ALLAHHUAKBAR, SUBHAHANALLAH, MASHALLAH, ALHAMDULILLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Showing posts with label Daily News. Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily News. Life. Show all posts
Monday, 12 July 2010
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Thanking Allah Almighty
Today I got three of my thesis books THANKS TO ALLAH ALMIGHTY ALLAHHUAKBAR, SUBHAHANALLAH, ALHAMDULILLAH, MASHALLAH. |
Friday, 18 June 2010
Thesis Crazy
I am in deep shit. My midterms are next week and my thesis stuff also gets exams (the supervisor builds questions on what you have submitted and you get a thesis mid on that) the problem is that I haven't submitted anything. Bookstore dealers and erratic schedules are the cause - it's not my fault - my country doesn't have those books and I can't find proper PDFs now what the hell am I supposed to do?
Well, I can just wait. My supervisor was great Thanks to Allah Almighty - he stated to just email him anything I have done so that I can do my thesis midterms based on that - silly me I thought the thesis midterms were with the Finals of this semester until our Chair told that we must give a midterm. Bad fuck if you ask me.
Oh Well, let's see how we manage.
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Semester Beginnings
Well, it was Sunday 16th 2010 - My summer semester was to begin.
I had spent the whole night talking to one of my best friends, Efadul Huq, due to lack of sleep - as I slept during the day - and had become quite nocturnal during my semester break.
Well, I got up and I think I breakfasted and was actually waiting for the computer guy to come so that my desktop internet would be reestablished - due to a storm my broadband lines were cut and he was supposed to come and fix them. He did not come. Alas I was going to have my other internet source in my laptop - though I kinda preferred to work in my desktop at home as I have reved it up with all my essentials in comparison with my laptop counterpart.
I took an unsteady nap thus getting a bit moody when my mom was playfully pushing me awake and she was like "Why are you so angry? I'm only kidding..." I apologized and I got ready. The first class was Biology 101 at 2pm. It was 1pm and if anyone knows Bangladesh, Dhaka then they know that traveling from a place called Dhanmondi to get to Mohakhali is a chore due to the plague, the epidemic called TRAFFIC JAM!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, I sorted out my things. Got in the car. My driver and I headed out. It was hot. That would be an understatement. It was humid. That too would be a child's word, a mosquito pinch or let's say a little prick of a statement. It was monstrously hot and humid somewhat comes close to a definition. Anyway, there we were sitting in the car and waiting around. Surprisingly, Thanks to Allah Almighty - a miracle of nature - I arrived at uni at 1:30pm. So after getting into the elevator at the 13th floor - surprisingly my bio teacher was there as well in the elevator - and I got down to my floor. I talked there with some of my friends. I also talked to a teacher basically on how and when shall I meet my thesis supervisor (actually my TA in past courses and a senior friend). She told me not to worry and that she will inform the Professor and that there will be a meeting with him. I was hoping I would meet him that day as I needed the "go" from him involving the thesis - as in if I am going the right way or how to structure and the books I am doing - so, it was time later on and I went to class.
Bio 101 is a basic course. The teacher was friendly. In fact I made arrangements during my advising so that I took my course with him as my friend suggested that he is a great teacher (this friend took a break from this semester). He went on telling on the basics "You might be a philosopher but in biology you are just a bunch of carbohydrates, fats and proteins..." that was kinda funny. He gave us the basics and class ended a bit earlier. I had decided - when no one else was speaking and he asked what we might do our first assignment papers on - to do it on mutation. I don't own maybe Eugene Victor Tooms from The X-Files classic paranormal monster set was going around my head. So, I went upstairs to my department and found my supervisor didn't arrive early so I left it to my TA friend to do what we though of before.
I then went to my Sociology 301 course called "Sociological Theory" which is a prerequisite to my Soc Minor and it was being taught by a sir I wanted to do courses with from last year but he went away to the States for a semester and I thought that he wasn't coming back soon. Cool, my expectations were not disappointed Thanks to Allah Almighty. He came back and it felt like manna after a starvation period I had with a previous SOC course. No, the Sir was nice but his course schedule was bony and not edible. Anyways, Sir was great. He wanted us to participate in something he called "Institutionalized Adda." which is non-directed discussion with any topic available. He asked if anyone wanted to volunteer and no one did. I opened my big mouth. I asked Sir if he saw movies? He said yes but not much and talked about how he recently saw Avatar with his son and then the movie conversation went to Pother Prachari a Bangladeshi classic movie - reflecting on so many issues (unfortunately, I haven't seen it).
The discussions were good and fun. Sir is a free person and it is easy to talk to him on various issues. We started talking on detective fiction and how the West shows have a good dynamism in their detective shows as in CSI and then I talked about The X-Files and I remember my friend commenting on its creepiness but Sir saying how he loved Mulder and Scully as much as I did (though he forgot that Mulder was the guy and Scully's name ^_^) I think that is extremely important in a teacher. Anyways class ended (I feel satisfied to say it was a great class). I went to my building back again hoping to see my supervisor. My TA regretted to tell me that he was in a rush and left. It was around 5pm and I wondered what I could do as I thought the sooner I talked to him the better. She advised me to go to my advisor and talk to her so that I could do something about the situation. I told my advisor. I said I had my Sup's number but that it would be weird to call him out of the blue. She agreed and I asked her if she would call him on my part. She agreed to help but thought best to SMS him. I told her I was willing to go to Dhaka University where my Sup also teaches so that I can talk to him and that it is imperative that I do so. She was writing the SMS. I made comments on the horrible weather which she did not acknowledge though she did chat with me. I thanked her immensely. I saw that she had taped a printout on Surahs (prayers) concerning their roles. I had not known those facets of them. I confessed that I do not know much on religion at times. We actually recited some Surahs together - yeah she is religious - and I thanked her again for helping me. She took my number and told me she is going to call me as soon as possible when she hears from my supervisor.
