Give a writer a break, here (Kingyo Used Books)

I came across this bit of a review in one of the brief moments I was able to look at some other people's blogs in the last six months (I promise I'll be more faithful in December once my commitments for this semester end), and it made me think as a writer.

"For all the tears and shouting, however, Kingyo Used Books is dramatically unpersuasive. The stories are too literal, positing a simple, direct connection between the content of a book and a reader’s subsequent behavior; it’s as if I read Middlemarch then decided to dump my pedantic boyfriend — sure, it could happen, but literature tends to effect us in subtler, less obvious ways, influencing our perception of things, rather than what we do. "

While I don't disagree with these statements, I wonder if maybe we need to cut the author a little slack.  If the author didn't show that simple, direct connection that leads to action, these would be stories about people making not-really dramatic, not-exactly life-changing realizations about stuff.  Realizations do not make for riveting manga.  Characters who don't take action are considered the bane of novel and short story writers' existences.  It is a very rare author who can make people having a conversation interesting enough to be a single story, even rarer for people coming to mental conclusions or being subtly influenced by things they read.  Think of trying to do it lots of times as part of a series.  Yeah.  Difficult.

I suspect Kingyo's purpose is not pedantic, not, "You should read manga because it will change your life." 

It can change you, sure.  What we read can influence us and probably does in a lot of subtle, unconscious ways.  I remember when a friend of mine finally read books from my favorite series.  He said he saw a lot of similarities between me and the main character.  I never consciously tried to be like that main character (who is in the military, crippled, living in the future, and slightly psychotic), but the fact that I've read the books about him more than a dozen times has left a mark on who I am that someone else who knew me could connect and see.  Again, not the stuff of short-story length drama.

We've probably all read books that have influenced our behaviors and personalities and even changed us, and when I read Kingyo, that's what gives me the warm fuzzies.  People can make connections through books (to themselves, to others), and sometimes it's something they read (on top of all the other things that have been going on in their lives for years that we can't see) that allows them to change or shows them their need for change in a way that they can't exactly articulate, a way that's often quite sideways from what actually literally happened in the book.

The literalness in Kingyo may seen ham-handed, but it lets us get access to the information about obscure manga and see that people still believe in the power of books to change people literally and figuratively even in a different culture.  Kingyo may not change your life, but it might add to your reading list and your store of knowledge, something every bibliophile can appreciate.

Also, in that series of reviews was this awesome quote:  "I’m normally immune to whimsy."  Wouldn't Normally Immune to Whimsy be a great name for a rock band?

9/11 Tributes and Gundam

 I just got back from a rehearsal for a 9/11 memorial service, and I wonder if I'm torturing myself on purpose.  I'm not much for rah-rah patriotism right now (what with an ongoing attempt by the government to claim no responsibility for a crippling injury I sustained in their service over 6 years ago), and several of the songs we sing are high rah-rah-tolerance songs.  I got moved to the front row for no reason today (along with all the other Alto II singers), so I definitely can't start crying in frustration when we sing those songs.  Maniacal, hysterical laughter would also be a bad choice.

I'm sure this has something to do with me watching too much Gundam lately.  Nothing makes it more obvious to you how stupid and hellish war is than lots of Gundam.  I read an interesting sort-of-criticism of the most recent series to make its way over here (Gundam00).  Over at Anime News Network, Carl Kimlinger reviewed the first boxed set and concluded that it's "a worthwhile watch for anyone who doesn't mind their entertainment with more brain than heart."  It's true that describes me.

It's also true that I think too hard about a great many things, including the anime I watch, so in my own way, I get more invested in the characters than I should, and this is true of the drama-fests that are Gundam.  (I'll admit it: there were times when I even cried during G-Gundam.  Yeah, I said it.)  The questions the pilots ask and don't ask are important questions even if we don't have answers and even if they ooze with excess cheese.  :)  I get a lot of laughs from clunky lines that can't be delivered in any way that doesn't sound ridiculous; sometimes it's easier to watch in Japanese with subtitles because I'm used to reading such arguments more than hearing them dramatized.

