What's wrong with the big-eyed, shock-haired, androgynous males, anyway?

[rj_anderson]

drmm wrote, in response to Point #5 in my unpopular fannish opinions post:

But I like anime-style fan art. Of course, I like anime, which probably makes a big difference.

For the record, I like anime, too -- in fact, I was practically obsessed with it between the ages of eight and fifteen. Back then I had no idea how much of it there was, or what it was properly called: I only knew that on the French channel there were these gorgeous cartoons like nothing I'd ever seen before.

I didn't understand more than a couple words of French, but every Saturday morning I paid rapt attention to Albator (a.k.a. "Captain Harlock") and Capitaine Flam (otherwise known as "Captain Future" -- I just went to look up the English equivalent, and found this brilliant French site where I am now listening to the theme song I remember -- oh, the nostalgia!).

I was also a devotee of Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets a.k.a. Gatchaman, though I was thoroughly disgusted by the cheap and obvious patch-up job they'd done with American animation for all the "7-Zark-7" bits in the latter. And I watched the entire Macross saga, or at least as much of it as my local station showed -- to my horror they broke off halfway through the third part and I had to run out and buy the novelizations to find out what happened to my beloved Lancer. :)

So yes, I do like anime. I haven't time or opportunity to get into the fandom (and that's a good thing, because I could easily see it becoming an obsession), but there's nothing lacking in my appreciation of Japanese animation or manga.

The point I intended to make was not that anime-style art is horrible and wrong -- it's perfectly appropriate in anime-based fandoms, or if you happen to be a Japanese artist -- but I don't understand why there's such a preponderance of this style of art in fandoms which have no anime connection, such as HP. And there's a lot of carry-over from this, too, where writers and artists seem to take it for granted that the HP males are all bishounen -- which is so at odds with canon it's just weird.

A few anime-type drawings in a non-anime fandom are one thing; an overwhelming flood of them is another. I can find pretty pictures of pretty boys anywhere. But in HP fandom I would really like to see some more realistic illustrations of the characters as JKR describes them. That's all I meant.

Comments

[friede.livejournal.com]

but I don't understand why there's such a preponderance of this style of art in fandoms which have no anime connection, such as HP. And there's a lot of carry-over from this, too, where writers and artists seem to take it for granted that the HP males are all bishounen -- which is so at odds with canon it's just weird.

Especially since a good number of folk starting out in HP fanart are shamelessly duplicating images from other fandoms with very little alteration, retitling them to make them HP. While it may be very good practice in the style, it certainly isn't original and it certainly isn't worth posting. And on a more meta note, it certainly isn't going to help them become creative artists in their own right, because such tracing without a firm grasp of how bodies are really put together will keep you stuck forever (but that's quite another rant)

I'm with you RJ, and I'll take it to the next logical step -- I think much of the problem of #2 (Characterization of the Marauders and others) is due in part to the proliferation of #5. Images are powerful things (and I understand drmm's reticence to look at fan art (http://www.livejournal.com/users/synaesthete7/78222.html?thread=523406#t523406) for that reason), and if you're a new fan looking at these waves of bishounen interpretations, it either becomes part of your fanon or you conciously rail against it.

[ex_amurderofcrows752]

Well, realize that there is a thriving HP Doujinshi (Fan done comic books) market in Japan; Harry's big over there, too, surprise, surprise! (This did in fact boggle my mind; if you think the Brit-ism is foreign to Americans, think about how it must be for Asians!)

So a lot of the stuff you see in icons, etc, are inspired by Doujinshi or drawn from them directly; I admit to owning one Snape doujin just because of it's gorgeous coverart (not in the typical Japanese style, overmuch, but still very pretty, with snape and his honkin' nose.)

So for those of us who do a gazillion fandoms at once: Anime of all sorts, HP, Dragonlance (which also has an odd proliferation of anime-style art in it's fandom), we find what we like crosses over. Doujinshi is born, we find it and giggle over it/collect it/etc.

But over all, I don't like the Japanese style fanart for the HP crew either. It doesn't suit them OR respect the canon... Like, if I see one more fucking 'pretty' Sirius I am going to gouge out someone's eyes. Sirius can't be wonderfully handsome and pretty; he spent nearly fifteen years in a fucking prison where he was unhappy, barely ate, did not exactly bathe, and grew copius amounts of body hair. Even once he was cleaned up, he'd be an emaciated, thin man with wild eyes and a sense of fear of confinement and madness to him... And don't get me started on Pretty!Snape, Pretty!Remus... the only one I can see being argued as remaining handsome to the end of his days is James, and he's DEAD.

Ahem. I'll quiet now. ;)

[soloflights.livejournal.com]

RJ - I think the prolific use of anime characters applied to non-anime subjects is a matter of what people are exposed to growing up, as they develop their own drawing style. My kids unfortunately watch these cartoons, where all the characters have unbelievably spikey hair (and I tease them about how much hair gel it must take to keep your hair that way). But they automatically draw all their own characters with spikey hair and funny eyes.

I used to draw fairies and horses, and managaries all going on adventures together.

I was in love with "Marine Boy" as a young child, which I suppose was early anime, but it was in the minority of programmes I watched, so it didn't affect my drawing style.

Claudia

[drmm.livejournal.com]

You like anime? Cool. :)

Anyway, I think a lot of the reason why there's so much manga-style fanart in the US Harry Potter community is because Harry Potter and anime are very similar in a lot of ways.

1) The most popular anime series have a higher number of male characters than female characters. Harry Potter has a lot more main male characters than female characters.
2) Magic. A lot of anime and Harry Potter both have magic as a key element.
3) Children fighting against great odds ...
4) A bad guy who either changes sides or turns out not to be so bad after all (obvously Snape).
5) Fantastical villians.
6) And we can't forget the unusual hair ... ;)

I guess, that's why I think that there's so much anime-style fanart in a non-Japanese work. Harry Potter is practically designed to appeal to anime fans ...

I understand wanting to see more 'normal' fanart but, to be honest, there's a lot more fanart in anime fandoms than there is in others. I've yet to see a quarter of the amount of Star Trek fanart (unless I'm blind) that I've seen in anime fandom.