Well, there I was. In the car. Going back home. Kind of irritated that I hadn't talked to Sir. But hoping I would talk to him soon. I think I dozed off in the car a couple of times - oh yeah I did - I was really tired. I got home but not by the usual way as there were some political traffic on the road and police get extra bitchy then. I realized it though I feel asleep and asked my driver if we were going the right way and I thought I was misconceiving but I later realized I was right.
Getting home I saw the computer guy. He came late. But was efficient. He said he has to realign the wires so he would come back Monday Morning. I said ok. As I only have one class on Monday starting from 9:30 am and ending at 11:00am I told him to come around 11:30ish - he agreed and left.
Monday 17th - Had a big breakfast and was watching Space Chimps - it's a cool animation movie though couldn't finish watching it in MMnet1 or 2 as I had class. My SOC 370 class, Marriage and Family, was the same SOC Sir. We started talking about marriage. Then Sir asked why I was so quiet today (I was actually sitting at the back as I was kinda late). I asked Sir about the Kinsey Scale and how Kinsey defined that no one was a 100% heterosexual nor a 100% homosexual. Sir agreed that finding pure homosexuals and pure heterosexuals were hard to find - by the way my TA friend came into the class; she knows Sir well so she decided to come and sit in class - in fact, he enlightened on a gay student, whom he didn't know who was gay but who told him so was now having a heterosexual relationship - obviously, the opposite runs true as well. The facet that interested him the most was that more men are homophobic than women. He said it is socially ingratiated. He recollected that as a youth he was more prone to it but as he grew wiser it was obviously clear to him that it was not right to be homophobic. He admitted that he knows Bangladesh has issues on this but homosexual do exist potentially in religious oriented countries due to sexual frustrations. Also, he admitted that humans are not inherently monogamous - be they male or female - and that they are also mostly bisexual by nature - able to be attracted by both the sexes.
Afterwards, when coming home I asked if the computer guy came. The security guard said he did not. After an hour later the computer guy comes upstairs and says that he has been working downstairs in the garage and grounds for quite some time. He redirected by cable from across the street to my place. He had tied a chord to a room and pulled the rope up using that via a window. Connected it. Internet in Desktop again. MASHALLAH Success. Afterwards, my brother's in-laws - who we call Mom and Dad - came with my sister-in-law's younger brother and sister. They have come from Australia and was going to stay for a while - my Bro and my Bhabi (sister-in-law) still there. Bhabu's younger brother who is 13 years younger than me, bought me some stationaries as I like them. I excused myself as I couldn't sleep the night previous and turned on the nocturnal binds. I slept from 2:45pm to 8:00 pm and as Allah Almighty would have it so did Efad as I seen him give me a Good Morning on the chatbox. Mom and Dad came for dinner. Bhabi's younger sister who's like 3 or 4 got hurt - she fell down and cut her chin. She was not allowing Mom to touch it but Mom cleared the cut and put vaseline on it. Mom got scared if it became a permanent scar as Bhabi had under her chin - she said when my Mom appeared, as I told her my Mom knows of these things, that when the young girl's skin grows it might appear right on her chin. My Mom said she should bandaid and Nivea on it and that Nivea works wonders.
Tuesday 18th - Got to class a bit late. Nocturnal habits interfering. Saw some disturbing extremist religious videos with Efad the following night (Yeah I am a Night Owl and he is having no summer classes or stuffs to do yet). So went to class. HOT HUMID DISGUSTING. I had walk from the ground floor to the 9th as Elevator was full. The heat made me want to puke. Saw my good friend Samin on the stairs gave her a hug and said "Later Babe..." after telling her how DISGUSTING HOT IT WAS. Had class. It was a revision of the first. Sir said at the end that he usually doesn't do this but was making an exception as it was the beginning of the semester. I didn't have to write anything. Went to the 13th saw my Sup - I was supposed to meet him that day on 4:50 pm but he was here now and my advisor tried calling me on Sunday but I was dead asleep so I called her back on Monday morning and got the news - So I thought I should talk to him.
We sat down and he asked if I started anything yet. I told him " No" then started off with my plans. He agreed with them and told him to write chapters first and the intro last. We agreed we would communicate via SMS, calls and Email to set up meeting dates or for other stuff. Then I went to SOC 301 Had a BLAST ONCE MORE 0 Sir said as a sociologist he also is fascinated at seeing how we converse - and then came home.
I fell asleep. Waking up at 11 My parents reminded me it was Bro's Birthday. He read my card first, the one I secretly sent with Dad, and he cried a bit - he misses me. Mom and Dad had come and left. I had dinner with my Parents.Then stayed up the whole night again with Efad also doing stuff in the States (yeah so for him it is not Nocturnal) and talking to me after I had talked to my Dad.
In fact I have another SOC 370 class now - it's Wednesday 19th - my class starts at 9:30am and it is 7:17am and I supposed to wake up at 8. Well 15 mins of nap is good.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Life in a package
I realized my life is redundant. It is boring. I do the same boring routines. Repetitions is having an orgy in my existence. I feel shelved away like packaged meat - clustered in old pantries - smelling, rotting becoming infested by the mere thought of consumption. Alas - no angel sings sweetly in my ear of rejuvenation rather a reincarnation experimentative (in short: Same shit different day) mess of rather narrow functions down by the body.
