Research project on anime-fans

It's been way too long, and I've seemingly abandoned my blog. This was not for poor reasons, but I feel bad all the same. You see I've finally become gainfully employed. This means that I now work 9 to 5 and can't spend the day musing about stuff I find in my hours of reading blogs in my pajamas.

One exciting thing is that one of professors has asked if I would like to co-write a paper with him this summer. He is a sociologist who is an expert on the political atmosphere of Burma. He had done an extensive ethnographic research there and is usually listed in many articles related to Burma. He has found that he was referenced on the "NarutoForums" message board. After reading the thread on recent events in Burma, he was interested in the level of sophistication which many of these posters were speaking on the issues involved. He has asked me to co-write with him because he doesn't really understand the culture of message boards very well, and would also like my advice on understanding any cultural meanings in the anime references.

In short, from a sociological standpoint, this is a rare opportunity in which we have documented evidence of how an informal community carries a dialog about political issues relating to my professor's work.

I was telling him that this paper would be a good opportunity for me to get published a few of my own ideas about geek culture. This idea borrows greatly from Lars Konzack's work "Geek Culture: The 3^rd Counter-Culture" in which is sets up the idea that "Geek Culture" is the rejection of "Yuppie Culture" in the same way that "Yuppie Culture" was the rejection of "Hippie Culture". I would go into further detail as to how this plays out in terms of how geeks seek to understand the world around them. I feel as if for many geeks, the key element of being one is this comfortable attitude with understanding fantastic worlds. A geek would be able to see a strange situation, and quickly adapt to the situation and operate on the level of that situation instead of on a personal presupposition. This gets into various famous arguments like which would win in a battle if the USS Defiant was put against the Millennium Falcon. A geek would answer "Depends on who was in command". I feel that this comfortable relationship with fantastic worlds allows for an attitude which is able to grasp other cultures with ease and without disregarding issues as too foreign to care about. While many Americans can't point to Burma on a map, geeks are curious to learn more about a place if they are given even an inkling knowledge.

Wanna play some smash?

So my brother got me Super Smash Brothers Brawl last week. I've been playing it for a week and even had a few guys over to my place to really break in the game.

I really like the series. Super Smash Brothers has always been a solid game that understands that games should be fun. One of the things that I tend to get annoyed about many of the games out there is this idea that more violence, and darker themes would mean the game would sell better. Games that look like it was created through market research to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Last Saturday, I discovered (or maybe rediscovered) another reason this game is great. I had a few guys come over to play the game. All four of them were seasoned veterans of the last game and were fairly good players. (One of them seemed to continue to dominate using Yoshi.) We had been playing for several hours and had gotten used to the new controls. Then another friend of mine came over later in the afternoon. She had never really played the game, but was a big enough nerd to appreciate the appeal of Nintendo characters fighting each other. After only a few rounds of playing she picked up the subtleties of the game right away. Within 30 minutes of playing the idea of taking it easy on the new player was completely ignored.

For the most part the game is very well designed. Even if you're losing, it's still a fun game to play and the penalties for losing are so meager they don't really mean anything. Also the controls are really easy to pick up. No half-circles, no crazy button combos, everything is pretty straight forward. Really good players can dominate a game on occasion, but with the way the game is made, the range of how good one can be at the game is very short.

It's the type of game that follows the ideology of the Wii. Wii games don't have to be the most advanced game out there to be a very fun game that can be accessible to a wide range of people and not just to the gaming elite. It also gets me thinking about the idea of categorization of games, as in games for girls, infants, kids, and adults. In many ways these distinctions get into the realm of silly and insulting. Is SSBB a kid's game? is it girl friendly? These ideas create assumptions about the abilities of women and children that can hardly be generalized in any reliable way. I was concerned at the newcomer's ability to enjoy the game not because she was a girl, but because she was playing against people who had played the game quite a bit before. (being outmatched no matter who you are is never fun) But it was through the design of the game that was able to encourage even newcomers to the series to find enjoyment.

Who are nerds

This is a very fascinating bit on this guy that lives not too far from me. In fact I may end up going to see him in the near future if the desires strikes me.

Other than the fact that he's an example of a "white guy with too much expendable income". I don't have anything against him. He seems like your typical geek that has a hobby. To be honest, I've been inconsolably jealous of anyone with a lot of money lately. I don't even know why. I saw a site with several pictures of Dubai and suddenly had this fit of rage over how much freaking money is pouring into this city.

So the question is this, is being a nerd merely an extension of the culture of consumerism, or is there something more. Are you still a nerd if you don't have a lot of "stuff"? Does this stuff define you as a nerd? Are you a bigger nerd if you have more stuff? I'd like to think not. I'd like to think that being a nerd merely means interests in things, and not the collecting of things. I knew this guy who specializes in selling rare and highly sought after comic books. He was telling me that he was selling "Amazing Fantasy 15" to an NFL team owner. I know nothing about this guy, and I'm sure he is quite a fan of Spider-man and all, but the question is, does it make him a nerd?

