Niche Into Mainstream: How 90S Anime in the West Was Changed By

Niche into Mainstream 1 Niche into Mainstream: How 90’s Anime was changed by Agenda-Setting Theory Malik Watson Agnes Scott College Niche into Mainstream 2 Abstract Media transforms minor topics into mainstream, and their perception changes over time. I’m going to examine American people’s perception towards anime and define the significance of the medium and how far it has come in America. I’m going to pay particular attention to Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon is a manga created by Naoko Takeuchi with the premise of an ordinary junior high student destined to fight evil. It was popular enough in Japan to warrant an anime series which spread to other western countries especially America. This case will show how the media affects two ways: on itself (anime) and people (fans). Niche into Mainstream 3 Part 1 “What is Anime?” Chances are, they watched anime before but didn’t realize it. The medium has a historical and cultural significance in the United States, which influences animation and has become a profitable industry in the country. Many Americans have tried to control it, yet this genre of art is too big to be handled and it’s still growing. Before I get too far, I need to explain anime’s meaning. Anime is Japanese for animation. To be clear, anime is the shortened form for animation. In Japan, Animation (anime-shon) is represented in katakana, a set of writing characters in the Japanese language, as アニメーション . The -tion (-shon ーション) suffix is removed leaving the prefix Anime (アニメ). In the country, the term is utilized to refer to all forms of animation. From other parts of the world, the term has become recognized as animation in the Japanese region. This meaning is justified, especially when Anime originated from classic western animation (Disney, Betty Boop, etc). Anime owes its style from manga, specifically that of Osamu Tezuka. Manga is a term originating from Japan, yet is compared to comics and graphic novels in western society. Osamu Tezuka, the Father of Manga, got his inspiration from watching Disney and Fleischer cartoons (Pattern 270). To replicate the same feel, he detailed his characters with big eyes. His design choice affected following manga artists, but it did not stop there. He had a hand in implementing the first Anime television series, Astro Boy, an adaption of one of his works. The anime “Astro Boy” was a huge success in his home country and eventually reached America, as it was one of the first anime to air in that country. This popularity would foretell anime’s eventual popularity in the country. “Anime into America” Anime first appeared in America in the early Sixties. It was the period of civil unrest in the country. African Americans and other minorities were setting their own place in a society which viewed them as “second-class citizens”, only to be seen as stereotypes and not heard for their plights as regular Niche into Mainstream 4 people. The first staples of anime immersed in America were Astro Boy, 8th Man, Gigantor, Prince Planet, Kimba the White Lion, Marine Boy, The Amazing 3, and Speed Racer, respectively (Patten 97). These shows featured topics relevant in the decade such as identity, acceptance, and change. Though the product which left Japan did not arrive the same in America. Such as were the stories, which were adapted to fit the American child demographic. Characters were switched from Japanese into American. Fred Ladd, one of the first to introduce Anime to America, adapted the storylines. He was working for NBC Enterprises in 1963. He received a call to watch a screening of a Japanese cartoon, called Tetsuwan Atom, recommended by an NBC respondent in Japan. Ladd watched three episodes of the cartoon and gave his opinion. To him, the title character (Atom) resembled Pinocchio in his personality and thought children could get interested in the program. Ladd with his experience adapting foreign programs into popular American shows like Cartoon Classics, a show made from reels of European cartoons, was given the pilot to adapt and dub. The character named Atom was changed to Astro and Astro Boy was born. The anime’s cultural origins weren’t discussed in order to avoid potential trouble of airing Japanese content as tensions among the US and Japan remained after World War II. Since its airing, Astro Boy and other anime achieved popularity in the United States. At the time, children of the Sixties viewed anime like any American cartoon, it had the limited animation that was reminiscent of Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Though, their intricate storylines set them apart from other children’s programming. In the case of Astro Boy, its concept was structured in American culture with slang like “S’all Right” to cater to American tastes, but it was still Tetsuwan Atom, a program that originated from Japan. NBC Enterprises understood the cultural flair coming from presenting a show from a country who once was an enemy in World War II. They also feared the reception towards foreign animation. It was a common opinion in the US to think any foreign project was subpar or shoddy. In order to prevent negative reception to the program, NBC and other distributors kept anime’s Japanese origins a secret; NBC wouldn’t deny the truth if someone brought it up. A major contributor in adapting anime, Niche into Mainstream 5 Fred Ladd was okay with this process. In, his own words, “My aim was not to dub the show, it was to American-ize it.” His work on Astro Boy would lead him to adapt Kimba the White Lion and Gigantor and be a creative consultant on the 90’s adaption of Sailor Moon (Ladd 18). “Agenda-setting Theory” Structured by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, agenda-setting theory is defined as “the mass media having the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda.” In other words, the news media with its agenda can make the public concerned about whatever topic they present and make it part of the public agenda. Media agenda represents the pattern of news coverage across major print and broadcast media as measured by the prominence and lengths of stories. Public Agenda represents the most important public issues as measured by public opinion surveys. It has happened to anime, especially Pokemon. With the title “Pokemania”, MSNBC News did a report on Pokemon, its spread of merchandise, and effect on children. Many news outlets like New York Times and Times Magazine followed the pattern of news coverage for the franchise (Media Agenda). As a result, it has alarmed people about the influence of Pokemon on their kids’ behavior (Public Agenda). Because of the coverage, people without any familiarity to the anime had a low need for orientation and were puzzled about their objective towards anime. Need for Orientation (NFO or Index of curiosity) is a measure of the extent to which individuals’ need for orientation motivates them to let the media shape their views. Need for Orientation is affected by relevance and uncertainty. Relevance refers to the quality or state of being closely connected or appropriate. Uncertainty is the state of being uncertain. Another example, a basketball fanatic will have a high NFO if the news features a story on Michael Jordan golfing. Since Michael Jordan is one of the most famous basketball players, it will peak the fanatic’s relevance. Their uncertainty will be high since the viewer knows little to none information about golf. Framing also plays a key part in gaining an audience’s attention. Framing is the selection of a restricted number of thematically related attributes for inclusion on the media agenda when a particular object or Niche into Mainstream 6 issue is discussed. This meaning, many news outlets can give their interpretation on the same subject each fixed on a different attribute. For instance, Dateline focused on anime from a positive perspective in terms of giving children role models in the case of Sailor Moon. There are also two levels of agenda setting. The first level is the transfer of salience of an attitude object in the mass media’s pictures of the world to a prominent place among the pictures in our head. Compare it to transfering an image of the group to a person. The second level of agenda setting is the transfer of salience of a dominant set of attributes that media associate with an attitude object to the specific features of the image projected on the walls of our minds (McCombs, 1997, p.32). This causes viewers to associate an object with an act. As McCombs and Shaw put it: media may not only tell us what to think about, they also may tell us how and what to think about it, and perhaps even what to do about it (McCombs, 1997, p.48). With that in mind, the media can also motivate people to buy anime through publicity. This thought process would be valuable to licensors who’re deciding what anime to bring overseas. “License to Anime” As Justin Sevakis, creator of Anime News Network, explains licensing begins through simple interaction such as meetings and phone calls. If an anime is considered to be shown overseas, either a licensor or distributor has to instigate a connection. A licensor could “cold-call” or “cold-e-mail” companies if they’re interested in viewing their show. This task requires decent English skill. A sales agent might be needed if the task is too much for a producer. Sales agents prepare screener copies, flyers promoting new shows, and catalogs of old shows that might still be available.

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