In these two weeks of a so-called semester break I had done nothing. I had hordes of books but their harem of exquisite white and black skin tickled my fancy for a few and then I dropped them into their own world of free wanderings. It is not that I don't love to read rather that my ming wishing other things - even a more devout bibliophile might feel her wrenches being screwed out of place without other things to touch feel and love than those lovers/bedfellows/spouses/siblings/foster parents - the world exists between other dimensions.
I feel suffocated by a mass of obsolete metaphors and music - of deranged cliches and organs sucked out of their juice to the core surpassing minuscule cells - it is quite disgusting - it is quite a torment - a quartering of soul parts - an iron maiden's best orgasm detailed. I must thank Allah Almighty though due to comfort and blessings and I do - it's just this human malady of a heart craves/ponders/delights/hungers/cherishes the horizon of more.
I wonder if it is alright. Oh Allah tell me...is it alright? It is alright - right?
Thursday, 29 April 2010
ENG 440 Final Paper
Efficiency on Hiatus
Salma Akhtar is amongst hundreds who are facing the crisis of perpetual power failures Dhaka. Bangladesh is still a developing economy but its capital Dhaka has seen massive urbanization over the past couple of years. The population has increased exponentially as well and most migrate to Dhaka for a better lifestyle. The situation is becoming worse without any sight of a solution. People’s lives depend on electrical power: they are the veins that construct society. From Dhanmondi’s residential areas to the commercial districts of Mirpur – Dhaka has become synonymous with power crisis.
“ Me and my wife don’t stay at home during the day because we have to work,” explains Md. Shahidul Islam, who is a chauffeur with his wife working in a garment factory. He lives in Mirpur, Pirerbhag, and it is not pleasant for him to go home after he has finished work. “ I go home late in the evening and there is no gas. There is no water either. We have to wait until the electricity comes back to prepare our dinner. Many a times I can’t take a shower. The electricity goes away up to three times at night and we can’t sleep.”
“ We only have electricity one to two hours a day.” States Mr Shonkor, a resident of Shaidabagh in the sweeper colony, “ Our own taps have dirty water so the Army and WASA has to give us water. They do so from nine to five each day. We had complained to the City Corporation but they told us measures were being taken to help us.”
On the 11th of April of this year the traffic of Mohakhali-Gulshan link road was affected for an hour for angry protestors taking to the street. According To The Daily Star issue of 12th April, people took to the streets with empty water holders and banners to state how frustrated they are to not receive a proper water supply. The same incident had occurred a week ago as citizens took to the same route protesting against the same cause.
“ It’s too bad.” Commented Md. Rafiuddin Bablu, Managing Director of Modhumita Cinema Hall in the Mirpur district, “ The electricity goes away more than two times a day. Most floors in my building have their personal generator. We have to pay 2000-4000 Tk. Worth of watt to compensate for the times the electricity goes away. We need generators to make equipment function such as elevators. Those who do not have generators have to climb up the stairs. It is very frustrating to have to do such things in the business areas – Mirpur is the heart of business in our country and if our government wishes to keep the blood-supply running then they will have to take action now.” Of course, it is not only the generators that increase the costs. Ms Salma Akhtar talks of the mayhem the residential areas have to endure due to the unreliability of power in Kuchukhet, “ Most people are happy when the electricity comes back for an hour then they start rushing to do all their chores and soon enough the circuits cannot take this extra pressure. Some people might have switched on their ACs or others are going for a shower or using water for other purposes so our building’s pump gets damaged. Our landlord had to buy a new one. Obviously, with such electric fluctuations any electronic device can go out of service.” She further states that other electronic devices can get damaged through the same means. Due to such reasons people will be adding more costs into their lives rather than alleviating them.
“ I usually work for 12 hours,” speaks Md. Belal Hossain, who is a CNG driver, “ I need to take gas twice during my rounds but there is not enough gas for all of us. It’s frustrating to sit 3-4 hours in a queue just for some gas – sometimes the person in front of me gets more gas than me because he came first. Some people even cut into the queue causing major hassles already within a hassle. I use to make Tk. 1500-1600 per day now that’s become only Tk. 1000. Many a times I want to take more customers but I cannot because there is not enough gas. So, I sit around. Sometimes I can’t go into areas where there is no electricity as it might become too dangerous thus I lose customers. I sometimes don’t even find gas at all in one pump thus I lose valuable hours by going around seeing if I can go somewhere else.”
"The present government has taken effective steps to import electricity on an urgent basis from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China," The Daily Star had quoted Prime Mister Sheikh Hasina’s efforts to reduce power shortages on 26th April, "We are aware of your sufferings," she spoke on the people’s problems. "Let me assure you this government will not leave any stone unturned to increase power and gas production." On April 27th The Daily Star also had quoted the PM on the new developments to increase energy efficiency by the means on coal mining in the pits from Barapukuria. “ Some people suggest it is possible to set up power plants of 10,000 megawatt capacity, some suggest it could be 15,000 megawatt. The power ministry may make a presentation on exactly what could be done with the Barapukuria coal.”
The PM had stated, as recorded by The Daily Star on the 3rd of April last year, "When we came to power in 1996, country's total power generation was only 1600 megawatt (MW) which was increased to 4,300 MW during our five-year tenure. We had adopted a power policy that electricity generation would be increased estimating the total national demand every year,"
The PM also stated: "But, unfortunately, the BNP-led four-party alliance did not follow our power policy. The alliance government did not install a single power plant in its tenure."
