#srsly entire dissertations on this topic

[biancadoes1]

Not really an ask but more an observation…

I am not following A or any of the adjacents. I even blocked A just because I don’t like her entire vibes and energy (for my own peace of mind). That being said, when I visit blogs like yours, I understand that A can be a topic and I am fine with that (sometimes, Ngl, I checked blogs to see what she has posted that makes people go spiral. Lol).

These past few weeks, I think we are doing great in not giving her that much attention… however, the ig story posted today is a great example of how some people are still obsessed in checking every single thing about A. The account who posted or re shared the story is not even related to this fandom, but for some reason, some fans know them… like srsly? Personally, I would not have known about the freaking story about the red bag until a person posted here through an ask (Twitter isn’t even talking about it, at least in my TL)

I guess what I am saying is, let’s just stop deep diving about what A is doing. It’s weird that some people knew about this post and it’s not even in her socials (I assume A hasn’t shared it on her story yet).

She's in a picture with a red bag today and all the sudden we have dissertations on this fucking bag yet again that clearly is no match to the one in Luke's story.

I understand it's boring right now and there's nothing to really talk about, but this is also the shit that fuels the side piece fire.

I'm ready to move on from her pleather ass bag.

[sol1056]

"subtle touches that Korean studios use to indicate a Japanese character" this is so interesting because i never thought of it that way, assuming that being made primarily for american tv audiences meant that that overrid the way studio mir would have made something for a korean audience. i'm not an american viewer and watch more anime than cartoons, and i actually thought shiro looked... more korean than japanese. but now i'd love to read a post about these visual cues you mention!

I’ve been trying to find my notes! I think it was an AAS conference, and unfortunately the professor’s gone to bed so I can’t ask for help jogging my memory. I’ll repeat what I can remember, but I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting some details. It’s a little disjointed ‘cause I’m trying to remember the specifics, so this isn’t quite up to my usual standards of citing chapter and verse. Sorry!

There are three levels (generally) of signaling, I think it’s called. Or maybe signifying? – this is where you’re using visual cues to tell the viewer what they’re seeing. If you’ve seen Mulan, when she’s revealed as a woman, her face shape changes slightly and I think her lips get pinker – those are signaling that we’re now supposed to ‘see’ her as female. Sometimes it’s relatively low-key, like just skin tone and, say, lips being full or thin. Other times it’s all-out by adding mannerisms, style of dress. 

The first level of signaling is when the character is like you. There’s a difference in these two (like when each is used and what that means to the audience) but the default will either be way-distinct or way-bland. Distinct is when there’s special touches but they don’t mean ‘not like us’ (ethnically) but ‘a particular one of us’ – like, arched eyebrows and an upturned nose and rosebud lips. In other words, signaling an important character. 

The way-bland is just the generic house style. The eyes will be larger and more expressive (not necessarily massive, just not teeny or only lines). Standard face shape, nose size, whatnot. In other words, any crowd shot’s gonna show you a hundred of these, and there’s your default. Even non-realistic cartoony styles are going to show you a default, like the Simpsons or South Park, and your brain goes, okay, these characters are like me. 

The second level of signaling is for when the character isn’t entirely like you but is sort of. So, for an American audience but the character is Irish, or Italian, or Cuban. One signal is skin-tone, but if you remove that, you’re looking at the same basic style. Western also uses hair-color a lot, like a vaguely UK-ish accent + red hair is either going to mean the character is ‘Scottish’ or ‘Irish.’ 

For Japanese audiences, there are equally subtle little markers for Korean and Chinese. One is the eye shapes. Sometimes those are simply horizontal or angled lines. Another is face shape – pretty sure Chinese faces are indicated with roundness. In Korean manhwa, the Japanese characters tend to have more pronounced… uh, the line of the upper lash, leading out past the eye. Also a little bit of a tilt upwards at the outer corners. And Taiwanese representations of Japanese, the eyes are like that but even more exaggerated, sort of squinting. 

It’s a kind of medium-othering? Sort of like us but just enough different that you can’t be entirely (or aren’t meant to be) comfortable with seeing the person as ‘like’ you. 

And then there’s full-on othering, like when Anglo- or African-descent characters show up in anime: big noses, large square jaws, large lips, etc. Or look at the way non-western, non-white characters are represented in the Simpson. The face is almost as distinct as a main character, but it’s intended to make you go, woah, foreigner. 

And then we get to the weird kind, which is when a studio in one country wants to make sure their animation will be marketed in another country. (Not quite the same as when a foreign studio does the in-betweening but close.) So what would’ve been a level of signaling for the in-country audience has to get flipped on its head, and the ex-country audience is still Othered but in a more idealistic fashion, I think would be the way to put it? Like, this is still identifying the character as not-like-us but in a more complimentary way. 

(ETA: I’ve seen that complimentary-ish style for westerners, too, when the story is intended for overseas co-broadcast. it’s not that off default but it’s usually the nose and the jawline? and the shoulder width. something like that...)

Of course there’s another layer in here that you can see with Keith pre-timeskip and post-timeskip, which is that larger and more expressive eyes also indicate youth or innocence. As a more mature character, Shiro’s not quite as wide-eyed, literally. But I keep twigging on the way his eyes are drawn, and the way it sort of exaggerates the detail to hint at ethnicity without turning him into an outright caricature.  

…and that’s about all I can remember at this late hour. There was a lot more about how the conventional styles developed for each country and the core influences but my brain is done with wording for the day. I know the guy also did several books on animation and movement, which were really fascinating – but I don’t know if he covered this particular topic. It was more of an extemporaneous end-of-panel discussion prompted by a question. Which is usually when you get the most fascinating answers. And now it’s bugging me that I cannot remember his name… uuuuuuh. Sorry!

[protectmarkjin]

YOUNGJAE BEING GOT7'S BABY EVEN THOUGH HE IS NOT THE BABY EXCEPT HE IS IS LITERALLY MY FAV TOPIC IN THIS ENTIRE WORLD. Like, they are all so soft and affectionate to youngjae and I WILL WRITE MY DISSERTATION ON THIS

SHDKSLGHDKG LITERALLY HE’S NOT THE YOUNGEST BUT HE MIGHT AS WELL BE LIKE HIS PURE SUNSHINE JUST MAKES ALL OF THE BOYS MELT AND WANT TO PROTECT AND LOVE HIM IM LITERALLY COMPILING ALL MY EVIDENCE RIGHT NOW AND IM SRSLY GONNA CRY THEY DOTE ON HIM SO MUCH :((((