To Serve (“How to Save the World” + A Socialist’s Manifesto)
May 22nd, 2010
[Aside from video games, I'm also very interest in language, culture and politics. The article below observes these interests and some rather important global issue. It's a little rough and generalis-y, but please do enjoy.]
My graduation ceremony, the systematic stage walk met with a robotic handshake and an autopilot “congratulations” by the Vice Chancellor, was not the happy day it should have been. I promised myself that I’d be out of the country long before March and here I was, sitting uncomfortably and watching a hundred visual arts students graduating into a field which this town could not afford them. Plus, my mortarboard, like all hats which aren’t beanies or custom made, ate my fringe and made my boofy mullet puff out so I look like a student about to graduate out of clown college.
Prior to the mass walk, the Vice Chancellor and an invited guest make their notoriously dull speeches. The Vice Chancellor’s speech was an expected pitch for the success and credibility of the university. The guest speaker, Dr John Adams (I think), however, gave a rather light-hearted “Save the World” message and in that stressed the importance of serving others. He said something along the lines of, “spending our lives serving others is the greatest form of fulfilment”—and I think he’s absolutely right. Without selflessness, we are very little.
I’ve been thinking about Dr Adam’s speech, and pondering the ways in which I can be of service to others and ultimately how to save the world! When talking about dramatic movement and mobilisation of a people for positive change, the first place to look is power; who has power and what are they doing with it? In this world, global capitalism is the system which distributes power, therefore the kings of capitalism are the people in power. That is the conglomerates, corporations and banks; it is these organisations which govern us.
Capitalism, as a market-driven system, gives power to those who find financial capital through business and then use this capital to acquire more capital and more power. It is a system which survives on continual economic advancement. The ultimate ends for a capitalist system is therefore to have the wealthy, powerful businessmen gobble up their contemporaries until the world is ruled by a single entity which governs a mass working under minimum conditions. This is, of course, the best way to maximise profit. Since profits are the sole imperative, anything that can be bought and sold for the sake of profit, including the environment and human livelihood, will eventually become commodities. Since capital provides power, it is easy for those with capital to use their capital to gain even more capital and more power, while those without power continue to struggle as the potential for them to gain a financial foothold diminishes. Furthermore, ist is easy for prime capitalists to persuade governments, the media and social bodies to assist in ensuring that their power is maintained. This is why our society seems to think everything is fine while we’re living in a world which worships celebritism, live off processed food and work meaningless jobs which feed “the man”’s bottom line and not our own humanity. Capitalism cannot be quelled by regulation and legislation. It is a cannibalistic system that aids those with power and not those without. Capitalism undemocratically distributes power to those who can manipulate it to gain more power (rather than “one person, one vote”). This is unjust.
Social justice, I feel, requires capitalism and its respective power structures to be dismantled and for a new system, which is built around workers and needs, instead of competition, to be built in its place. I’m an ardent socialist, so I figure that a socialist model is both selfless and democratic. Aside from need-based services, I don’t like state ownership. China calls itself a socialist country, but its socialist aspects are those which facilitate the CCP’s fascist rule over the media and other bodies. This is clearly unjust.
By allowing workers to own the means of production and company profits going towards production and the workers instead of the market place, you have a system which spreads power amongst the workers and works only to improve the conditions of the employees. The most successful businesses will be the ones which earn more money to best look after their employees. And we all know that happy, productive workers leads to a more successful business. There’s nothing fascist about this system (aside: it gives power to a working mass, how can it be?!), such claims are based on false extremities which liken socialism to communism, for which it is not. Those who work harder or work higher ranks (like a CEO) should earn their keep above an average worker. One of the criticisms of socialism is that taxing of the rich is unfair. (This is a very individualistic assertion, but it is true that socialist taxing closes the gap between rich and poor. It is in this sense similar to communism, but communism does not allow for varying levels of income, whereas socialism does). However, looking after the poor is in the interest of the whole nation. A reduction in poverty stamps out crime, the drug trade, poor housing and low unemployment rates. If you earn a stupendous amount of money, more than any normal person really needs, then you should be highly taxed. There is no justifiable reason that a society should tolerate CEOs, executives and celebrities earning millions and millions of dollars, when other parts of society don’t have access to food or housing. A socialist system governed under these rules of “spreading the wealth around”, is a system which distributes power more fairly.