On the 27th The Daily Star Business section also informed the public of five deals being signed on power plants which are meant to be up commissioned by August 2011. The two foreign companies, plan to build five plants that will produce 420 megawatts. M
“ Many of my friends have to study with candles.” states Al-Amin Porosh, who asks people he meets of their struggles with power failures, “ They try to cope up with their chargers not having enough charge due to the lines always being cut off. Some of them do not have enough money to buy candles even. Some of my friends have generators but there’s no use in having them as they cannot supply efficient power throughout the house – if guests come they might have to study in another room that might have the lights but no fan. Even our photocopy store complained how they can’t do business in the evenings anymore due to power failures.” Ms Salma Akhtar experiences the inconveniences of her household due to power failures, “ It’s because we keep extra boiled water for drinking that we make it through the day. We use that to wash ourselves. In the heat it’s hard to concentrate on studies. A few days ago there was a session in our neighbourhood concerning load shedding and how stores should not be open after 8pm. A few days later there was a session on too much load shedding. We were told we might have ‘Digital Bangladesh’ as a topic in our HSC exams – we don’t have water or electricity it is comical that we still use such terms”
“ I think the government is trying to better the situation,” speaks Sheikh Nesar Ahmed Chowdhury, who has kept shop in Dhanmondi for 11 years, “ I only switch on the generator when I need to but when it is cooler I don’t.” When asked about the power cuts he seemed energetic and hopeful, “ There is no point in being frustrated. The government has confessed that there isn’t enough power for all of us. I think that by making more power stations the situation can be resolved. We are running on an old power station anyway. We need to make new ones then we can somehow manage the situation.” On asking him about his business he states, “ When the electricity goes away I don’t sell ice-cream. I tell my customers that I can’t open the refrigerator nor else all the ice-cream will eventually melt. We manage. Power failures do not bother us as they use to before.”
Promised Innovations or the increase of a crisis that has already been suffocating our country’s progression and happiness? It is hard to declare if the power plants would be in successful. But what of now? What of people like Mr Shonkor who do not get clean water and must have it given to him by delivery? What of students like Ms Salma Akhtar, who are losing vital time and energy? The situation must be resolved somewhat now nor else what is considered an hiatus now will be a permanent malady in our everyday lives.
(1, 643 words)
Saturday, 24 April 2010
The Alternate Axis (My Cultural Studies Term Paper)
An Alternate Axis
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: Introduction - The Circuitry Of The Modern.........................................................1-11
Chapter 2: Romance – The Battleground Between Hegemony and Individualism………….12-30
2.1: Hot Gimmick and Teacher’s Pet – “Abuse Is Love” Philosophy………………….13-20
2.2:Paradise in the Postmodern.......................................................................................20-30
Chapter 3: Man as the Ultimate Simulacra of Being...............................................................31-40
Chapter 4: The Revolution Of The Identity: Myth of Sex Roles Broken.................................41-43
Conclusion
Appendix:
Image 1: Animepaper.net
Image 2: http://www.anime-sensei.net/2006/02/teachers-pet-manga.html
Image 3: http://www.mangafox.com/manga/paradise_kiss/v04/c015/11.html
Image 4*
Image 5*
Image 6*
Image 7*
Image 8*
Image 9: http://www.fusedfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ghost-in-the-shell-21.jpg
Image 10*
Image 11: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laughing_man_logo.jpg
Image 12*
* Taken from Personal collection.
An Alternate Axis
Chapter 1: Introduction - The Circuitry Of The Modern
Be it a castle you want to reach due to the reasons of performing miracles or a space you can reach out to your soul – we all desire to be unique – exquisitely imperfect-perfect and in connection to the world around us. The aspects that make us unique may become problematic and take a form so hideous that it may betray our expectations of it or become so overwhelming that it may engulf our known world into a realm transcendentally fantastic. What is truth? What is reality? What is romance? What is sex? What is love? What is identity? What is real? – Questions sorted out like gig-lamps [1] but deepening and twisting into labyrinths – the words illusion and real become zygotic, transparent yet distant to find a proper definition. What if the world became another set of production? Human beings another model of commodity, easily dissected and rearranged to the voyeuristic and narcissistic desires of others and ourselves. The myriads of anatomies present in the world makes dissection difficult. This paper is an exploration of alternative anime in contrast to their mainstream counterparts to illustrate how they depict the subversive, psychological and the postmodern elements that make up society today and our present selves.
The above phenomena that are stated easily illustrate our world today – be it in fiction or even an observable reality. The world, post world wars and colonialism, had become a world that no longer possessed any certainties. There were fears of an apocalypse (or, the thought that the world was already going through it) and also of a world being drastically reshaped by the beginning of abandoning olden values[2] . The world at present has become globalized anddigitalized. Most individuals have access to the internet or also known as the World Wide Web. We had learned through strife and experience that old world ethics do not function accurately in an urbanized system such as ours. Identities of different kinds are established and they are presented in various layers and spheres. To be in a world so interconnected also creates confusion, misbalance and an absence of pure security.
Many popular medium such as the television shows we see and the cinema have illustrated stories of isolation and insecurity as the by-products of our urbanized and globalized world[3]. Some of these programs have become very popular as it establishes the emotional, psychological and philosophical questions and incidences of our present. However, many mainstream shows still attempt to bypass such intense and extreme phenomena and only deal with them as a form of superficial entertainment[4].
. There is one medium of animation whose origins are from Japan that have from the very beginning held a distinctive style and presentation. This Japanese Animation, now labelled as anime, has permeated every genre existing in our world – from romance, sexuality, politics, science fiction and even medical innovations, anime illustrates what are mainstream entertainments and even the avant-garde. Anime differ from cartoons of the West not only in animation style but via demographics and also the daring approach to be as explicit as possible to the truths they are concerned with. The origins of anime and its etymology are detailed below:
Anime (アニメ?, an abbreviated pronunciation in Japanese of "animation", pronounced [anime]inJapanese,buttypically ( /ˈænəˌmeɪ/ (help·info) or /ˈænəˌmə/ in English) is animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation".[1] Anime originated about 1917.
