...he's every woman...

[reenka]

You know what lets you know you're reading a Japanese comic? Throw-away introductory lines in Yamato Nase's manga like, "I'm a pretty ordinary member of the masses". (Um....)

Come to think of it, the Japanese seem to have a fixation on ordinariness (and extraordinariness too, but always in contrast). The 'common man', the uber-ultra-normal guy, the brilliantly average student, the girl with barely-noticeable looks, barely-there cleavage and barely-discernible personality. I keep coming across these types, always portrayed as the shoujo heroes-- in a really positive way. Well, this is if you leave out the 'magic girl'-type shoujo where the uber-normal kid gets a make-over with sparkly wands and fragrant shampoo.

The thing I don't get is-- do these super-ordinary people really exist? It really makes me feel like I'm painfully American, with my typical focus on individualism, strong will and perseverance. Come to think of it, it's just that in manga, it's these 'common' types who persevere, while remaining quite group-oriented-- that's usually their one outstanding quality. No matter what happens, they 'never give up'! They have their dignity and moral center! They know right from wrong!

In Western-type ideal, we usually try to have the protagonist be both 'common' and extraordinary, right? Like, Harry Potter grew up 'common', but was secretly extraordinary. Does he persevere because of his 'everyman's resilience' or something deeper and more mysterious? It's just resilience, isn't it. Plus, he's both self-reliant and works well in (small) groups. He's sort of like an everyman except he's forced to stand alone, and therein lies his angst. Where am I going with this again...?

I just think it's cute how in manga, there's all this ordinariness being used as a badge of specialness that makes one stand out as genuine and true in a field full of arrogant, uptight assholes (well, or a private High School). That's sort of Harry's bone to pick with Malfoy, as well, isn't it? It's the ultimate common-boy-with-a-good-heart vs. uptight-uber-glib-rich-kid showdown. Except in manga, the common boy would show the uber-rich-loser-kid the One True Way, so that in the end the rich loser could open his heart and realize he should become kinder and play better with others. (Nevermind that Harry's the one with the bigger issues playing with others).

I think what it all comes down to is that I totally understand why so many HP doujinshi have Harry be with Ron and Draco have an unrequited crush-- the archetypes sort of line up that way in the Japanese sense, don't they? Of course Harry'd pick Ron since one always picks one's best childhood friend. But if it wasn't for the Friend, then one could start reforming the rich and disaffected....

Comments

[malafede.livejournal.com]

so many HP doujinshi have Harry be with Ron and Draco have an unrequited crush-- the archetypes sort of line up that way in the Japanese sense, don't they?

rivalslash is way popular with the japanese, too. i guess it's just that you're reading doujinshi written by harry/ron shippers? who also have a uke harry, so he's bound to have many interesting guys crush on him? i think actually harry/draco is more popular with the japanese, but there's not much reforming as the blending of two opposite sides of the whole, which is more aligned with an eastern way of thinking than our concepts of good and evil and redemption.

... maybe.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Mer? I get this information from someone who's spent more than a year in Japan herself, looking and looking for Harry/Draco doujinshi and not finding much, and finding tons of Harry/Ron. I don't have firsthand experience with this, of course, but I'm inclined to believe her given that she a) was there & b) can actually read Japanese. Meaning-- I'm not reading doujinshi of any kind-- I've just seen the ones she'd shown me.

As for the 'reforming', this was a shot in the dark (given I don't read doujinshi as I said) mostly based on the manga I've read where one guy in the private school was rich & the other was a commoner. The commoner-type 'average' uke generally 'reforms' the seme (in the mangas I've read) by opening his heart and making him a bit less of a stuck-up asshole.

[malafede.livejournal.com]

oh, okay then. i was basing myself on the net (the fanart sites) and ebay, mostly. ;P

We are all individuals! - No, I am not!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

Rather unhelpful comment ahead *g* - once upon a time I read that with all the pressure of conforming and being calm and normal, the Japanese allowed much more freedom inside, of the mind, the hidden. With the very real pressure in the Western world of having to be special and agressivley asserting an individuality, there was an unexpected freedom hidden ... uhm, somewhere behind the uniforms. I apologise for the vagueness, I am aware of the perversion and the oppression and all that stuff, but that thought which I so badly explain here has cheered me up a few times.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that-- I mean, you can't really judge a culture's mainstream by its artistic subculture, but there's so much insanity and weirdness and er, perversity... it's definitely clear that there's tons of things bottled up beneath the surface of homogeneity and control. It's hard to remember that there's so much censorship, even, 'cause of this duality between such freedom and such repression. On the other hand, I sort of like that -.-

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

Throw-away introductory lines in Yamato Nase's manga like, "I'm a pretty ordinary member of the masses". (Um....)

Word. It seems especially out of place in her mangas. Have you read Chintsubu yet? Do I have to make an icon to remind you for that one as well?

The thing I don't get is-- do these super-ordinary people really exist?

They do in Japan, where being super-ordinary has been honed to a fine art-form, so that everyone is so ordinary nobody bucks the very fragile social system that stops everyone going nuts because of geography/population density.