This is all well and good for a lefty like myself to say, but what about changing the world, Dan? Good point. There’s not much I can do to influence change. At the moment, I’m pretty honed in on China, and for good reason. I love Deng XiaoPing for opening China to the world in 1978, but he did so by reforming capitalist values into China’s economic system. Capitalism was all well and good in an economically developing America for a couple of decades, but as China’s changes since 1978 have proven: Capitalism in a developing country with over a billion people (lest we throw in India too) is an accelerated form of global suicide.
The signs are very, very telling when one visits China, particularly the large cities like Shanghai and Beijing. Chinese society is dominated by class, pertinent to status symbols representative of wealth. China’s middle class are on an intoxicating high, just as America’s middle class were after the war, whereas beggars melt their hands to stubs to gain sympathy amongst the rattle of jewellery that clammers in the street from passers-by. The divide between rich and poor is unbelievable and has inflated astronomically since 1978. China’s mega cities are blanketed in grey, giving credence to the totalitarian regime assumed by the wider west. Going to China is like taking a peek into the future run on accelerated capitalism, and it’s very scary.
The American people will solve their problems. However Obama deals with de-establishing capitalist power in America (and lord knows that the challenge is massive), I think that he will slowly reform the country for the better. China faces a much longer road to freedom and there is more problems in China than just capitalism (including human rights, environmental degradation and overpopulation).
I would say that “knowledge is power”, but the truth is that most Chinese sense the injustice. In contrast to what most foreigners think, the Chinese aren’t stupid. They know what’s going on. They just choose to remain passive about it. The Chinese are much freer now than they’ve ever been, so why ruin a good thing? Furthermore, the Chinese are oppressed, even though they want change, every Chinese person I know believes that the people cannot create change. They believe that the CCP has more power than a billion people. I know, that’s pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?
Think about it. Imagine for a second if a movement was started, distributed online, where people would not go to work for one day as an act of silent protest. If even 1 million people took up this cause, it would some gain traction. Hell, the government can’t arrest 1 million people. A movement could bring about vast and rapid change.
I don’t intend to start a movement. It would probably get me killed, if not booted out the country for good, and I certainly don’t want to live and work in Hong Kong. I can’t change the minds of over a billion people. The Chinese have to realise this within themselves and the best way that I can help is to teach them English.
Embedded within language are value systems. Chinese Mandarin holds the values of face, ingroup relations and social kinship. As such English education is a gateway to the western world and a conduit to our most defining ideal: democracy. Assimilation of English into China is the assimilation of a value system; it is a stealthy penetration of alternative views, something which the CCP has almost entirely made absent in mainland China. If the English language weren’t attached to capitalism there would be little chance of disseminating alternative views in China, so we have to seize this opportunity to allow China to once again become globalised (before the Revolution, China was surprisingly multicultural), and change will shortly follow.
This is how I will change the world. I will take the world’s biggest problem and transform it into the solution. Spreading English throughout China will over time allow the Chinese to understand the West and from that learn from our mistakes and abandon the capitalist system which the country is currently using to the grave injustice of millions upon millions of Chinese people and detriment to our environment.
Ninja Scroll: The Series Impressions
May 9th, 2010
What I’ve come to appreciate through watching Ninja Scroll: The Series is the expertise of Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Yutaka Minowa, the director and artist of the original Ninja Scroll (1993). Yoshiaki Kawajiri has directed some of my favourite anime productions including the Vampire Hunter D remake Bloodlust, the TV series for X and the neo-noir sex thriller Wicked City. Yutaka Minowa also worked on Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Wicked City, as well as the X movie adaption and the Hellsing-esque Devil May Cry animated series. Despite taking on different roles, the duo share an accommodating sense of style where Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s dark, mistrusting worlds lends themselves to Yutaka Minowa’s diagonally-drawn, pointy-chinned character designs.