While the earliest known Japanese animation dates from 1917, and many original Japanese cartoons were produced in the ensuing decades, the characteristic anime style developed in the 1960s - notably with the work of Osamu Tezuka - and became known outside Japan in the 1980s.
Anime, like manga, has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world. Distributors can release anime via television broadcasts, directly to video, or theatrically, as well as online.
Both hand-drawn and computer-animated anime exist. It is used in television series, films, video, video games, commercials, and internet-based releases, and represents most, if not all, genres of fiction. Anime gained earlypopularity in East and Southeast Asia and has garnered more-recent popularity in the Western World
(Wikipedia)
As we can see anime has become a product of the globalized world. It has become a subculture – not only does it possess a wide audience but also a certain openness and flexibility that common social norms do not permit (such ascosplay, which is a style of dressing like an anime character in very exaggerated and/or unique clothing styles). There are different kinds of anime and manga (in fact, though manga means comic these two has become synonymous with each other due to the styles adopted and adapted – many animes are made based on mangas and vice versa) and the most popular kinds are titled Shoujo, Shounen Seinen and Josei. Shoujo manga are usually targeted to teenage girls and the reverse is Shounen while Seinen is targeted to young adults who are male and its opposite is Josei. Shoujo manga is usually illustrated with cute designs and has feminine elements in its storyline such as romance while Shounen holds massive proportions of action and other masculine traits such as models of a supreme male figure (Wikipedia). In contrast Seinen and Josei may hold complex relationships and dark realities as its story foundations. However, these demographics are mostly prevalent in Japan; when licensed by an international company for broadcast in its national channels the labels of what is Shounen or Josei become somewhat lost and audiences are mostly determined by their tastes.
As mentioned before, our world today has uncertainties and these phenomena have permeated excessively in alternative mangas and animes. When the word alternative is used it is done so as to serve as a contrast to the wordmainstream. Mainstream anime do not incorporate deep philosophical questions or psychological evaluations and examples of such can be found in the animes Pokémon, the Dragon Ball Series or even the Sailor Moon series where a protagonist merely tries to overcome foes or challenges presented to her/him and become a stronger fighter against the considered evils of the storyline. Mainstream animes still differ from cartoons of the western world as they depict blood, gore, realistic violence and nudity. The animes that are going to be discussed are not as such – they delve deeply into the folds of our psyches and our personalities many of times more deeply than movies and other forms of animations. They wage war on what is considered as the normal and they express signs of a world that, due to technology dependency, can no longer differentiate between the original and the manufactured. I had personally labelled these kinds of animes hemogenists (a portmanteau of the words homogeneous and heterogeneous) orrevoyads (a portmanteau of the words revolution and Dryad) as they possess both diverse story elements fusing with various representations of truth and reality. The animes I will discuss are Paradise Kiss, Ghost in the Shell andRevolutionary Girl Utena. In contrast to Paradise Kiss, I will look into two mangas and their responses to show the existence of the subversive anime fan following.
Chapter 2: Romance – The Battleground Between Hegemony and Individualism
2.1 Hot Gimmick and Teacher’s Pet – “Abuse Is Love” Philosophy
(Images 1 and 2: “Hot Gimmick” [Left] And “ Teacher’s Pet” [Right]) {It was oriented this way on MS WORD}
Misuzu just started her dream job teaching at a prestigious high school, and she feels totally motivated. Recently, she began going out with the really hot/manly principal Kazuki, and their relationship couldn't be better. But one day. Misuzu had sex with Kazuki's younger brother Masahiro, who happens to be a student at the same school. This is a huge secret that they can't tell anyone: the love affair between a teacher and a student.
(Anime-Sensei)
Hatsumi is just a regular girl, living in your regular company apartment complex, with your regular neighbors, but when her sister asks her to go buy a pregnancy test, everything gets out of hand. Afraid for her family’s reputation, Hatsumi gets black mailed into becoming the neighborhood bully’s slave. Then Hatsumi’s childhood crush moves back into the neighborhood, and it seems that all the guys in the neighborhood are out to get with her. It’s neighbors in love, and it’s scandalous.
(Anime News Network)
Above are two descriptions – the first is of Teacher’s Pet and the second is of Hot Gimmick. Both of the mangas were drawn by the mangaka (manga artist) Miki Aihara. Both of them are shoujo mangas. Both of them are known for their great art. Both of them have extremely passive females who pander to ever whim of their tormentors. Then, without any valid reasons, fall in love with their tormentors. Also this love is considered a purer love in the context of the stories – a true, great union of two souls. What better tool does patriarchy need to enslave and subjugate females than a woman writing romances as violent and disturbing as these? Also, the stories are sexist even to males – it depicts that all men who are not virile and agressive cannot obtain desirable female partners and if they are nice and kind then they will rejected by the females they desire. It is as though Aihara wants us to choose the lesser of the evils as the other male love interests of both mangas are either too plain i.e. nice or trying to rape the protagonists using more devious methods. The exploration of these two mangas is to illustrate the contrast of the subversive animes/mangas that will be explored later on.
The information above excludes two things: Hatsumi gets physically, sexually and emotionally tormented by Ryoki, the bully she falls in love with. Secondly, Misuzu does not have consensual sex with Masahiro but is raped by this student while she is alone with him in a classroom[5]. Masahiro rapes Misuzu due to some complications he has with his brother. Also, after the rape Masahiro claims that Kazuki, his brother and the principal, had a woman rape him while he watched thus his rape of her was an act of revenge. The manga is not only disturbing but illogical – an insult to women and men who have received extreme abuse.
