| | I am both impressed and horrified. What is the situation that has me all riled up?
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washinomiya_Shrine:
The August 2007 issue of the Newtype magazine ran an article on the various locales featuring in the popular anime and manga Lucky Star, and provided directions on how to reach these places from the otaku hotspot Akihabara, including the Washinomiya Shrine which had its torii shown in the opening sequence and featured the Hiiragi sisters working as miko in the anime. Shortly afterwards, massive otaku pilgrimages to the shrine became the most widely reported consequence of the feature's publication. It became a place teeming with photographers trying to replicate scenes from the anime, cosplayers wandering around, and prayer plaques ridden with anime drawings and strange prayers like "Konata is my wife". The head of the shrine raised concerns that the visitors were worshipping "deities" other than the shrine's own. The locals were divided on the situation, with some suggesting that it was good for the shrine to have so many worshippers, and some being concerned about the town's security. The visiting otakus, although considered unusual, were generally described as being well-mannered. Eventually, many local residents embraced the otaku, with some profiting from the new traffic and influx of people. This social phenomenon was subsequently satirized in the twenty-first episode of the anime.
It's wonderful that so many people can unite behind doing something they love, even if it is eccentric. It's also great that the locals and the tourists were able to come to something of an understanding. However, could there be any better demonstration that new media and new ways of thinking - however arbitrary - are poised to supplant traditional ways?
Before you misunderstand: progress is not automatically bad. Far from it. For example, I very much like the fact that the scientific germ theory has overtaken superstitions that people fall ill from a witch's curse. Not only does this spare us from burning more than a few innocent old ladies, it also enables us to actually do something about the problem. Everybody wins.
The problem here is a little more sticky. Even though I myself am a Lucky Star fan, the fact remains that the show is a light-hearted comedy. It is about entertainment; it is about laughs. It is in no way a well thought-out life philosophy or concerned with deep spiritual truths (unless you count Konata's perpetual tendency of making "deep" and absurd statements that only serve to reveal how much otakuism has taken over her mind.) I worry that even as we rush to discard the past, we forget some important lessons it may have to teach us. Worse, we may become convinced that the triumph of a shallower view of the world here in this instance is a negation of all deeper thoughts. True, this specific incident took place within Japan and thus the immediate problem, if we can call it a problem, is Japanese. But the inexorable march of progress knows no bounds. The experience of giving up the old for the new is universal to humanity. And the dangers of form eclipsing function - whether a result of cherishing the old or cherishing the new - should not be ignored.
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| | Posted 2/3/2009 10:05 AM - 397 Views - 16 eProps - 8 comments
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