Forum - View topicANNCast - Dun Dun DUNBAR
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Rahxephon91
 Posts: 1859 Location: Park Forest IL. |
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Actually you have plenty of anime related things at "comic" conventions. Plenty of panels and cosplayers. Come conventions became the melting pot well before anime.
I mean I guess make much sense but eh whatever. Doesn't really effect me enough to care. It's just people in other silly costumes that aren't anime related. |
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MeggieMay
 Posts: 607 |
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I really enjoyed this episode. Charles comments about general SF fandom hit home for me. General SF fandom (i.e. Book fandom) slammed the door on me as well only it was 1985
 . I was too "young" in 1985 to be allowed "in" (plus they didn't want anything to do with "media" stuff) and the local "trekkies" didn't want me in their club because I watched Doctor Who (only Star Trek was OK with them)  While the latter issue was more of a regional thing (I never ran into the closed door stuff on that scale when I went outside the area), I to this day have to wonder how a fandom could kill themselves off like General SF fandom did/has. You have to allow people in to survive and grow - there's no other way. Of course that doesn't mean let things totally get out of control and totally lose a core fandom but allowing other fandoms to move among Anime fandom is a plus, not a minus IMO. You can catch new people by doing so.
Case in point: what got me really into Anime fandom (after one try in the late 80s ran into life issues) was the Vash the Stampede cos-player at the Doctor Who con in Chicago in the late 90s who was in front me in a line. The group I was with got to asking about what he was dressed up as, so when I ran across the show later on CN I knew what it was  . BTW, I had to laugh at the Doctor Who isn't mainstream comments :snerk: Modern Who is is very mainstream! This is not the the '80s and the day it won the Hugo award it pretty much was "accepted" by even general SF fandom :rolleyes:
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Studyofanime
Posts: 2 |
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My only thought right now is WOW, I'm glad to get this conversation started. I love when people discuss the things I love civilly.
As an anthropologist, I'm often forced to sit on the sidelines and observe. That's sort of how the entire idea formed in my head about converging fantoms: while now it might be obvious, when I began my graduate fieldwork, it was still in its latency. And while I get excited when I see cultures transform, at the same time I have ties to those same cultures, and it causes me bias that I need to constantly keep in check. One of the points I will always make about why anime fandom melts as opposed to others is the "open" nature of anime conventions. The "all are welcome" mentality I've encountered since Anime Expo NY way back in 2002. Unlike the SF conventions I used to attend, anime cons were always a better place for me to find a community and be myself. I credit them for allowing me to become who I am today. And many of the people meet at anime cons say the same thing. Of course there's a balancing act involved- whereby the convention begins to shift away from its mission towards something else. But that bring up the other part of convergence: the fans will create what the fans want to create. The convention can organize itself any way it wants to, with as much focus on anime/Japanese/pan-Asian culture as it desires. The attendees will do what they will as well, and if what they want does not exist, they will create it themselves. I find beauty in that level of interaction between members of a community. But, as I said, culture change thrills me, and community dynamics, when they work, make me very satisfied. I wrote a bit more on this idea for Daily Dot back in September, if you want to see more details. Or feel free to contact me with questions. http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/dunbar-con-culture-convergence-anime/ |
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Drac
Posts: 165 |
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It's not as if Comiket is devoid of US American media properties. There's a number of fans of TMNT, Transformers, Adventure Time, etc. that sale their dōjinshi and other fan made stuff based on these series. It's not a huge amount but the presence is there.
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2449 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I really enjoyed Charles talking about the idea of looking for interesting and important themes in Kill La Kill, and Zac giving a "hear, hear" to the idea of being able to apply serious consideration and thoughtful analysis to anime that isn't Ghibli (or, I'd add, Evangelion). I don't know how KLK is an embodiment of State Shinto, but I'd love to see a panel on the topic. And, more broadly, I'm eager for fandom and academia to develop the ability to take many more anime seriously than they currently do.
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Studyofanime
Posts: 2 |
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In the first few episodes, the way Satsuki is portrayed, the way she organizes and enforced codes at the Academy, and the way it is both militarily structured and perpetuated all SCREAMED State Shinto at me. It's VERY subtle, and to the design team's credit, very well incorporated. |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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An open post to Zac Bertschy:
Can ANN afford to have Charles Dunbar periodically comment here on the site? Just a thought. |
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Correl
 Posts: 42 Location: Redmond, WA |
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I think it probably makes more sense to just link to his articles as an "Interest" item in the news feed than to have him write specific content for the site. He already has his own website that hosts the majority of his content, which appears to primarily be longer form interpretations of fan and Japanese cultures. From what I've seen the majority of ANN's content tends to be either news or review related, so I'm not sure where Charles' stuff would fall in the context of the site. |
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RHorsman
 Posts: 151 Location: Loch Loman |
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On the opening segment: did either of you see UPSTREAM COLOR? As the "other" big heady SF film this year I'm curious as to what your take on it was. Sorry if you discussed it before, don't remember it coming up.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I actually made the theatrical screening Blu-ray for Shane Carruth directly. 
I love the film, and although it's maddening at times and difficult to watch, I love it for its mood and its incredible sense of visual poetry. Definitely wouldn't recommend it for most people, though -- you have to be a certain kind of viewer to enjoy it. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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I'm with Zac, I hate when any kind of academic study, or even casual study for something like an "anime essentials" guide, pretty much stick exclusively to Ghibli, Ghibli-esque, and late 90s anime. It's like if a film guide only talked about Spielberg. I'm at a point in the anime fandom where I need those rare and obscure recommendations to spray from a fissure, which I feel is always something that can be done in other media, but maybe I've already scoured anime too deeply.
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RHorsman
Posts: 151 Location: Loch Loman |
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That's so cool. You make Michigan proud! (we'd show it more but it's frikkin -13 with the windchill today and everyone has kind of shut down.)
It's unmistakably from the same mind that made PRIMER, which is also not for everyone. I thought it did a fantastic job of going deep into a ton of emotional settings without ever breaking that almost clinical remove that his filmmaking has. |
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