'Obscene' and 'Oriental' - A Study of the West's Responses to Anime and Manga

Abstract

Anime and manga are now mainstays of modern entertainment. These Japanese forms of media are currently estimated to be worth almost US$23 billion and are expected to double by 2030. However, their growth has not come without resistance from Western power. This thesis explores how Western responding to anime and manga is reflective of deeply rooted orientalism using a semiotic approach. The West have systematically disenfranchised anime and manga in an attempt to prevent their growth. There are three main examples of this. The first is how the West use pixelation as a way to communicate obscenity. Over-pixelating anime and manga in the media leads an audience to believe that the mediums are obscene. The second method of disenfranchisement is through developments of law, morality, and social boundaries. Laws have been used as a way to both reflect and influence the public’s moral sentiments and function to show ‘correct’ social behaviour through notions of ‘average’. Laws have labelled anime and manga as obscene helping the Western public assume that the ‘average’ person should not consume them. The final example is how the media have reacted to anime and manga. The West’s media producers are fearful about losing their audience to a foreign, ‘oriental’ version. The media have targeted obscene themes in anime and manga despite the same themes being produced by Western media due to their popularity. Ultimately the framing of anime and manga as problematic serves to preserve Western intentions and prevent the ‘orient’ becoming an equal.