An Analysis of Galgame Fan Culture
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COMMUNITY IDENTITY, GENDER, AND ROMANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF GALGAME FAN CULTURE A Master’s Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In Communication, Culture, and Technology By Siheng Zhu, B.A. Washington, D.C. May 22, 2020 Copyright 2020 by Siheng Zhu All Rights Reserved ii COMMUNITY IDENTITY, GENDER, AND ROMANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF GALGAME FAN CULTURE Siheng Zhu, B.A. Thesis Advisor: Michael S. Macovski, Ph.D. Abstract Thanks to the anonymous cyberspace created by the internet, online fan communities offer people with shared interests a relatively safe place to gather. As a result, such fan communities often forge mutually supportive environments that enable people with various gender identities and from cultural backgrounds to express themselves freely. Fans such as “otaku”—immersed in Asian popular media, but often struggling with real-life communication-- accordingly treasure such fan environments. For in such cyberspaces, their unique identities will usually be not only accepted but also welcomed. This thesis analyzes a particular type of Asian fan community, deploying close readings of texts, images, and fan quotations retrieved from public websites and forums. It’s a fan community built on the shared interest of playing Japanese “Galgames”: a remarkable media that encompasses cross-cultural fan translation, subtitling, gender studies—and even modern concepts of romance. The thesis first investigates the technological and cultural activities of Chinese galgame fan communities, which focus on the practice of cross-cultural translation (“fansubbing”) and create a deeply respectful, supportive space for content discussion. At the same time, the drive to protect such supportive communities has also lead fans to devise effective strategies to avoid government censorship: both by using emergent technologies (such as P2P and cloud service), and, more importantly, by enacting a community decision to eschew public iii monetization. Finally, the study concludes with a close examination of how galgames enable players to move beyond stereotypical concepts of gender identity and modern romance. This last section traces the use of Japanese term “Yasashii,” which suggests new concepts of contemporary Japanese masculinity, and represents fans’ attitudes toward both gender politics and modern feminism. iv Acknowledgements The research and writing of this thesis is dedicated to my thesis advisor Michael Macovski for all of the support, guidance, and detailed comments on innumerable drafts he provided along the way. I am also grateful to Professor Evan Barba for being the second reader of my thesis, as well as for the guidance he provided during my experience as his teaching assistant. Thanks also to Jeremy Powell for editorial help with several sections. Many thanks to all my friends from my fansubbing group: because they not only provided open source information for my research, but also dedicated themselves to enriching the lives of millions of Chinese fans. I would like to thank my beloved girlfriend Mengying Yu for her love and support during my graduate career. I would also like to give special thanks to my parents, Li Zhang and Junming Zhu, for their love and dedication during my study in the United States. Their positive attitude towards life and their belief in me have given me the confidence and courage to follow my dreams. v Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to Galgame and Its Community .....................................................1 1.1 Defining Galgame Mechanics ........................................................................................1 1.2 History of Galgames ......................................................................................................2 1.3 Timeline of Galgame Development ...............................................................................5 1.4 Fansubbing History ........................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 2: Literature Review .....................................................................................................9 2.1 Fansubbing Practice .......................................................................................................9 2.2 Fansub Ethics ...............................................................................................................10 2.3 The Legal Grey Zone ...................................................................................................11 2.4 The Copyright Dilemma ..............................................................................................12 CHAPTER 3: The Technical Processes of Fansubbing .................................................................15 3.1 Distribution of Labor ...................................................................................................15 3.2 Recruiting Techniques .................................................................................................21 CHAPTER 4: The Galgame Fansubbing Community ...................................................................23 4.1 Community Practice.....................................................................................................24 4.2 Community Interaction ................................................................................................24 4.3 Building Respect ..........................................................................................................25 4.4 Fansubbing Against the Law .......................................................................................29 4.5 Getting Around the Law ..............................................................................................31 4.6 Moral Ethos of Fansubbing Community......................................................................34 CHAPTER 5: Cultural Identity, Gender, and Romance ................................................................38 5.1 The Otaku.....................................................................................................................39 5.2 Japanese Kawaii and Moe Culture ...............................................................................41 5.3 Establishment of Yasashii Player Characters ...............................................................44 5.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................49 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................................51 vi List of Figures Figure 1: A gameplay image of the Galgame Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, with Chinese subtitles superimposed in blue .........................................................................................................2 Figure 2: Fans in their forum thanking fansubbers for distributing their work .............................27 Figure 3: The definition of Moe and examples of ‘Moe Attributes’ shown in this figure ............43 Figure 4: The use of ‘yasashii’ and its semantic equivalents in galgame dialogues to describe the player character as gentle and kind, and as someone who never would offend or hurt the women around him .....................................................................................................................................47 Figure 5: The use of ‘yasashii’ and its semantic equivalents in galgame dialogues to describe the player character as gentle and kind, and as someone who never would offend or hurt the women around him .....................................................................................................................................48 vii Chapter 1: An Introduction to Galgame and Its Community 1.1 Defining Galgame Mechanics Galgame (or Bishōjo Game) is a type of Japanese video game featuring interactive experience with attractive female characters under a novel-like story setting. “Gal,” or “ギャル” in Japanese, meaning “attractive young women,” clearly signifies the nature of these games. That is, galgames fall under the genre of dating simulation, and their primary target is the heterosexual male player population. As far as point-of-view is concerned, a typical Galgame often enables a player to look through the eyes of his character, creating an immersive first-person experience. The other game characters, known as non-player characters, will usually be portrayed as standing figures with limited facial expressions and gestures. Lines of dialogue are represented as floating subtitles appearing at the bottom of the screen (Figure 1). Finally, Galgames are narratively similar to the “Choose Your Own Adventure” type of games. Although the game tells a story, the player is empowered to make choices to change how the story develops. Some life-changing choices can eventually lead to various relations (either good or bad) with the player’s preferred female characters. The presence of pornographic content is a significant element of some galgames. Though there are games that focus primarily on providing gamers with sex scenes, many galgames only utilize them in a small portion of their story. Pornographic content is also regulated in Japan by the Ethics Organization of Computer Software (EOCS), which demands that legal Japanese pornography have its images censored, with genital areas blurred or mosaiced to conform to Japanese