Is it just that one can't feel superior to, or berate, fictional characters, and there's a great demand for butting-in that isn't satisfiable outside Slate's columns?
Ring the bell, ref.
I actually liked the article on checking out on your dog when you have a kid. I know lots of people who did that.
I didn't really like the article (on dogs and kids), but the ridiculously vitriolic comments (I weep for your dog; I feel sorry for your children; you are a despicable person; why did you even have children, you evil monster?!!!!) make me sympathize with the author.
I rather liked
A man from Chad, stopped in Badagry, was carrying nine tusks from which the elephants had been removed.
"But why the vogue for the confessional mode?"
We like the feeling of superiority it brings us. Reading a Misery Memoir on your way home, you can comfort yourself that you may not be a perfect mother, but at least you never branded your children with a soldering iron. Watching one of the interchangeable Oscar-bait biographies that bob to the surface every January, you can reassure yourself that, while you lack the talent of Johnny Cash (or whoever) at least you've never sunk into alcoholism. We can forgive them, you see, and that's a wonderful position of power to be in. As we walk through the aisles of the bookshop, we turn from side to side, and, like Amon Goeth looking down on the Jews of Plaszow in Schindler's List, we can feel the godlike pleasure of saying "I pardon you. I pardon you."
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OK here, too many media and entertainment links trolling tl
Rumiko Takahashi It's a she, and she is a genius mangaka. Talent, growth, popularity, and an astonishing productivity. Never been into comics, MI is about the third I've ever read.
Maison Ikkoku late 1980s Not overrated, as in ten best manga/anime ever, but her other more comic fantastical stuff may be underrated because of a tendency on the part of critics to overrate realism. Just seen a little Urusei Yatsura. She's smart and funny. Yes, this is a seinen (young man) romance fantasy, but it is genius seinen fantasy written by a woman. Maybe. Maybe she snuck a josei (young woman) into a seinen. Far from feminist, of its time and place
Maison Ikkoku Manga Vol 1 Ch 1
Maison Ikkoku anime Episode 1
And we are to the point. To a very large degree the anime contains the manga as if it was the storyboard. Chapter = Episode. But, as someone said about Monster it takes 10 minutes to read a manga and 25 to watch an anime. If you like, read a little of the beginning of the manga and then watch, past the credits, the beginning of the anime. Ten minutes is enough.
I have become, although I am trying to fight it, obsessed with some things that are demonstrated in the difference between these two media. Landscapes, scenery pron, "pillow shots" of architecture and objects, establishing shots, long shots with a lot of environment and small figures in the distance. Stuff that is not "people-centric" or "people-dominant"
I want to understand why it is done by directors and writers, and how it works, cognitively and emotionally. This is so seldom mentioned by anyone talking about media, yet it can be as much as a third to half of a production. The Japanese like it as much as anyone. It is ubiquitous and astonishing in the Maison Ikkoku anime, as the beginning of episode one shows. It gets so much better. The anime, with the extra shots, imaginative direction, and amazing use of color, is just far superior to the manga.
Tentatively I am attracted to an extension of the concept of Negative Space expanded to include the cinematic and animatic. And just as people fail to see the white space around the figure, or the silence between notes, they don't see the environemental space in the movie.
The use of equal negative space, as a balance to positive space, in a composition is considered by many as good design. This basic and often overlooked principle of design gives the eye a "place to rest," increasing the appeal of a composition through subtle means. The term is also used by musicians to indicate silence within a piece.
PS: "Negative space" in another less justified use, the silences, lack of communication, subtle facial expressions, implications, nuances of emotional interaction, is integral to the narrative strategies of Maison Ikkoku, both versions
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1) "Far from feminist" is unfair. This is mid-80s Japan (= 50s America), directed for profit toward a twenty-something male audience. The proportion of strong and independent female characters to male characters is impressive, but not offensive. And social commentary on the pressure to marry is part of Takahashi's point.
2) I would recommend it, but a) the anime is barely available though the manga is online in full, and b) there is a lot of barely tolerable silliness and cruel comedy directed at our two leads. Also a social message.
3) I need to read more Deleuze.