(Fair warning: This entry mentions a major plot point of Denpa Teki na Kanojo/Electromagnetic Girlfriend.)
The last few days I’ve been playing the catch-up game, because even one week away from the computer means the shows I want to watch start building up. I saved Railgun for last, because it’s never failed to entertain. While that’s still true right now, once again I came away from Railgun a little disturbed.
Let me paint a picture: A boy gets bullied, extorted by thugs in his school on a regular basis. But instead of seeking help, he internalizes his hate, obsesses over power and becomes a mad bomber: a terrorist and would-be cop killer. He’s even willing to target young girls and put children in danger. How wretched—obviously the passive-aggressive little punk deserved to get bullied in the first place. Right?
Or how about this: A girl is raped and beaten by her neighbor, a mentally ill man who believes he is protecting the world from alien imposters. Thinking no one will help her, she decides to follow him on one of his “missions.” She quickly becomes addicted to the thrill of photographing the victims before he kills them, and eventually she becomes her rapist’s controller, encouraging his madness to continue the game. Even without him, the girl discovers a newfound taste for violence and death, inflicted with garrote wires and aluminum baseball bats.
I wish I could say this is a clever “the abused becomes the abuser” meme, but I don’t think it is.
"The moment when one discovers their true nature."
Bullying was a problem for Japanese schools all the way back in the 1980s. Bruce Feiler, the author of Learning to Bow, noticed it when he was teaching during the very first years of the JET Program. I read that book when I was a child, and now here I am to find that 2009 Japan isn’t any different.
Just last month, for example, I listened to an English speech given by a girl who was a victim of bullying. She described being shunned by her classmates, receiving graffiti and death threats in her mailbox, and yet the most shocking part to me was that she blamed herself for not being sensitive enough!
Victimization is treated differently here. There is some value to it– nobody gets completely off the hook just for being a victim. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel like there’s a parade of media (Railgun, Denpa Teki na Kanojo, certain episodes of Shigofumi, almost the entirety of Jigoku Shoujo) that tries to justify violence against others by implying that they brought it on themselves. Victims are rendered weak or evil, and bullying appears to walk a very fine line between catalyst and pre-emptive punishment.
I can’t stand that. But it is what it is.
On the flip side, Denpa Teki na Kanojo has some interesting things to say about voyeurism, exploitation, the nature of madness... It's just the vehicle that's bothersome.
November 29, 2009 at 4:26 pm
A pre-emptive punishment for being weak? Perhaps being bullied in most cases does symbolize the weak, those that have no place in evolution, being rejected by the strong. I believe each person has a growth curve. Those who lag behind shouldn’t be punished this severely for not being able to keep up with their peers – their growth spur will come. Or won’t. But it is certainly not an issue on which others get to hand out justice. Does this make any sense? :p
December 1, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Sure, it makes perfect sense. Nobody’s qualified to say when another person is ready for anything. The problem is just that you shove all these kids into a tiny space, each of them with a different level of growth and maturity, and then you expect them to act like mature adults. It doesn’t work.
Thanks for reading. Cheers.
November 29, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I remember learning about what a problem bullying is in Japan. A lot of the time, the ones being bullied don’t say anything about it, let their negative feelings pile up, and it could often lead to suicide. Rather than confront their oppressors, like you say, many of them feel it’s their fault in some way and suicide is the only escape.
There are bullies in every country, but I wonder why it’s so common in Japan, a nation of polite, unified people. Is it because of the competitiveness in Japanese schools? Or maybe because kids aren’t allowed to act out in public or at home, so they let their anger out at school?
December 1, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Suicide, there’s a tricky subject. Probably something I want to save for another entry altogether. But it’s a good point.
As for why bullying exists in Japanese schools… That last idea seems likely, at least from my perspective. These kids get no freedom, and they pretty much live at school, so of course most of the bad things that happen will happen there.
November 29, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I can’t remember where it was (anime or manga, and which one? memory fails), but I remember my deepest confusion when I have read/heard a bullying victim blame him/herself. Truly, out of all things I can’t understand that no matter what. A couple of my classmates sometimes find it funny to emphasize my poor sportive abilities or my nationality, but I and they understand that it is only fun, and for fun they do it. Sometimes the reason behind bullying might be subjective dislike, but still: I can’t imagine there really exist people who naively believe to be the one at fault in such situations.
(I think the manga may have been Onani Master Kurosawa, although I’m still not sure and it is not really important either)
December 1, 2009 at 9:41 pm
In the case of Onani Master Kurosawa, I understand why it’s there. Kurosawa grows out of his shell and becomes a better person by embracing others. Kitahara cannot, and it poisons her.
You’re right, though. Still quite troubling. I don’t think victims of bullying are perfect innocents, but this can’t be the right way to express that.
November 29, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I thought the girl in Denpateki was the murderer’s brother, but maybe I was wrong. Anyway, I didn’t see that as in any way justifying bullying.
In the case of Railgun — and maybe Denpateki — I can see the point as being a condemnation of bullying, more than any justification: it’s so bad it even perverts the victim, as well as the perpetrators. I imagine many Japanese otaku know something about being bullied.
December 1, 2009 at 9:38 pm
They had a brother-sister relationship, but they weren’t strictly related. Having rewatched Denpa Kanojo for the sake of screenshots, I can tell you that with 100% certainty.