The situations that seem plausible in reality make my skin crawl.  To hear people baldly debating philosophies of war and the proper use of violence and then having to live out/with the consequences: this is what made me love Gundam in the first place (Gundam Wing as well as "First" Gundam and each one I've seen since).  Sometimes I think the world might be a better place if things could be as simple as the theory of a tournament like G Gundam, the damage (mostly) kept away from the civilians.

Have you ever read Terry Pratchett's Guards, Guards!?  It's a fun book that grew partly out of his pity for the poor extras who get called in and promptly dispatched by the hero or villain.  What if they didn't die?  What if they were the main characters?  What if they (sometimes) even won?  Sort of.   

I find myself really pitying average enlisted people.  Don't get me wrong: I have a lot of respect for soldiers because they do a job most of us agree needs to be done to protect our country but most of us are highly unwilling to do.  People like that need to be honored, especially when the cost can be as high as death or permanent impairment.  Some of them are patriotic people who want to serve their countries; some need an education and have few options.  Some want to protect their families or help liberate others.  There are a lot of reasons to become a soldier and fight.

In the end, they have no control over anything, not even whether they are being used to accomplish the goals they want.  One of the songs we sing for this tribute is a medley of songs for different branches of the military.  (After watching a lot of Young Indiana Jones episodes and documentaries about World War I, some of these are even harder to sing.)

The officers, including the highest officers, often have no control.  War isn't something you can really control.  No plan survives first contact with the enemy and all that.  (My Vorkosigan obsession is showing again.)  This chaos is what Gundam is about. 

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but Gundam makes me think they're quite possible.  Armageddon will happen somehow; we will bring it on ourselves.  Maybe that's what gives Gundam the added chill of reality for me.  I weep for all the dead (soldiers and civilians) as we blunder around hurting each other, broken and breaking.

What are your thoughts on Gundam?  Does it leave you cold?  Why?  Are you thrown off by plot-driven action and sometimes downright distasteful characters?  (If you're in it for the pretty boys, I don't want to hear from you. :)

Le Chevalier D'Eon: Knights and Samurai

One thing that surprised me about Le Chevalier D'Eon was how clear the parallels were between revolutionary France and revolutionary Japan.  Quite honestly, I'd never thought about them, but I'm hardly a scholar of either time period.

Some similarities:

• An outdated system of personal loyalty
• Countries tearing themselves apart
• Revolution overthrowing the old order

Honestly, it wasn't really until the last disc that I started seeing this.  Before then, I'd been unhappy with King Louis, wondering if he was as much of a jerk as he seemed.  I questioned D'Eon's blind loyalty to a king like him.  When he was in Russia and found someone who needed and could probably deserve his loyalty, and he sincerely refused because he already had a liege, I kind of wanted to smack him.  Instead I just sighed and looked pained and rolled my eyes and smiled crookedly like the others with D'Eon because innocents like D'Eon are transparent to the core and a bit embarrassing.  You don't argue with them because you can't win; no logic will sway them.  The way things are is ingrained in them by birth and choice. 

I can admire loyalty and commitment to a liege, but maybe I'm too highly influenced by Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga where loyalty is never completely blind and where the overall good is the goal, sometimes at (too) great cost to the heroes.  (I'm particularly thinking of Shards of Honor and Barrayar here [NOTE: In 2001, Barrayar was a Nominee for the Seiun Award--Japanese Hugo--for best translation of a foreign novel.])

I give Le Chevalier D'Eon credit for sympathetically showing other reactions to the call for blind loyalty in knights.  D'Eon was the protagonist, but that doesn't mean he's always right. 

I find myself wondering if some anime or Japanese movie has done as good a job at showing the range of options open to the samurai in their similar situation.  It was pretty peripheral in Rurouni Kenshin and the Shinsengumi anime that's made it's way over here (PeaceMaker comes to mind).

Can you think of any good examples?