Ninja Scroll and Wicked City, two of my favourite titles that Kawajiri and Minowa worked on together, are such interesting movies because their characters sought out their own motives questionable to their roles as heros and villains. Dakuan and Jubei, for instance, may be fighting on the same side, but only because Dakuan poisoned Jubei and baited him with an antidote to lure him into following orders. These characters disobey their hero and antagonist roles to protect their own interests and undermine the viewer, creating sinister worlds filled with only the guilty.
I rant about Kawajiri and Minowa to set the contrast for Ninja Scroll: The Series which, for all intents and purposes, dumbs the movie’s serious tone down to something akin to a Saturday morning cartoon.
Ninja Scroll: The Series is set in an unrelated, alternative dimension to the movie. Jubei and Dakuan reprise their roles, but meet as strangers with no prior history. Included in the cast are two new protagonists, Shigure and Tsubute who set the kid-friendly tone. Shigure is a young “ninja girl” looking for meaning and strength in her life—a representation of a child entering adulthood. She’s quite a good character compared to the other performances and bears more than a passing resemblance to Momiji from Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. Tsubute, on the other hand, is an anime archetype: the young rascal with a tendency to flair up. He naturally provides the comic relief and is voiced by Scott Menville who often plays these sorts of roles.
The premise of the story is very simple. The lone traveler, Jubei, on an elder’s dying wish, is given the mystical dragon stone and told to deliver it to the light maiden Shigure. He soon finds Shigure in an isolated mountainous village and hands her the stone. The stone is seemingly a pendant of misfortune as Shigure’s village is attacked shortly after Jubei hands her the stone. The attackers, from various ninja clans, are in pursuit of the stone, so she flees the village, soon running back into Jubei, accompanied by Dakuan who seems to take pleasure in pestering Jubei. Later Tsubute joins the party and the stone is split in two. The foursome hold on to one half, but lose the other to the Hiruko Clan. The rest of the story follows the merry band’s pursuit to find the other half of the stone while protecting their own from various ninja clans.
Since different clans are doggedly after the dragon stone (for reasons unclear), the majority of the 13 episodes focus on the group defending the stone from various mutant ninja beasts. As such, each episode has largely the same self-contained structure of introducing a new handful of new ninja mutants and concluding with their defeat at the hands of Jubei. It’s a little formulaic, but a reliable template nonetheless.
As you’ve likely gathered from my explanation, there’s little backstory to flesh out why everyone is after this supposedly mystical stone. Each episode just pulls a new slew of derivative, mish-mash villain archetypes who are unflinching in their rage against Jubei. It’s all just pretty mindless really. Because each episode introduces a fresh bevy of goons before quickly removing them from existence, they become disposable fodder in the thirteen episode rotation.
Although the protagonists tend to have some form of dimension to them, the villains are generically churned out, diluting the sinister essence ingrained in the original cast of villains. The introduction scenes for Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s vibrant cast of villains would always give you goosebumps because of their selfish motives and interesting character designs. Here, they’re just random freaks with no texture or detail, spurting “I’m going to kill you, bastard!” lines. It all plays out similarly to a Saturday morning cartoon, creating a disconnect between the adult nature of the content and cartoon presentation.
Several of the villains are unclothed or are designed in sexually suggestive ways, and the majority end up spliced in half, decapitated or stabbed by Jubei’s blade (as much as he prefers pacifism). Throw in a couple of sex scenes, innuendo, tame eroticism and references to S&M culture and it quickly grows into something uncomfortable and uncanny. By appearance, Ninja Scroll: The Series looks like a kids show, yet it contains all of this adult content. Despite being set in feudal Japan, all the characters speak in an unrestrained modern vernacular too.
Through all the slicing and dicing, the relations between the group of protagonists strengthens and the characters do evolve a little which add a layer or two to a fairly vanilla cast. The ninja girl matures into her adult role, the prankster kid learns to be responsible, Dakuan softens up and even though Jubei’s story ends where it began (with him looking for a place to sleep), he gains a little optimism through the whole affair.