It’s a good point you make. My conclusions were mostly negative, but if anybody would make a deeper message about the viral quality of abuse, I suppose it would be the Japanese. It’s just unclear, and therefore a bit tricky.
Thanks for reading!
November 29, 2009 at 7:51 pm
correction:
x brother
o sister
November 29, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I’m trying to think whether Western media treats bullying in the same sort of way that Japan does. I’m also trying to think back on some of the more horrific acts of violence perpetuated by teenagers in response to bullying and seeing how society reacted towards it.
Yes, an empty comment, but it leaves me something to ponder over.
December 1, 2009 at 9:36 pm
That’s perfectly fine. I’m glad you’re thinking about it. If you come upon any conclusions, feel free to post another comment. I’m interested.
November 30, 2009 at 12:35 am
Hmm, you brought up a valid point here. I watched both the series for entertainment and didn’t once stop to think the impact of such shows. Now that I think about it, it is disturbing =\
But I have long ago learned that Japanese are weird people with weird sense of fetishes and what not. They made pedophile looks OK with the numerous lolicon anime, didn’t they?
December 1, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Excellent– As long as what I say gives people something to think about, I’m happy.
Japan really is weird, sometimes. But that weirdness was created pretty much from the last hundred years of their history, which I think is the most interesting part.
November 30, 2009 at 5:34 am
This issue brings up a lot of societal differences between Japan and the West.
I wonder if the internalizing of bullying stems from the group Japanese societal philosophy? I believe that Asian countries in general, but Japan specifically as well, suppress the individual over the group, and maybe that has to do with the internalizing of bullying. I mean speaking out about it would obviously de-unify the group, similar to what Yumuka stated.
I also wonder how the concept of “face” ties into this. I have an idea of how it works, but would one “lose face” or cause other to “lose face” if they blamed someone else for the bullying?
I think that Japan also tends to shun those who sue others in court, but I’m wondering if that ties into this topic. Blaming someone else for your misfortunes, even if not self-caused, seems to be looked down upon like it’s a sign of weakness or avoiding responsibility. This could lead someone to internalize hate and bitterness until the break point because society only accepts self-blame.
December 1, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Yes, I think “losing face” is exactly the issue. I used to think that it was just a handy stereotype for westerners to differentiate themselves from the Japanese, but it turns out to be true to some degree. On one hand, it means people in Japan can be very sensitive to what’s going on around them, which is great. But on the other hand, it means they’re sometimes willing to shut out that empathy entirely.
November 30, 2009 at 11:45 am
I’m not too sure about all the times in between, but what I learned in Meiji Japan history classes was that bullying was far worse.
Yumeka mention Japan as a nation of polite unified people, but from what I have learned, that is not the case at all. It’s the honne and tatemae thing- everything is *supposed* to be OK, so that’s what is always presented on the outside. I think this is why bullying is so prevalent: Because no matter what happens, everyone is supposed to act like it is all OK, including the victim. All they can do is endure the problem. It is the same kind of attitude that allows for train molestations too. It reminds me of Sai’s story in Hikaru no Go: (jump to 4:40)
It’s the Emperor’s words regarding the incident that sums up the whole issue.
Anyway, in the case of Railgun, our victim-turned-villain gets taught a lesson by our heroes and the feeling is that he may even turn out OK.
Denpateki, on the other hand, was just plain sick.
December 1, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Pre-Meiji bullying was worse? That’s interesting! If you remember any of the books you read for those classes, I’d love to go looking for them. That Hikaru no Go clip is pretty enlightening, too.
Honne and tatemae: Ah, if only I could go through a single class without hearing those two words to explain everything. But it seems very true, from my experience. Image is unbelievably important, even to one’s detriment.
You know you loved the Electromagnetic Girlfriend.
More’s coming soon, I think. Thanks for your thoughts.
November 30, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Wow, good call. Watching Railgun has become such an act of masochism for me that I didn’t pick up on the blame-the-victim theme in this arc, but looking again (you’re the only blogger who could make me rewatch an episode of this show) you’re right. It’s all very Columbine; in fact given later developments about the level-upper they even seem to be blaming some of the anti-social tendencies on the music he was listening to. The whole series (I finally got through Index) is pretty ridiculous, but this might mark a new low point. Cool post.
December 1, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I hadn’t thought about Columbine. It’s kind of sad that that’s become automatic shorthand for school massacres.
But the connection with music is interesting– The Japanese grew up with the Beatles, too, so surely they’re at least somewhat aware of the so-called “Paul is dead” messages. Let alone backwards (and forwards!) Satanic lyrics.
Food for thought. Cheers. Good to see you again!
December 2, 2009 at 6:08 am
I said Meiji, not pre-Meiji. Although I think you were thinking the right thing, even if you wrote the wrong word.
About Meiji (and pre-1945 Showa too, I imagine), it is important to remember that boys were educated to become soldiers. Army drills were even conducted by the students. As for how this ties to bullying, young men endured violent hazings, mostly by their senpais (talk about the senpai-kouhai relationship being important now…) Teachers at the time seemed to have a very laissez-faire attitude towards it, probably because it was viewed as something that builds character.
By the way, I mostly learned about this stuff in a different class than the one you are talking about.
December 7, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Eh, I think the message is more that the abused should stand up for themselves and not become the horrible wrecks they’re portrayed as in Railgun and Denpateki Na Kanojo.
November 1, 2010 at 9:04 am
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