‘Pornography is the theory, and rape the practice’, wrote radical feminist Robin Morgan in 1980 (Morgan 1980:139). This memorable slogan has certainly left its imprint on feminist discussions about links between pornography and sexual violent against women.
(Bristow 148)
A fifth definition of popular culture, then, is one which draws on the political analysis of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, particularly on the development of the concept of hegemony. Gramsci uses the term hegemony to refer to the way in which dominant groups in society through a process of ‘intellectual and moral leadership’ win the consent of the subordinate groups in society...
(Storey 13)
The passages quoted above serve as the foundations of responses to the Hot Gimmick and Teacher’s Pet. The people who love Hot Gimmick state that relationship is quite beautiful and it is unique, and not boringly depicted. Though it is true that the story has great plot twists matters remain that it still promotes “ the normalization of an abusive relationship” (Wikipedia). Some responses to Hot Gimmick state that though the manga pushes feminism out of the way it is still fictional thus can be enjoyed. However, there are many irate readers of Hot Gimmick and one blog post clearly demonstrates the irritation and frustration the story generates:
…Let me say again, I had very high hopes for the series, expecting all this to teach Hatsumi some important lessons and provide opportunity for character growth. She doesn’t. She’s still the same insecure, wishy-washy girl at the end of the series that she is at the beginning, still being ordered around by Ryoki, and that’s the part that’s so frustrating. What’s the point in spending three years and around 2000 pages on a series when the lead doesn’t change or grow?
Slightly Biased Manga
Teacher’s Pet has similar responses [6]. Both stories illustrate what Rosalind Coward and Janice Radway spoke of the Harlequin romance novels, as documented in John Storey’s “Gender and Sexuality” – that sexuality is portrayed as a male instinct and that it is the woman who does not actively orchestrate a sexual drive but is “awakened” by an aggressive male who leads her to the world of sexuality.
The mangas Hot Gimmick and Teacher’s Pet do sensationalize abuse as romance. But most of the responses to these mangas are critical and display a sense of loathing. The responses indicate either some convoluted senses of enjoyment or delusional perspectives concerning romance or utter hate and disgust for dissatisfying plot elements. These critiques of the mangas display some aversion to the dominant models of what romance should be like.
2.2 Paradise in the Postmodern
(Image 3: Paradise Kiss [Manga] Modelling shoot)
(Image 4: Paradise Kiss [anime]: Yukari as a model)
The traditional Shoujo romance depicts usually a passively, idiotic girl who falls in love with an aggressively, manipulative boy (regarded as intelligent) and is somehow rescued by him i.e. transition from boring to risqué lifestyle is a power only he possesses and he gives it to her with his love. However, as we can see with the majority of the responses to Hot Gimmick and Teacher’s Pet that these are dissatisfactory progressions. Firstly, they are phallocentric: the male possesses more than ample power of the female – despite his psychological instabilities he is marked still as superior to the female. Secondly, the damsel in distress is an impoverished mass of character whose interactions are based on no new character developments. The mangaka of such anime/manga of Shoujo promises that the female protagonist will become empowered and resolve her issues, however, as we have seen, that is not the case. The cycle of slavery is repeated; rather than being a free individual the girl chooses subjugation in its coarsest as a model of “love” and “liberation.” She is a slave now to her lover.
This is not a satisfying solution for the modern reader. The evolution of Shoujos are sometimes seen with out-of-the-box mangakas like Kaori Yuki whose main characters are sometimes male who have unhidden dark and twisted storylines (not making absent any redeeming qualities). However, a true postmodern romance would be Paradise Kissby Ai Yazawa.
Paradise Kiss is the story of Yukari Hayasaka. She is eighteen years old and is studying for entrance exams that would enable her to get into a good university. However, there are some problems with this wish – she is not academically brilliant and these are desires imposed on her by her mother who has always pressurized her to succeed academically (Anime News Network). Aside from school and cram school Yukari has no life. She has never had a boyfriend or any kind of other social life. Until, she is whisked away by a group of fashion students who want her to model for them. Initially, she believes they are too odd and indirectly insults their devoted to which an angry Arashi, her friend later on and one of the group, tells her that she is stuck-up just because she was from a prestigious high school. He states that their work on making dressing is their passion and is their art-form and she has no right to treat it condescendingly. Yukari leaves their atelier (what they call their workshop) feeling confused as she has never had an experience similar to this. The next boy a handsome man by the name of Jouji “George” Koizumi comes up telling her he has the ID she dropped in the workshop with him. But instead of giving it to her he merely takes to the group’s art college and gives her a haircut (just a trim of her bangs). Yukari, whose life has been a mundane routine till now, becomes intrigued with the group who calls their label “Paradise Kiss” (hence the title) as they are bold, daring, impulsive, individualistic and outspoken. Yukari agrees to be their model – finally resigning from the life imposed upon her.
The journey of Yukari from possessing low self-esteem and being passive to being confident and an individual in her own right is a remarkable one. She runs away from home when her mother does not agree to acknowledge her dreams of becoming a model, has a relationship with George who is the first person she has sex with and even becomes a professional model. However, it was not an easy process – in the beginning she has a crush on an intelligent boy in her class called Hiroyuki who constantly worries about her education after she leaves school (he tries to persuade her to finish high school at least); though Yukari had thought a boy like him would never fall for someone like her. She returns to her mother after a while (who breaks down in tears as she was worried for her daughter and accepts Yukari’s decision) after she breaks away from George when she realizes he is too eccentric and controlling thus their romance cannot be. Initially, George aids Yukari in becoming a stronger woman and making her own decisions (Wikipedia). However, he is too selfish and doesn’t always respond affectionately or reasonably concerning Yukari’s feelings. Yukari in the end realizes that though initially she was also attempting to become a model to be liked by George she now only wishes to do it because she loves it and it is her decision. At the conclusion of the story, Yukari ends up with Hiroyuki, a more understanding and affectionate male, who had fallen in love with her as well.