Actually, now that you've brought this up, I realise why so many HP Doujins have a James/Sev pairing (it's like, freakishly popular). Snape is the typical forced-into-ordinariness (yet desperately longing for more) & James is the extraordinary Mr Popular d00d. Or it could just be because I just read Denkou Sekka Boys I'm in that kind of mindset (ooohhhh sooooo much damn plotless, pointless pretty in that manga, including the Ugly-Duckling protagonist).

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Is there any James/Severus in non-dj slash that you're aware of? Friend of mine in Jossverse fandom says the only thing that would make her read HP is James/Severus.

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

Of course. Right over here at the Potter Slash Archive (http://glassesreflect.net/fiction/james_ss.html) they have a few fics. I'm sure if you searched around you could find some more. It's not as common as James/Sirius or the other Marauders, but yes, the PSA is a good place to start (because they do have some quality control).

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Heee, yes, I've read Chintbusu <3<3<3<3 So much love<3<3<3 So many penises!! Omg I was laughing almost constantly >:D And I want mooooore. *weeps* I started going through her other mangas, but nothing compares to Chintbusus T_T So cruel. And they didn't even have sex, really. So sad. *weeeeeeeeeeps* I even considered reading her shota one, but no, I'm not that desperate. Though there are shota bits in Shitsuren Mania, and it's so pretty that I'm like... yeah okay :D Because I'm just so easy.

It seems especially extreme in shoujo, though. It seems like shounen titles have omg-special-fighter-boys a lot more than omg-so-ordinary-boys ('cause how're you gonna save the world that way, I ask you??) Eeee, Denkou Sekka Boys<3<3<3 Asami Tohjoh <3<3<3<3 Especially For You, which is so hot and yes. Preeetty isn't pointless!! PRETTY IS ITS OWN PURPOSE. PLUS THERE'S LOTS OF OMG THEY ARE SO HOT & I WEAR GLASSES angst. Except then he doesn't :))

...You know, I've always had a soft-spot for James/Snape. (Just typed Snake... I think I can see where JKR was going with that, actually). And Snape/Lily... and James/Lily.... Although a threesome is definitely out of the question ><;;

[thessaliad.livejournal.com]

Are you reading Yamato's Saa Koi? That line sounds like it would have come right of there. I especially like how they carry their "ordinariness" like a badge of honor, too, like the reason the Seme should leave the uke alone is because the seme doesn't behave like an ordinary person is supposed to. But OTOH, the seme isn't really supposed to behave the same as the uke, because he's an elite, and everyone knows that elites are different than everyone else. If you're reading Saa Koi volume 2, check out the reaction of the uke as he sees the seme at the grocery store--he's ticked off because the seme is behaving outside his defined role!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was Saa Koi, exactly. Hee in retrospect it seems like the uke was a leeetle hung up on the whole thing to the point of actual fixation, but I think that's normal, what with the whole society still being structured according to social class...? And yeah, it really does seem to be about honor-- like, the more honorable you are, the more you do things out of duty, respect your parents and even if you kill people, you do it with the respect they deserve since of course you're not better than them, etc. Heh. The quote was actually from volume 2-- and see, it's stuff like this that makes me so wary of non-Japanese-made 'manga'. I just think Westerners couldn't come up with some of these reactions if they tried, like how the uke was so resentful and tried to act distant 'cause he felt unworthy of the seme's niceness... oh man. There's some sort of essay in here somewhere, but I'm too lazy to think about it :>

[mark356.livejournal.com]

I don't really believe that anyone is truly ordinary, because everyone has something interesting and unique about them. However, I don't believe that most people are all that extraordinary, either.

As for me, I tell myself that I'm ordinary all the time, because it makes me feel better. Although I suspect that there are many ways in which I personally am different from your average person (if there is such a thing), if I tell myself that I am your ordinary, average person, that makes me feel that much gladder for everything that I've done or any qualities I have that I feel may be somewhat unique. On the other hand, if I kept trying to tell myself, "I am the coolest person ever! I am the king of the world! RAHH!", I would feel that I have that much more to prove. The coolest person in the world would probably know five languages and be speaking them all fluently after one week; for your average joe, knowing just two, planning on learning a third, and being able to read third-grader's drill books or talk with a teacher about her curriculum in the second language after a year is just fabulous.

I also have to echo what adora_spintriae has said about conforming in Japan. I assume you've already heard the Japanese saying, "The nail that sticks up will be hammered down"?

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

It's not so much that I believe everyone's extraordinary as it seems so odd to me to actually be happy about how average one is, so in that sense I believe you're unusual :D Like, in America one might believe they're average, but even if one's all right with that, on some level it's one of those numerous unpleasant realities out there, not a source of strength and honor or anything. Ahhh, this is why I love the Japanese <3<3

I think the reason I never wanted to be ordinary was basically 'cause I'm not a 'people person' and I don't like identifying with groups. Since I thought most people were frustrating and stupid on some level (...well, this is more generalities than individuals), I always clung to being different 'cause even if I was worse or more messed up, at least I wouldn't be like them. But then, I have no performance anxiety either, per se, 'cause I think on some level I'm just full of myself no matter what my objective accomplishments are ^^;; (...At least I'm self-aware...?) Like, there's no need to be 'the coolest' for me 'cause that'd still be ranking myself within the context of a group, I guess...?

...Something tells me that while I love the Japanese, they wouldn't necessarily love me :>