Japanese Soft Power

Japan is such a unique country that I have always been interested in. The way that Japan uses it's soft power (a cultural exchange on international levels) is extremely interesting because there are so many ways in which they can do this. The most common way that affects young people such as myself is through anime, manga, video games, and the "kawaii" (meaning cute in Japanese) culture.
The soft power of Japan affects our culture in so many ways that it seems we don't even notice how much is actually there. I know so many young people that watch anime and they read manga constantly, loving every moment of it. The impact of video games is even greater, because the majority of these games with the cute little characters comes from Japan; Pokemon is one that people don't always realize comes from Japan. Such as the image to the left, how many people represent this little guy? A large majority of people seem to be able to remember "Pikachu" and know his name. His influence on my generation especially is amazing, and while it doesn't affect every person it does effect a large amount. Japan's influence on our country is amazing. But how does this play into politics? What political influence does this use of "soft power" seem to have?
Young artists use anime in order to incorporate politics into something entertaining. An anime which I have watched called Hetalia. This anime uses political and historical events in order to create a historical satire. Each of the characters personifies a country in a humorous way, and interact with each other as they move through history. The anime itself is deeply researched and seems to be extremely accurate, especially with the personifications of the characters. While this anime itself can be seen as a political outlet, especially with the characters, the artwork that I have found reflecting this anime is a better example of soft power. To the right is a cartoon drawn by a fan representing two of the countries of China and Japan. It by itself is a pure example of soft power because the comic is focused around that exactly. Visually it's laid out as a manga, with the panels and speech bubbles. The style of the artwork also represents the "manga" or "anime" style of work that we know and can easily recognize. The funny thing about this image is that it specifically relates to soft power, and that Japan is using their culture to manipulate china. I just thought it was ironic that I found an image that relates to a topic of discussion within the topic of this post.
The anime of Hetalia becomes the perfect example of soft power within anime because its entire purpose is to discuss history or politics in a humorous way. Though Japanese soft power goes beyond this one anime, there is so many different ways in which this occurs.

Visually, anime is quite appealing for many reasons. Even the anime that were made in America still seem to represent the Japanese manga style of artwork. The style of this artwork is easy to characterize. Usually the characters have quite large eyes, even when their eyes are smaller they are still quite large. The faces are simplified as well as the expressions on the face. They show the rang of emotion through simplicity, because the artists of anime and manga have to draw so much. They make things cute, the girls are thin and generally look cuter than the men (i.e. bigger eyes and larger feminine features) while the men look more masculine (in most cases). The characters themselves are different for different series, because they appeal to different audiences. The range in these series are the same as our genres, the style itself interests so many different appeals. The work to the left represents an anime (as well as a manga) series that I loved for so long, Fruits Basket. I felt as though it represented Japanese soft power personally because it was one of my favorite shows and what got me interested in Japanese culture. The girl in the front is small and cute, happy face with large eyes. She has soft pale skin (which in Japanese culture is idealized) and is the one holding the animals. The men in this show represent different types of men to appeal to many different girls (since this is a "girl" anime). Visually this image represents the idea of anime and manga well in my opinion, and I feel as though it helps in the representation of Japanese soft power. However they are many different examples of this, too many in fact it was hard to choose one.
I know personally, as stated previously, I was deeply affected by Japanese soft power, especially in the progress of my artwork. This is a drawing that I did in 2009, which seems like it was quite some time ago especially if you look at my studio work now. As an artist I feel as though I should be ashamed of this image, however it's something I did when I was interested in Japanese culture, and it was something I did early in my relationship with my current boyfriend of 5 years, which is something we can look back on and see what all I've made for him. I chose this image also because I thought it was funny that I chose to dress us in University of Kentucky clothing and I was still living in Indiana at the time. Here I chose to represent my relationship with my boyfriend using the manga style with the large eyes, bright colors and even my current hair color was affected by the anime style. This shows soft power well, because I incorporated it into my early artwork, though I have expanded far beyond that it was still a frequent factor in my early artwork. I have dropped the style and moved to realism, however I still occasionally draw using this style. This style just isn't practical for a studio art major, however I am proud that this is how I learned to draw early on.
The use of soft power that Japan brings to America is quite surprising because there is just so much, their culture intertwines with ours and we don't even seem to realize it. It's personally affected me, and I feel as though it'll continue to incorporate itself into the American culture.  

Just a Bill...?