I consider myself a big nerd. I know that there are two Dr. McCoys, (Dr. Hank McCoy, and Dr. Leonard McCoy) I read Gizmodo and Kotaku almost on a daily basis, and learned Japanese to be able to read manga in Japanese. I own a fair amount of nerdy things including a boxed copy of Final Fantasy 1, a Wii, a 9 inch figure of symbiote suit Spider-man, and a Principality of Zeon flag. But I have this nagging feeling that there is more to it. A more central reason to why I do all these things, and these things are merely products of that.

Psychology

Mike Krahulik from Penny Arcade has written one of the bravest bits on personal psychology that I have read in a long time. Seriously, of all the things that I have personally read about psychology and have experienced personally, this perhaps one of the astondingly reflective and honest discription of what's it like to deal with a psychological problem.

It was almost impossible to go get help though because the very nature of the illness prevents you from getting it. So I worry alot, I know that. So I start to think maybe I worry too much. Maybe I have a real problem. Then I think, "no I'm just worrying too much". This is the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night. It's fucking inescapable like some kind of brain trap. So I have to write off this fear that I might actually be sick as another example of my needless worrying. Add to that the fact that I worry that if I do go to a doctor he'll tell me I have some kind of brain disease or I'm not treatable or maybe just as bad that there's nothing wrong with me. All this shit piles up and the result is that I'm 30 and I've never gone to the doctor about it until yesterday.

I started crying a bit a this part here. It cut very close to how I feel about myself and the way I am. I have often credited Penny-Arcade for it's quality work, but this is the first time I have wanted to send a strong message to Mike Krahulik that I am simply humbled by him.

Psychological problems are all too often linked to nerd culture. This could be simple depictions of nerds in the media as socially awkward individuals (see: Steve Urkel, Brian Johnson) or the litany of various claims that video games, comic books, and television would lead to psychological disorders. The Japanese have historically drawn much of their presuppositions on nerds from Akio Nakamori's "Mの時代"(The age of M). This was a case study of Tsutomu Miyazaki a famous serial killer. Since Miyazaki was also an otaku, the connection was commonly held that otaku may also harbor psychotic tendencies. (Similar distinctions have been made of both the Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and Seung-Hui Cho.)

I personally find it difficult to rationalize this in my mind. The only thing I could say is this. Perhaps there could be an attraction phenomenon. Reduced down, the promise of nerd culture could be said to be the promise of escapism. To be free from our physical and social restraints, of only in our minds and play with "what ifs" that would otherwise couldn't be. This could become a very attractive solution to people who are dissatisfied with their own reality. I take as an example Spider-man. If you're a kid living in a poor Jewish Romanian immigrant family in New York city, what better dream than to have someone who selflessly protects the people of the city. Even Peter Parker himself was a role model for me. When things in my life didn't work out very well and I felt like a failure, it made me feel a little better to know that even being a failure made me bit more like Peter Parker. In a time in which secular thinking is held at a pedestal, and we are no longer soaked in a culture of religious fervor, perhaps nerd culture acts as the non-spiritual solace which those who need it, seek it.

Modern Man (response)

Many different journalist of better writing ability have responded in similar dismay to Hymowitz' article on the child-men problem.

Mighty Bargain Hunter, has a short piece basically saying that ideas of what it means to grow up are not as uniform as some my think it to be. I especially like the bit at the end.

If you grow up earlier than you should, life is “thrust upon you” and you’ll feel cheated. If you grow up later than you should, you’ll know it, and others will tell you once they get tired enough of your behavior. If you grow up at the right speed, you know what you’re leaving behind, and you know that where you’re going has a good chance of being better. After nearly six years of marriage I hardly remember what it was like not to be married, and when I think about what it was like, I don’t miss it that much. But I was ready to “grow up” and get married. There’s more responsibility being a grown-up, but it’s also more rewarding and more fulfilling. That’s where the payoff is, but it’s a payoff that you have to want.

I've found after teaching in Japan, that your average Japanese 20something is rather immature compared to your average 20something in America. Being that I taught elementary and junior high school kids, I have a personal theory. The Japanese kids are raised to uphold an unreasonable amount of responsibility. Although it's always good to teach responsibility at a young age, there is a point in which it becomes harmful. After growing up with it, the reason for having responsibility becomes meaningless and a mental rejection of adulthood occurs. In many ways forcing a child to act grown up, stunts their ability to actually grow up. I've found that growing up requires learning first hand those mistakes of youth, saying ouch, and then moving on.

Another article by Amanda Marcotte writes extensively tearing down the argument that because of "feminism" men have fallen behind in becoming adults. She writes sarcastically

of course women are to blame for men who are unwilling to take responsibility. Specifically the secret, all-powerful cadre called The Feminists. We all know the argument—men aren’t motivated to grow up and do icky girl stuff like get married and have children and hold down a full-time job on their own. No, they have to be bribed into it. You ladies have to sweeten the deal by offering dependence and submission. But never fear, men are like vending machines. You put submission and dependence in, ladies, and you’ll get devotion and responsibility back. So really, it’s all on you to “make” men be responsible.

