Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Chances In Hell
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Alright, some of you are getting too personal and inflammatory so let's dial it back a bit and stick to discussing just the topic instead of each other.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Rare is it when I will actually subscribe to the "both sides are doing it" line of thinking, but I do feel both sides have constructed and are arguing against strawmen. The "elitist" who only watches arthouse stuff and whatever gets high praise from tough-to-please critics, and looks down his nose at anyone who enjoys fanservice otaku shows as plebian slobs. Everything with cute girls in it sucks, period. The "lowbrow" otaku who consumes only the heaviest fanservice anime, doesn't appreciate or enjoy anything that isn't just designed to be jerked off to and harbors an immense victim complex. Everything that has a thought in its head other than "cute girls!" is pretentious crap for elitists. Now, I'm not saying these two types of people don't ever actually exist, but I don't think anyone in this particular debate is either one, nor do I think these strawmen, if they do actually exist, represent a particularly visible part of fandom. We're arguing against a problem that doesn't really exist in that simple a binary. |
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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Yay, the elitism debate - this must be America!
First of all, we're all elitists. Does anyone here seriously not feel that their taste in entertainment is superior to all others? There is, however, a divide between those who like to analyse what they watch (e.g. themes of urban decay in the works of ABe, shifting approaches to the harem comedy format, boob size as an inverse correlate of character introspection), and those whose chief satisfaction is flashing colours and loud noises. Almost anyone can be in this second group, but to play the analysis game you need to be practiced in logical argument, and to know what (some of) the long jargon words mean. If you don't have this, it can naturally lead to resentment about not being "in" on something. This can sometimes lead to reverse-elitism ("Those guys are snooty brainiacs who don't understand what really matters"), which is - surprise surprise - actual elitism. And this is not to say that those arty types can't be grade-A morons - just google "Sokal hoax". What about the question of quality? Can someone's opinion of the quality of an anime have an objective validity? I would have to say yes. I've known people who were basically incapable of telling if a plot was nonsensical, or the characters were two-dimensional stereotypes, when these things were obvious to me. But I don't think it's a matter of superior taste, but more a question of what we know and what we're looking for. For instance, my interests are writing and music, and judging these qualities is something I'm experienced at. OTOH, I must admit my judgement on visuals is less brilliant. Other viewers can instantly spot when the characters go off-model, or other continuity issues. And I must admit that, while I can see these problem when they're pointed out to me, they're not very important to me. I'm not somehow "wrong" for not seeing or caring about these problems, just as a visually-focused person isn't wrong for not spotting script issues. I think it's incorrect to say that these things are therefore meaningless, but because everyone sees everything from their own unique perspective, the question of quality can never be decisively answered. Anyway, I can't dally here all day - that $10,000 bottle of champagne won't open itself! 
EDIT: I forgot to mention, re English voices in anime, the 20th Century Boys trilogy was just broadcast here, and I noticed that the English speaking actors (playing foreign newsreaders and reporters) were really good! How did that happen? |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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It's not that I think my taste in entertainment is better or worse than that of anyone else. It's that I think my taste matters to me more than that of anyone else. I am the one who experiences the results of my taste, so of course it matters more to me. But the same is true for every other person, too. This does not make us elitist, it makes us individuals. Last edited by Tuor_of_Gondolin on Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:17 am; edited 1 time in total |
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jl07045
 Posts: 1527 Location: Riga, Latvia |
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Well, we spend half of our lives comparing ourselves to others using some self-made or more widely accepted criteria and get a boost of confidence when we prove to be the better person or at least no worse. So I don't even see a problem here as long as we learn to not throw it in each other's face. |
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YotaruVegeta
 Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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If we were all a little less elitist, maybe forum threads would be a little shorter, flame wars would get a little less hot....
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eyeresist
Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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That's what you think, but I'd argue it's not what you feel. |
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