Dr. David Stevens
Appearances
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Thin is back in, but did it ever leave us?
Naruto is one of the more popular ones because of some of the themes that are present in Naruto. The main character is someone who's been shown from his society. His parents have died, so he's on his own. He really has had to get everything out of the mud by himself.
It's Been a Minute
Thin is back in, but did it ever leave us?
And I think that is a story, a narrative that really resonates with young Black people in general because of these different themes of having to deal with discrimination, having to deal with poverty, having to deal with social isolation.
It's Been a Minute
Thin is back in, but did it ever leave us?
As we're seeing the expansion of Black anime fans and their own personal identity, we're also seeing pushback from outside of Black communities who conceive of anime communities in more traditional ways.
It's Been a Minute
Thin is back in, but did it ever leave us?
we have to be careful as Western audiences to understand that anime is a primarily Japanese form of expression. And as such, we have to think about the sort of geographical and the cultural context. This really comes into play when we think about the interpretation of Black characters.
It's Been a Minute
Thin is back in, but did it ever leave us?
And I really should sort of put that in quotes because it is often nebulous, the racial and ethnic character of some of the people that we see on screen.
It's Been a Minute
Thin is back in, but did it ever leave us?
He's kind of the classic racial archetype that people critique in Japanese animes, who really takes on the look of a traditional minstrel character that we see in American history that was used to mock and deride Black people. That character, who wears a turban, also possesses characteristics of South Asian or Indian cultures. I think that's also an interpretation that
It's Been a Minute
Thin is back in, but did it ever leave us?
we have to take into consideration. As anime grows in its globalization, our understanding of race is going to continue to be challenged. And we can't rely on these old traditional understandings of binary black and white relationships.