Where the Xbox is concerned, is that men are spending their time and money on childish things like video games instead of growing up and appreciating how independent and career driven their wives are. Marcotte wrote that not only is this inaccurate, it implies that most women are now independent and career driven and wouldn't touch a video game controller for fear of getting cooties.

The idea that men are always playing around with women and games is an old story that predates both the Xbox and yuppies. (see: Guys and Dolls "I'm playing craps", Pride and Prejudice "You tricked me with your womanly ways", The Odyssey "So, heres the reason it took me so long to get home.")

The Modern Man

Kay Hymowitz from The Dallas Morning News wrote an interesting opinion article about his opinions of the modern man. For him all men seem to be behind in being able to grow up.

Now meet the 21st-century you, also 26. You've finished college and work in a cubicle in a large Chicago financial-services firm. You live in an apartment with a few single guy friends. In your spare time, you play basketball with your buddies, download the latest indie songs from iTunes, have some fun with the Xbox 360, take a leisurely shower, massage some product into your hair and face – and then it's off to bars and parties, where you meet, and often bed, girls of widely varied hues and sizes. Wife? Kids? House? Are you kidding?

I wish my life was like that. (I actually happen to be 26 right now.) Who even has a life like that? I tend to be pretty hard on affluent white people. I've been known to snicker at the silly things that honkies do. However, what I'm interested in here is the writer himself. Mr. Hymowitz has a few issues with the modern world and his generalizations tell more about what concerns him, than what is happening in America.

With women, you could argue that adulthood is in fact emergent. Single women in their 20s and early 30s are joining an international New Girl Order, hyper-achieving in both school and an increasingly female-friendly workplace, while packing leisure hours with shopping, traveling and dining with friends. Single young males, or SYMs, by contrast, often seem to hang out in a playground of drinking, hooking up, playing Halo 3 and, in many cases, underachieving. With them, adulthood looks as though it's receding.

What is this NGO? I know quite a few "jet-set" women and none of them have told me of any such NGO. On top of that most American women have never left the country and don't plan to go father than the time share resorts. The rest of the article is mostly alot of pseudo-psychology about why men aren't becoming adults and that it's the media's fault.

It seems to me that this is less of a commentary of the modern man, but casting nerd culture as an affront to male adulthood. Somehow a "real" adult is meant to have cast aside silly things like Halo 3 and iTunes and get in the real world with a real job working with heavy machines and responsibilities.

The problem I see is that the roles that are presented to us in the media, and the roles that men are able to fill now has changed dramatically over the years. We have not settled on what it means to be an adult in the modern age. (Frankly it's something we figure out in hindsight.) We are constantly being told that we need to get a "good" education, (like at least a masters) and then a steady job with a steady paycheck. In actuality there really is no set model. Some of the most influential people of the past and present hardly can be considered to have lived a normal progression of adult stages.

Technology

Somehow the lady's message reminds me of this little scene from Johnny Mnemonic.

Johnny Mnemonic: Yeah, the Black Shakes. What causes it?
Spider: What causes it?
[points to various pieces of equipment throughout the room]
Spider: This causes it! This causes it! This causes it! Information overload! All the electronics around you poisoning the airwaves. Technological fucking civilization. But we still have all this shit, because we can't live without it. Let me do my work.

One of the interesting thing here is the overlap of two different ways to bring more power to the iPhone than it really deserves. The lady is blaming the iPhone as the harbinger of mind numbing technology, and the juveniles off camera are ensnared by the promises of new gadgets to make their lives better. Neither group understands each other's culture, the lady can't understand her own arbitrary cutoff point between good technology and bad technology , and the juveniles can't understand how far seduced they are by consumerism.

This brings up two interesting parts of the argument. The lady is pleading for a return to a natural state of humanness. However, is shown to be hypocritical through her patronage of sprint cellphones. (why is that open in her hands anyway?) The fact is our human bodies are far past any return to a "natural" state. We live far beyond the time of maturation of our offsprings surviving through a cocktail of vaccines and antibiotics. There is no "natural" state for humans, and even if there was such a person at this state, civilized society rejects them instantly with no remorse.

However, the juveniles are arguing that technology is at the aid of human potential. Through access to the internet, this serves as a collective unconscious of all information that one would desire. This is part of the salvation story of technology and science, that there will be some "thing" if perfected that will save us all from ignorance. (see OLPC) Marketing agencies play into this desire and use elaborate ads that promise us salvation but really are merely asking for our money.

As the hierarchy of class/age/sex/race/nation divisions stay solid while information sharing continues to lure us into being numb to these divisions, we will see more and more of these conflicts between people and cultures.