad thing, and will devote the rest of the entry to prove it.

When the American (and probably most European) reader sees an erotic situation in a movie or comic book, it is normally interpreted as porn. However, in Japan there is a strong tradition of the opposite. I will tentatively call it anti-porn. Intriguingly, I have come upon similar (but far more subtle) ideas in Hinduism, where the relationship between the god and his worshipers is symbolized in erotic stories. By listening to these stories, claim the religious authorities, you will become free from lust and learn to love the god instead. On a related note, I may mention the Song of Solomon (also called "Song of Songs" in the Old Testament), which admittedly is more flowery and symbolic but definitely not worksafe if vividly illustrated. It is erotic, but not for the purpose of enticing the listener to casual fornication. Quite the opposite.

I admit that Japanese anime, manga and light novels are less ambitious than Solomon or Krshna, but I still think of them as anti-porn. And statistics seems to agree with me: Sexual violence is radically less common in Japan than in Europe, not to mention the USA where it is frankly rampant. Infidelity is also drastically less common in Japan. This, I believe, is not in spite of the widespread manga, but because of it. And, if my hunch is correct, specifically the anti-porn. (Japan also has porn in the western sense, but it keeps a lower profile.)

The key of what I call anti-porn is that the erotic situation is not resolved. There is no release, and I mean this both bodily and plotwise. The main character, usually a male, is repeatedly exposed to sexual stimuli, but usually by coincidence, and it does not lead to sexual intercourse. Instead it is often followed by negative events, like being scolded or even physically beat up. The viewer which identifies with the main character to some degree thus builds an association that is the opposite of simple porn. In simple porn there is a progression through levels of sexual stimuli toward climax, which is usually described but sometimes left to the reader who is presumed to take the matter in their own hand, as it were. (Well, that's how I remember it. It's been a while, but I do have a pornographic memory…)

In contrast, the Japanese acceptable "ero" elements are in a context where the sexual tension is not built up consistently. It is awakened, then dramatically (even violently) extinguished. It reinforces an expectation that random erotic stimuli are going to be followed by disappointment. I think this is a healthy attitude. In real life, random erotic stimuli do happen. They certainly do to me, but then again I am more sensitive than the average man my age since I don't have sex. Anime and manga of the type I refer to as anti-porn prime my brain to not expect too much from such happenstance erotic exposure. To tolerate it and brace for disappointment.

***

For example, today's picture is from the anime Nagasarete Airantou. In this anime, a teen boy is shipwrecked and drifts ashore a large island inhabited solely by women, mostly young ones. (The men all disappeared some years ago in a poorly explained event.) After 12 years, the women's instincts are awakened. Each of them conspires to get him for her own enjoyment, but the others are of course thwarting them at every turn. Meanwhile the reigning matriarch lodges the boy with the only girl who is too innocent to try to seduce him (or rape him outright, in the worst cases). We all know how this is going to end. The innocent girl will gradually awaken to her feelings, and the boy will be drawn to her higher qualities. But in the meantime, his daily life is a series of beginning erotic encounters followed by swift and often violent interruptions.

Of course, I can't guarantee that this has the same effect on the young Japanese boy. Perhaps he selectively replays the erotic part either on his video recorder or in his head while vigorously rubbing himself or whatever normal healthy males do in Japan. But I am not so sure of it. Logically you would probably not do that so easily unless you were already conditioned (as western boys are) to expect a quick release. More research on this subject would be nice, and if I stumble upon such I will try to keep you updated. And of course I might luck out to have a Japanese reader (if nothing else then because they find my journal while searching for screenshots) and they can enlighten me.

On the other hand, there certainly exists porn in Japan. Some of it is outright creepy, from what I hear. Tentacle porn is supposedly a famous export article… though I am not sure how popular it is at home. I haven't seen any of this and have no plan to. (OK, I saw a parody in Girls Bravo 2nd season, but even as a parody and very heavily censored that was just plain creepy.) It is also subtly implied in mainstream anime that most boys masturbate, often with the help of "swimsuit catalogs" and similar, though the polite Japanese never talk about such things outright or mention it by name. It is just the vague side remark that healthy young boys often have such material in their room. It would probably be too much to expect that people who are not driven by the Holy Ghost would remain pure of heart until their wedding day! But it is still a more sex-resistant society than we have here. And I think this is a good thing for them.