I find it curious that I have found two different political visuals referencing the old School House Rock's video of "I'm Just a Bill", one as an image and one in the form of a video. This cute little rolled up document, tied with a red ribbon and a red, white, and blue button representing who he is, is an icon in a sense. Those who have grown up watching School House Rock or seeing these videos shown within the classroom, know who this little guy is, even I remember my parents showing me these videos and using them as a tool to help me learn. The original video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0

It's interesting that this little guy has become represented once again during Obama's presidency, and I feel as though the way in which bills are treated under Obama, since it seems as though his presidency has been a lot of bill passing. The first image that I found was while I was scrolling through the "humor" section on pintrest. I thought that was interesting since politics doesn't seem to play a big roll at all within that website. The image was taken from the original video where the bill and the boy are sitting on the stairs of capital hill talking about how a bill becomes a law, or how it works. The humor behind this image is represented using profanity and large bold letters. Apparently the bill here is stating that no one seems to know how a bill becomes a law anymore in this day and age, however I feel like it goes beyond just this presidency. Society itself seems to not be concerned with politics at all, and they seem to just let it happen without any sort of care. Though this image was taken from the video, the spot at which the video was stopped to take this image is extremely important when it comes to analyzing the visual impact of it. The bill looks hopeless in this image, as he wants to become a law. He sits there, waiting, exhausted from his journey. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKhXxvT9iak : This video is a parody based on the little bill, discussing the health care reform. This video was made back in 2010, and yet it still used this school house imagery. While re-created in both visuals and words, the character remains the same. No matter what the intent of the video, taking the imagery from a classic video always brings our minds towards this video. It's interesting that the video purposed for education could be taken so many ways over, in a way to continue the education of the people. Since people seem to pay more attention to something that is a satire as opposed to something legitimately education, it's smart that parodies are created using an educational basis; especially since the target audience would be anyone who had watched these videos when they were young. Through this it can be understood why this imagery is important, as well as why the imagery continues.

Explosive Birth (Extra)

http://www.noupe.com/inspiration/50-stunning-political-artworks.html

This work of political graffiti art struck me. I couldn't find any information about this work, other than it was just an idea of the artist in order to portray a message. I feel as though this image could have multiple meanings behind it, through it's simplicity and design. The use of simple black and white has quite the impact, though the "whiteness" of the wall is not completely there. 

One meaning from this image which deeply saddened me was childhood bombers. I've heard stories from war veterans as well as from people who knew them about children who were handed grenade by military men of their countries to go and attack the American soldiers (and probably has affected other countries, however I've only heard of the American soldiers). These young children were forced to go bomb the American troops, causing the troops to be ordered to shoot. These children don't know what they are doing, they are innocent victims in this situation, which in turn causes such pain for these soldiers. In order to protect the troops they are forced to destroy these young children, which were born into these situations just by living in these areas. That meaning of this work of art is beyond saddening, because I know soldiers who have been forced to shoot children, and it deeply wounds the soldiers forever.

However, while that is the immediate meaning I receive from this image, there are also many other meanings which can be determined from this art. A pro-life message comes to mind as well, because of the relationship between these two small objects. The grenade in this image can represent the womb, but more importantly the mindset of a women in an unexpected pregnancy. Her body becomes a grenade, because depending who the woman is she could decide to terminate the pregnancy. The smallness of the child is highlighted here, because the baby fits perfectly inside the grenade. The size shows the figure of a baby, how we see one in the womb, and yet it's so tiny. That itself shows that this is a child, even inside the womb. This comes to my mind because of the amount of abortions have been compared to a genocide, to a war, and that also relates to my first immediate message.
Another message which I perceived from this work is the destruction of childhood. The grenade represents childhood as the child's life is attached to it, and it feeds from it. A child's innocence and their spirit of childhood is constantly attached to them, but it is fragile and could easily be destroyed. I think that this message could also represent that. 

The simplicity of this image could also bring multiple more meanings, however those are the two that I determine. Visually this image could take on any meaning, even ones not even pertaining to children. It's stencil like drawing allows for that. 

Halloween's Impact on Visual Politics

Halloween is closely approaching, and October in general seems to be focused entirely on Halloween itself. The holiday has been known for dressing up and scaring people, or the day where the spirits rise from the grave, even about candy in general with trick-or-treating. Since this holiday is coming near, I became interested in the visual impact of this holiday. 

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 The image shown here I thought was extremely funny and obviously was a satire. The little old lady is passing out candy on Halloween, which are displayed with bright colors. The adorable little children are dressed up as clowns for their halloween costume, extending their bags for candy. The speech bubble represents the little old lady's voice, and she is stating that the children are dressed up like politicians. This is humorous because it's stating that basically the politicians within the government are clowns. Clowns themselves are often associated with humor, and with doing silly things. So by comparing a politician to a clown the image states that the government can't really do much other than be silly and acting foolish. With modern politics this could be the case, depending on who the viewer is. This image is obviously meant to be funny, and I feel as though it isn't representing any specific people within the government so the image itself can't cause offense to anyone in particular. The colors used within the image are bright and colorful, making the image pop and catch the eye of the viewer. The image is drawn in more detail, possibly to enhance the clowns and make them extra colorful, since that is also a generalization with clowns.