There’s a few strange quirks which are difficult to avoid mentioning. The number of key frames in the battle sequences tends to pick up in the final few episodes, leaving the earlier episodes feeling rough and the level of quality throughout uneven. Dakuan’s cells are basic and ugly to look at in comparison to Shigure who seems to glow with an added radiance. In fact, Dakuan’s role overall is strangely played down. He’s completely overshadowed by the younger protagonists and is more of a pest than anything. Even Jubei is kind of overshadowed too. He doesn’t say much and only becomes interesting when he’s slicing heads.
Taking it for the screwed up kids cartoon it is, Ninja Scroll: The Series isn’t so bad. I partly enjoyed this shallower tale, even though I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s worth adding that there’s a substantial amount of extras on the DVDs (interviews, sketches, time lapse drawings for the cover art for each DVD) and usually 4 or 5 episodes per disc, so you won’t feel entirely ripped off. Still, this series doesn’t deserve mention against the work of art that is Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Yutaka Minowa’s original Ninja Scroll. If you haven’t seen that movie, then go rent it out now, otherwise just avoid this mess.
The Ideological Framework of Berserk
March 30th, 2010
Berserk is an anime adaption of the popular manga series of the same name created by Kentaro Miura. Berserk (anime) covers the first 13 volumes, also known as the Golden Age arc.
Berserk is quite the slow burn, taking its time to establish the underlying themes through the mining of the two main protagonists, Guts and Griffith. Their actions are very important as they symbolise philosophies of human nature (diplomacy and war), forming the ideological centrepiece for the series. As the viewer comes to realise this dichotomy, similarly to the way Guts comes to draw comparisons between himself and Griffith, the initial slow burn soon wears off and Berserk starts to become engrossing.
Guts is a typical brute with a large sword and a short temper who stumbles upon a camp for the mercenary band, the Band of the Hawk, leading to a short feud where Guts is bested by the leader, Griffith. Rather than kill the obstinate young warrior, Griffith offers Guts a deal to join his mercenary band in exchange for his life. Guts unwillingly accepts the offer along with his loss of the battle.
Guts is immediately promoted to the Band of the Hawk’s second in command and becomes curious of Griffith who has unwavering faith in Guts’ abilities. Griffith is an idol within the camp and very much evangelised for his brilliant tactical and combat skills which constantly lead the mercenary group to success. Griffith’s diplomatic treatment of Guts causes some minor jealously within the camp, particularly with the only female member, Casca, who feels a strong personal bond with Griffith. The ensuing conflict derived from the jealousy causes Guts to evaluate the himself against Griffith.
The two men are polar opposites. Griffith is slender with long, pure white hair, wields a thin rapier, speaks with a calm, soft voice and has seemingly no character flaws. He is the embodiment of diplomacy, charisma and camaraderie. Guts has never experienced the level of friendship shown within the group, he doesn’t understand how Griffith is so patient and accepting of others. The only thing Guts knows is the display of strength through combat, he’s the embodiment of war, internalising his emotions and talking only with his blade.
Guts warms to Griffith’s outlook and adopts many of his interpersonal philosophies which allows Guts to integrate within the group. Griffith is immediately close with Guts, often talking with Guts in private about his personal thoughts and endeavours. Such information was never made privy to the anyone else before Guts’ arrival, further fueling the aforementioned jealousy. These sequences of dialogue provide Guts (and the viewer) with food to chew on regarding the underlying thematic elements. The open expression of warmth given towards Guts turns him into another of Griffith’s admirers. However, this idol is also one with an undercurrent of suspicion and here enters the themes of the series’ second half, man’s pursuit of his dreams.
Griffith makes clear to Guts his dream of becoming a king, despite his role as a commoner. He sees this goal as a matter of inevitability and holds a solitary faith towards this pursuit. And the more Griffith divulges to Guts, the clearer the situation becomes.
As the Band of the Hawk continue to rise in reputation, eventually working for and then integrating with the army of Midland, Griffith’s desires become realised. Through the groups transition into royalty figure, Guts notes Griffiths’s burgeoning desire and slowly the two roles change as Griffith’s dogmatic pursuit begins to involve the murder of significant figures of royalty. Guts assists in these assassinations with faith, but slowly coming to question his master’s authority as it becomes increasingly felonious and risky and puts Guts in a position of liability. Griffith’s goals come to create a rift in the ideological framework as Guts, with their positions somewhat exchanged, is now tested by a wavering master.