(Image 5: Yukari wearing the dress George had designed for her)
(Image 6: Yukari as the more confident woman)
The show has the postmodern concept of not instilling what is high culture and low culture; be it from academics to fashion – it gears itself to show that people have distinct ambitions and they have their diverse personalities. George and Isabella are also great models against the traditional markers of sexuality. George is masculine in the sense he is sexual but he is not the stereotypical man – he is bisexual and a designer. Isabella is actually a man named Daisuke and is a cross-dresser (Wikipedia) who had confessed to George that he couldn’t live like a boy when they were young thus George designed his first dress which was a dress to help transform Daisuke into Isabella.
(Image 7: A picture of Isabella)
(Image 8: Daisuke wearing the dress George had designed from him)
The show incorporates what Ihab Hassan had spoken on one of the labels of the postmodern: "shall we simply live and let others live to call us what they may?” (Hassan 148). Postmodernist texts do not make judgments nor does it have a set behavioural apparatus to which characters must follow. It in fact, incorporates what Michel Foucault had spoken of concerning sexuality:
Sexuality must not be described by a stubborn drive, by nature alien and if necessity disobedient to a power which exhausts itself in trying to subdue it and often fails to control it entirely... There is no single, all-encompassing strategy, valid for all of the society and uniformly bearing on all the manifestations of sex.
Isn’t it true in our society today definitions of sexuality have blurred? Isn’t it true that right and wrong have transcending their traditional models? Paradise Kiss is an anime that illustrates the relationships and personalities of our world – never fairy-tale perfect but exquisitely challenging and imperfect where individuals do not become just plain masculine or feminine models but address that they are distinct with tastes that are their own.
Chapter 3: Man as the Ultimate Simulacra of Being
(Image 9: Motoko having her new body being made)
When you are dancing, a beautiful lady becomes drunken.
When you are dancing, a shining moon rings.
A god descends for a wedding
And dawn approaches while the night bird sings.
God bless you. God bless you.
God bless you. God bless you.
(Anime Lyrics)
( Image 10: Motoko standing next to her chief)
Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊 Kōkaku Kidōtai?, literally "Mobile Armored Riot Police") is a Japanese multimedia franchise composed of manga, animated films, anime series, video games and novels. It focuses on the activities of the counter-terrorist organization Public Security Section 9 in a futuristic, cyberpunk Japan.
The first entry in the franchise was Shirow Masamune's Ghost in the Shell manga, first published in 1989 in Young Magazine. A collected edition was released in 1991; a sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface, was released in 2002; and a serialized manga, Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor, was released in 2003, which contained material that was planned but not included in the sequel.
The manga series has been adapted into two anime films, Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence; two anime television series,Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG; a film based on the television series' continuity, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society; and three video games: one PlayStationgame, one PlayStation 2 game, and one PlayStation Portablegame. The films and anime were produced by Production I.G.
Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic police thriller dealing with the exploits of the cyborg Motoko Kusanagi, a member of a covert operations division of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission known as Section 9. The unit specializes in fighting technology-related crimes. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as "the Major" due to her past rank in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and bionically specialized for her job — her body is almost completely mechanized; only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord remain organic.
(Wikipedia)
In a future where everything to your body is manufactured, how can you define yourself? In a world where your mind is another mass of digital wires can you say your thoughts are your own and not hacked and implanted into you? Ghost in the Shell is an anime that explores the simulacra that the soul and being becomes when cybernetics replace the originality of flesh. As Jean-Francis Lyotard had spoken in “Defining The Postmodern”:
The development of techno-sciences has become a means of increasing disease, not fighting it. We can no longer call this development by the old name of progress. This development seems to be taking place by itself, by an autonomous force or ‘motricrity’. It doesn’t respond to a demand coming from human needs. On the contrary, human entities (individual or social) seem always to be destabilized by the results of this development.
(Lyotard 1614)
The simulacra that permeate the universe of this animes are vast – the one consistent in all of them is Motoko’s inner turmoil that she is not a true human being – the song quoted above is played hauntingly when Motoko’s new body is being made: it actually promotes what Lyotard has spoken of technology – though addressed as a divine process it actually suffocates the humanity out of Motoko leaving her inwardly questioning what makes her human.
In The Stand Alone Complex series, Motoko faces the simulacra of identities – in the first series it is the ambiguous and clandestine nature of a person who calls himself “The Laughing Man”, adopted from J.D Salinger’s character of the same name, (Wikipedia). In the second series a collective calling themselves “The Individual Eleven” become terrorists to overthrow the Japanese government's ’policies and start a civil war.
The states for a simulacrum to form, as Jean Baudrillard suggests, are as follows:
- It is the reflection of a basic reality
- It masks and perverts a basic reality
- It masks the absence of a basic reality
- It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own simulacrum.