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This second image has a different message entirely than the first, however it still has to deal with the idea of associating halloween with political cartoons. This image refers to global warming, and the fact that this fall is supposed to be extra cold and since there was a recent snowstorm. This reflects on the modern fear of global warming, and represents this through the creature of Frankenstein. Frankenstein is a modern character who is known for halloween and often represented in many children's costumes. He is a creature to be feared, because he is a monster. This associates global warming with a monster, even though it isn't a being. The little old lady seems to represent someone who is easily scared which could relate to the entire populace, since they are frightened by the idea of global warming. Also this brings in a bit of humor because the older generation are known and made fun of for enjoying watching the weather. The monster of global warming is intruding into her house and she chooses to ignore his supposed scariness by asking him to shut the door because it's cold. She's comfortable in her home, and wearing long clothing because it is colder weather. The bold red print of the "AAAAGH!" draws attention to the fact that the monster is supposed to be scary, though he is not.
Halloween has impacted these two different topics within the political world, the simple topic of politicians acting like clowns as well as global warming. This can show how a simple holiday can impact the political world. 

Government Shutdown

Early to mid October the government was in shutdown, and this created a deep impact on political cartoons. Both during and after the shutdown, cartoons have been popping up and either pushing blame or making fun of the situation. 

www.cagle.com

During the shut down the government closed all federally run programs, even if it cost little money to keep the programs running. Here is an image that shows the national parks being closed. The brown baggies are covering the faces of the presidents on the mountain. This shows that the images themselves aren't imporant. Although the faces on this monument are common knowledge, it seems as though covering their faces has a deeper meaning behind it. Not only does this government shutdown affect the people, it affects the government itself and those in the past who have run it. Government shutdown has happened before, and it seems as though this image could also state that the presidents of the past are hiding their faces because they are ashamed of what is happening. They are ashamed that the government cannot be run today, and that it did shut down. This imagery here can also be seen by the blank faces drawn on the bags, and the fact that the faces also look very fake and cartoony. However this imagery could also simply be because it happened in October and it was approaching Halloween, and could be making light of the situation. 

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The second image here relates to the cause of the government shutdown: Obamacare. Which isn't entirely the reason it was shut down, however it is a cause for the Republican party. This cartoon seems to relate to how I feel about Obamacare, but more importantly pokes fun at our political figures. The image seems to reflect the historical triptych, which is three paneled imagery. The three different boxes reflect a different color, which seemingly does not reflect anything significant. If the yellow in this image was a reddish color it might reflect it more. However the purpose of this image is not to reflect on America, and it's not to forcefully bring attention, since it uses light colors. However the fact that his shirt does reflect red can bring the colors into it a little bit, however the yellow throws that off. The typed words in the image are bold, and are obviously the main meaning coming from this image. Simply put, if the people in power can't run the government, how can the people expect them to run a health care system. This image is directly related to Obamacare and the artist seems to be against it. This doesn't seem to be completely favoring either political party, since a lot of the blame of the shutdown was on the Republican party and that's addressed too. The simplicity of the image reflects the shutdown and the cause, showing that there is no trust within the government. 

www.cagle.com 

The third image was created once the government was reopened. This basically pokes fun at the government in general, and that it never functions. The car is falling off the cliff with an American flag, with an Obama bumper sticker on the front. The driver is hard for me to depict, however it seems to not matter because it generally could represent any individual within the government. The image shows that the government is continually falling off a cliff, and the shutdown did nothing to fix it. The message is strong, and shown very obviously here. The car here could either just represent the Obama administration in general, or just the government as a whole since Obama is currently the president, and represented by the bumper sticker on the car. The cliff could seemingly also represent the fiscal cliff, representing the increase in taxes and budget cuts in 2013 and the debt that Obama has created for the country. This image was created once the government was up again, and I think it's pretty funny because it basically says that the government doesn't do anything. This isn't true, however sometimes it might feel like it. 

www.cagle.com

This image was also created when the government was reopened and it's a very general image. It's message is portrayed through the writing on the sign, which is a sign commonly found on the front door of shops when they are opened. The word "open" is bold and in your face, white against red, making it known that the government was indeed open. However there is the general disclaimer at the bottom, which is very popular in our society, stating that this is only the case until there is another issue. The government is going to have plenty of issues throughout the next many years, and the fact that there is that general disclaimer is humorous. This image is satirical and most definitely represents the state of the government today. The government only works in harmony, and not with political disfunction, and that seems to be the message that this image is portraying. The American flag portrayed in the back simply represents America and also can play into representing the government.
The government shutdown has been a blessing, in a way, to political cartoon artists. As seen here there are many approaches to relaying the message, and the visual impact of these images is made known through it.