Manga, Wuxia and (New) Religious Syncretisms: the Orientalization of The

http://jrmdc.com Manga, Wuxia and (New) Religious Syncretisms: the Orientalization of the Western Imaginary, from Osamu Tezuka to Contemporary Oriental Disciplines Alessandro Porrovecchio (University of the Littoral Opal Coast, France) Abstract A new interest in various forms of spirituality and religiosity is emerging in some subcultures of contemporary society. This tendency can be seen as an indicator of an Orientalization process that affects everyday life and lifestyles, and it can be read as a symptom of a crisis in the paradigm of Western Modernity, which is changing the relationship between culture and nature, the central role played by the rational positivist paradigm, and ideas of body, space and time. Oriental disciplines and martial arts are a significant case study for the purpose of analyzing the ongoing Orientalization process. These highly ritualized practices have become part of many people’s daily life and have affected their way of dressing, as well as the way they arrange furniture at home and the way they make decisions that involve their diet and body care. These practices may also affect people’s identities by changing their values, ethics and morality. To explore the Orientalization process, I first introduce some features of the diffusion of the “mythical Orients” in the Western imaginary since the sixties. In particular, I focus on some media products (for example, mangas and wuxia movies) that played an important role in arousing interest Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture Volume 2, Issue 2 (Dec 2013) http://jrmdc.com Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 07:42:02PM via free access in Other cultures. In this stage I will refer to some media theories, in particular to Gerbner's cultivation theory and to the medial socialization effect. In a second step I focus on the imaginary embodied in some Oriental disciplines and martial arts. I refer to some results of a research that I am conducting in some martial arts gyms, starting from my experience as an instructor. In that context I performed an ethnographic study, gathering several in-depth interviews with masters, beginners, fighters, experts and therapists, and analysing the interactions within some online communities (virtual ethnography). This last method allowed me to come back to the first step, and to focus on how some features of the media imaginary are mediated through the interactions within the virtual communities. To cite this article: Alessandro Porrovecchio (2013): “Manga, Wuxia and (New) Religious Syncretisms: the Orientalization of the Western Imaginary, from Osamu Tezuka to Contemporary Oriental Disciplines”, Journal of Religion, Media & Digital Culture, volume 2, issue 2, accessed from http://jrmdc.com/ Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture Volume 2, Issue 2 (Dec 2013) http://jrmdc.com Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 07:42:02PM via free access Introduction In Die geschichte mit den schuhbänderen. Soziologe au reise Norbert Elias (2008) explains how, by simply walking through a city, everybody can “do sociology.” He writes: “I cannot help it: over and over again I am fascinated by the people and the differences in their behaviour, their way of life, whether it is at the Lido in Venice or in Rome, at Torremolinos or in London, in Paris or in a smaller German town like Műnster” (2008, p.135). While I was discussing Elias’ words with my students of the School of Motor Sciences in Turin, I understood that this could be a good starting point for my research: I had to walk through the city and to observe, like a flaneur, the people, their behaviour, their way of life, the city. While I was walking in Piazza Castello, one of the main squares of Turin, I received some flyers. One of these flyers advertised a school that aimed to develop a spiritual path through tantra, lucid dreams and self-observation. Another one advertised the activities of a new multinational centre of wellness, inside a shopping centre near Turin. The third one invited me to a new pizzeria, and the last one celebrated the opening of a new gold buyer shop. When I got into a bookstore near the Piazza Castello, I noticed some publications on spirituality, from Osho to Krishnamurti, from South American shamans to African animisms. As I continued walking, I observed the fiction books arranged neatly on the shelves, and I noticed that the “classics” by Tiziano Terzani and Carlos Castaneda were complemented by more recent life stories, such as the one of Gregorio Manzur (2006), and by testimonies of disinterested observers, like the one of Errico Buonanno (2012). Out of the bookstore, I could choose to have lunch in a Chinese restaurant, in a Sushi Bar, in an Indian takeaway or in the Pizzeria advertised in the flyer. And then I could go to a Thai massage centre near the Indian takeaway, or simply go back home, watch a wuxia moviei or read an Urasawa mangaii. Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture Volume 2, Issue 2 (Dec 2013) http://jrmdc.com Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 07:42:02PM via free access As I was walking, I had the feeling that a new interest in various forms of spirituality and religiosity was emerging in Western societies. This tendency can be seen as an indicator of an Orientalization process that affects everyday life and lifestyles, and it can be interpreted as a symptom of a crisis in the paradigm of Western Modernity that is changing many features of everyday life: the relationship between culture and nature; the role played by the rational positivist paradigm; ideas of body, space and time; spirituality and religiosity. In this paper, I will not talk about religion and its representation in media to explore the Orientalization process. This does not mean that religious subjects are uncommon: religion is quite a common topic in many manga, such as Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha (1992). Thomas Jolyon Baraka (2012) describes an interesting case of Comic Religion, Hikaru Nakamura’s Saint Young Men (Seinto oniisan, 2006-ongoing). Nakamura proposes a story of Jesus and Buddha living as roommates in contemporary Japan. He juxtaposes the two religious founders with familiar aspects of contemporary life: they blog, they play videogames, Jesus attracts the attention of high school girls because of his resemblance to Johnny Depp, Buddha is teased by neighbourhood schoolboys for the tuft of hair in his forehead. And each of them inadvertently performs miracles in public. To explore the Orientalization process, I will first focus on some media products (manga, animeiii and wuxia movies) that have been considered important role in arousing interest in Other cultures (Raimondo 2007). In a second step, I will analyze the case of Oriental disciplines and martial arts. During my analysis of the connection between media products and the imaginary – the world as it is imagined – of Oriental disciplines, I will refer to some media theories, in particular to George Gerbner's cultivation theory (Gerbner et al. 1973) and to the effect of socialization by the media (Morcellini 1997; Porrovecchio 2013a). On method Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture Volume 2, Issue 2 (Dec 2013) http://jrmdc.com Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 07:42:02PM via free access I started my research path by “surfing” (McLuhan 1951) through the imaginary of various Oriental disciplines. My purpose was to gather preliminary documentation for my research. In order to do so, I referred to three different kinds of documents: scientific literature, manuals, and popular culture products (movies, fiction etc.). In particular, I focused on anime, manga and wuxia movies. In the second phase of my research, I understood the importance of this first exploratory step: the words of my interviewees kept in my mind Gerbner’s cultivation theory (1973) and the effect of socialization by the media. Starting from this preliminary documentation, I used my personal experience of practicing and teaching martial arts to produce a qualitative research design. I became a participant observer in one of the many martial arts gyms in Rome, the Tao Chi Kwoon, a traditional kung fu school supervised by Sifu Maurizio Di Bonifacioiv. I collected detailed field notes, on the spot or right after every training session. Because of my interest and long-term involvement in martial arts, there was the potential for me to go native (Hammersley, Atkinson 2007), which would affect my ability to engage in the field. So I decided to widen my research field by training in several gyms in northern Italy, where I practised disciplines both from South-East Asia, such as Pençak Silat and Filipino Kali, and from Europe (Sicilian stick, knife fighting). The goal in this phase was to explore, as a beginner, a considerable number of symbolic worlds, and to meet and interact with a large number of martial artists who practised disciplines different from mine. This strategy enabled me to ask probing theoretical questions about the data I collected and the interpretations I provided (Jennings et al. 2010, p.536- 539). This research approach, as with Samudra’s (2008) notion of thick participation, provided many details of the multi-sensorial and emotional nature of the Oriental disciplines practised in the Kwoons. Finally, I accompanied this research path with a virtual ethnography (Hine 2000, 2005; Porrovecchio 2012) that I conducted in some martial arts and manga fan communities. This last Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture Volume 2, Issue 2 (Dec 2013) http://jrmdc.com Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 07:42:02PM via free access method allowed me to come back to the first step and to focus on how some features of the media imaginary are mediated by the interactions within the virtual communities and personal experience.

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