(Baudrillard 196)
(Image 11: The Laughing Man Logo)
It should be noted that no one had seen the face of “The Laughing Man.” Only records of his attire are documented by men whose brains were not computerized – as this individual is a master hacker who can hack into people’s electronic optical nerves and make them see nothing when he goes past them. The insignia above is the logo through which people see him when he is around in the vicinity. We later find out in the series that a young cyborg only called Aoi – is “The Laughing Man.” He had adopted this secret persona because he was actually fighting against this corporation which was selling the wrong medicine to a cybernetic body related disease. The logo was actually fashioned after “The Sunflower society” logo – a hospital in the storyline of this anime who were the actual producers of the right vaccine, the Maria vaccine, to cure the disease. The logo’s lines are adopted by the lines spoken by Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the novel "The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger (Wikipedia). He, himself, states that he doesn’t know who the real Laughing Man is. He tells Motoko that he stumbled on some files concerning the corporation’s mishandling of distributing medicine while in cyberspace that mentioned Laughing Man and he adopted the persona. Thus he forged a simulacrum of the unknown original Laughing Man.
In the Second Gig series, “The Individual Eleven” collected claim that they were influenced by a Russian essayist by the name of Patrick Sylvester. In actuality, there is no Patrick Sylvester or his essays – all this is cyber-brain manipulation of a man called Gouda who plans to create a “hero” of the public with these essays and create a civil war in Japan so that control of the internal networks of the Japanese government would be his. So there was a political incident in the storyline of the anime where Japanese rebels moved the hearts of the people with their patriotism but Gouda manipulates this information for himself.
Though the events are futuristic, the events in Ghost in the Shell are reminiscent of society today. Are we not so connected to the internet that our wired lives and our non-web worlds are fusing? Does anyone really know what were the events surrounding 9/11 and the subsequent war in Iraq? Can anyone truly estimate how many American soldiers and Iraqi people die every day due to the war? Can anyone tell if Osama Bin Laden was the perpetrator of the crimes of 9/11 or was it an elaborate ruse formulated by the very CSI the people trust? Was it just a war to gain Iraqi oil? The political and economical are nefarious networks and what Ghost in the Shell shows in fiction actually occurs in our world every day.
Chapter 4: The Revolution Of The Identity: Myth of Sex Roles Broken
(Image 12: Utena)
Revolutionary Girl Utena (少女革命ウテナ Shōjo Kakumei Utena?) is a manga by Chiho Saito and anime directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara.
The main character is Utena Tenjou, a tomboyish teenage girl who was so impressed by a kind prince in her childhood that she decided to become a prince herself (expressed in her manner of dress and personality). She attends Ohtori Academy, where she meets a student named Anthy Himemiya, a girl who is in an abusive relationship with another student. Utena fights to protect Anthy and is pulled into a series of sword duels with the members of the Student Council. Anthy is referred to as the "Rose Bride" and is given to the winner of each duel. As Anthy is thought to be the key to a coming revolution, the current champion is constantly challenged for the right to possess the Rose Bride.
This anime, called Utena for short, is a postmodern fairytale completely breaks the foundations of the myth surrounding gender as the prince here is a woman. As Roland Barthes said that Myth was a form of speech thus the myth here is that the prince is always a man. When the former prince Dios, who has mutated into Akio attempts to usurp power from Utena for becoming into a prince she, instead of falling prey to his seductions she breaks free from all that was holding her (the sorrow for the loss of her parents and her former prince Dios) and helps Anthy get free and becomes a prince herself in the end. In the postmodern, gender roles are never concrete nor are they essential. They can be as flexible and dynamic as possible.
Conclusion:
The animes, Paradise Kiss, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Ghost In The Shell are hemogenists or revoyads because of their connection to our society today. Aren’t gender roles interfering with individualism even today? Aren’t there situations too secretive to understand? Aren’t there too many forces in the world that try to control us despite what we do? These anime represents society as it is today – unpredictable and uncertain but offering, in its own way, a new movement of thought – a new look into the labyrinths of the world. They may be animations but they show the world as it is today.
[1] In my first semester I had done Virginia Woolf’s “Modern Fiction” an essay on the importance of how fiction needs a change to operate in the world today. Her line was “life is not a set of gig-lamps” – this line is an elemental phrase to define both a postmodern reality and the difference between reality and illusion. I had retained it in my memory since my earlier readings of it.
[2] Professor Kaiser Huq had given lectures concerning the reshaping of the world this semester in the course “Modernism”. This information is a product of attending his classes.
[3] One example would be the 2004 movie The Machinist starring Christian Bale, an emaciated insomniac who cannot tell the differences between reality and illusion – this information is taken from Wikipedia.com.
[4] In the book New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory David Boothroyd in the chapter “Cultural Studies and the Extreme” marks this as a current social phenomenon.
[5] This information shocked me as initially upon reading the synopsis I had thought of this manga as a teacher/student romance. Though it is advertised as such it is not. I had read the entire manga and all the times Misuzu and Masahiro have sex it is by coercion – first the rape and other times by unfair circumstances/persuasions.
[6] All of the responses that are being discussed here where found in popular forums such as the one in Mangafox.com. Some of them also came from blogs that I visited some time ago. As I was introduced to the series two years ago I had read a myriad of criticism based on it so I am relating from previous and recent readings both.
Bibliography
Barthes, R. (1972). Myth Today. In R. Barthes, Mythologies (pp. 109-151). London: Vintage.
Bristow, J. (2007). Discursive Bodies. In J. Bristiow, Sexuality (pp. 169-170). Routledge.
Bristow, J. (2007). Pornographic Materials. In J. Bristow, Sexuality (pp. 148-149). Routledge.
Ghost In The Shell. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_In_The_Shell
Revolutionary Girl Utena. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Girl_Utena
Storey, J. (1993). Gender and Sexuality. In J. Storey, An Introduction To Cultural Theory (pp. 120-126). Athens: The University Of Georgia Press.
Storey, J. (1993). What is popuar culture? In J. Storey, An Introduction To Cultural Theory (pp. 12-13). Athens: THe University Of Georgia Press.
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