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Attitudes Towards Homosexuality in Japan and Britain
As with all good topics, this one
rose during a discussion with a friend of mine, who happens to live in New
Zealand (obscure, I know!). Among other things, we were talking about anime, and
he told me that he'd seen Sailor Moon, and actually liked it.
To those who haven't seen Sailor Moon and wouldn't know the difference between
shoujo and shounen anime, firstly, shoujo is anime created for girls, and
shounen is anime for boys. Sailor Moon is a show which includes elements from
high-spirited kung fu teen shows like Power Rangers, then gives them a feminine,
candy-coated twist and hey presto! You have a cutesy anime involving teenage
butt-kicking girls in sailor suits and short skirts. I wasn't surprised to hear
that my friend had heard of this prolific example of shoujo anime, as it is
arguably the most popular of its type.
Of course, I descended into discussing with my friend shoujo and shounen anime,
the differences between them, and how in my opinion the best anime have elements
of both, so that they will appeal to more people. I do like shoujo better than
shounen, naturally because I am a girl, but too much sparkly pink cuteness can
really spoil a show (mentioning none in particular!). On the other hand, I don't
like anime which have mecha (large robots) or that solely involve fighting
monsters or throwing discs around.
Purely shoujo anime has a lot of emotional, relationship-orientated storyline,
and purely shounen has a lot of action and/or very mild adult humour. Talking
generally and in my own opinion, a good anime has to have a healthy balance of
both to work. Sailor Moon is an obvious example of an extremely popular anime,
and in my opinion, this is why. Girls like the pretty and confident heroines and
look to them as role models to aspire after, and boys love the action (and the
short skirts!).
Getting into my stride with a favourite subject such as this, I said, "the most
important thing to remember about anime is that it is at its best in the
original Japanese format", and this, in most fans' opinions, is very true. Anime
produced in Japan is made by artists and writers who respect the vision of the
manga-ka (authors) who created the concepts of series like Sailor Moon.
Therefore, Japanese anime in its purest format tends to follow original
storylines more closely, characters are lovingly represented and locales are
faithfully and accurately visualized. The anime that is produced from the
original in America and given an American voice cast (more commonly given the
title 'dubbed' anime) is a completely different story.
An argument like this needs proof, I know, and there is so much of it out there
that I could talk about this subject until I am blue in the face. I don't know a
lot about Sailor Moon, but I do know that in the original anime, the two
characters Haruka and Michiru (Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune) are portrayed
as lesbians. In the dubbed version widely distributed in America and here in
Britain, they are portrayed as cousins. The question I had to ask myself upon
discovering this was, why?
The answer is that attitudes towards homosexuality generally differ greatly
between Japan and Western countries (and especially in America). On British
television nowadays we are starting to see a lot more evidence of the inclusion
of homosexuality into Western culture. We have high-profile homosexual and
bisexual celebrities such as Sir Ian McKellen and Drew Barrymore, and gay
relationships written into the storylines of the majority of British soap
operas. We even have the (albeit rare) inclusion of shallow gay characters in
American cartoons.
I also don't claim to be a knowledgeable fan of British soap operas, but one
particular storyline I saw in Coronation Street came to mind during this
discussion with my New Zealand friend, and you wouldn't win a prize for guessing
what it was that fascinated me. It was the treatment of two characters in the
show who are gay. As I hadn't been aware of any previous examples of homosexual
characters in "Corrie", a 43-year running show created by Tony Warren (himself
openly gay), I was more than a little amused by their handling of this topic. It
was obviously new and difficult for the script writers to handle, but necessary,
with the growing inevitable awareness and acceptance of homosexuality in this
country.
Although soap opera is a shallow setting upon which to base my argument, I do
feel that media is a good way to compare our attitudes, and especially see how
rooted in history these attitudes are. It is interesting to compare Coronation
Street and Sailor Moon because even though they are both huge television
successes in their respective countries of origin, they are blatant examples of
the contrasting attitudes of Japan and the Western world.
Generally described, the 'gay' storyline in Coronation Street involves two male
characters, Todd and Karl. Karl appears to be comfortable with the fact that
he's gay. Todd, on the other hand, is confused how he feels, and has a
girlfriend, Sarah, who is carrying his baby. I didn't see the particular episode
involved, but at one point, Todd made Coronation Street controversial by kissing
Karl, the 'token' kiss, which is now a very common sight in current British soap
operas. This resulted in Todd's indecision. Does he stay with his girlfriend,
marry her and raise the baby, or leave her and go out with Karl? Karl tries to
persuade Todd to do the latter, and "accept who he really is"?
Any progress is good progress, and any development of serious gay characters
into the British media has to be a good thing. But we have some way to go before
we 'catch up' with the level of acceptance in Japan that is demonstrated in the
treatment of Haruka and Michiru, the lesbian couple in Sailor Moon. As in other
similar series such as Cardcaptor Sakura and its male couple Yukito and
Touya, the fact that these characters are gay is not sensationalized at all. The
fact that they are gay is simply a fact of life, is accepted, and most
importantly, it is not the crutch that the whole plot leans upon.
The mentioning of Haruka and Michiru's relationship is so brief you could quite
easily blink and miss it. In contrast, Todd and Karl's relationship in
Coronation Street is practically heralded with all trumpets blazing, possibly to
prove that the soap isn't homophobic, or to cause the 'shock' factor that soap
operas depend upon to keep their viewers hooked. This led me to believe that
Sailor Moon was created in a society which has a greater general acceptance of
homosexuality than we have here in Britain.
This difference in attitudes might seem surprising or odd. However, if you take
into account when the anime of Sailor Moon was created (shortly after the
manga), it may seem even more apparent. You might be surprised to learn that
Sailor Moon is a story from the early 1990s. Taking this into consideration, the
attitude towards homosexuality in Japan in the 1990s would appear far more
developed than it is now in Britain.
Quite thought-provoking, isn't it?
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