– Interlude –
Up to this point, Berserk is effective at putting the viewer in a Japanese mindset (I am partly assuming the Japanese here, either way, I mean to say an environment where social actions have far greater consequence). In many regards, Berserk pulls you in, because it places you in the mindset of Guts and then uses Griffith to spark your interest. Like Guts, I found myself becoming curious of Griffiths’s behaviour and wondering whether his intents where disingenuous, whether he was a false idol, what exactly their representative attitudes mean and whether they could be considered absolute (in which they’re not).
—-
As Griffith is drawn closer to his goals, Berserk‘s grip tightens as you can see the balance tipping away from Griffith and the veneer about to come off. Up to this point, Griffith is faultless, everything he touches turns into gold which makes the climax very important. Guts acts as the tipping point to the shift in roles, being the first to see the strings from that has been presented to the viewer. Clearly a warrior of great might, Guts understands that he is playing to the desires of another man and not his own. He fights causality by deciding to leave the Band of the Hawks without explanation. Even though Griffith could be seen as manipulative, his manipulation is also to the benefit of his fellow soldiers, so I do not think that Guts sees him as a false idol. It seems that Guts wishes to simply walk his own path, rather than be further involved with Griffith’s personal bidding. Here we see the series folding its narrative over as Griffith, now the representation of war, challenges Guts to a duel before he leaves–the result again deciding Guts’ fate. As had occurred before, the diplomatic warrior wins; Guts cuts Griffith’s rapier in half in the process.
Griffith, clearly wrought by his defeat and the worry of the absence of his right-hand man (for whom he can control), enters the princess’ chambers that night and proceeds to rape her. A servant spies a glance and then reports directly to the king who surrounds Griffith with guards, and without his sword, Griffith submits to the bottom floor of the castle’s prison. The Band of the Hawk are removed shortly thereafter.
These last 2 DVDs (in the 6 DVD set) represent a sudden change in the series. There’s a short lull period after the disbanding where Guts goes off and trains in the woods, before running into a reunited Band of the Hawk lead by Casca. Guts aids in defending the group from a rival mercenary band and is then convinced to stay after seeing Casca in a state of exhaustion and despair. Guts, as the new commander, then helps the crew invade Midland castle and rescue their former leader. Again, we see Guts assume the role Griffith had at the beginning of the series and the quest start anew.
Guts, Casca and several other prominent members of the group reclaim Griffith from his cell who is severely malnourished and frail beyond repair. He’s a cabbage who hardly has the energy to speak, yet in regards to roles, Griffith is the arrogant, young version of Guts seen at the start of the series. Griffith notices the new-found, loving relationship formed between Guts and Casca in his time of absence and in jealously commandeers a cart which sends him careering into a lake. In the lake, Griffith is reunited with the Crimson Behelit, a red stone that he always wore around his neck. He uses the Crimson Behelit to summon several demon gods, whom he offers the Band of the Hawk as a sacrifice to immortalise him as a God, fulfilling his dream.
Although I don’t agree with the ending and in fact find it at odds with the rest of the series (however much it is authentic to the manga), it does show the root of Griffith’s desires and the extent at which he is willing to go in pursuit of his dream. This ending shows us that our desires can corrupt even the seemingly invincible of all men, as Griffith transforms himself from an angel-like figure into a demonic force, both literally and figuratively.
In my opinion, Berserk would have been a better series if it had cut the first and final few episodes, closing after Griffith was imprisoned and Guts had left the Band of the Hawk. (The first episode is of the events after the Golden Age story arc and does not fit in with the events of the rest of the series). As we can see from this article, in regards to the underlying ideologies at play, it would have been smarter for the series to have been cut earlier, concluding with the narrative coming of full circle. In any case, Berserk’s two main characters teach us much about human nature, diplomacy and war, causality and the way in which our endeavours can separate us from our friends and allies.
Images from Berserk Chronicles Image Gallery
Additional Readings
Young Animal Overview of Manga volumes
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