Are there any particular tropes/stereotypes/character traits/plot devices you particularly associate with a certain culture’s material?
1.) The Japanese manga / anime / drama stereotype of “good girls” being quiet, shy and fragile, while “funny girls” are loud, brash and open, with the “funny girl” not often being a serious love interest unless it’s a comedic manga / anime / drama. (And even then, there often seem to be scenes showing her being quite shy and withdrawn around her love interest.)
2.) The American (i.e. United States) stereotype of a hero / expert being exceptionally good at his/her chosen field. This is especially noticeable when compared with a lot of European books / TV shows: A lot of the detectives in British or Skandinavian books / TV shows are good, but not really exceptional at their job (unless they’re James Bond or possible The Doctor, though he seems really bad at doing some of his people’s stuff too, like repairing the TARDIS…), while a lot of the detectives in American books are often explicitely shown/described as The Expert or exceptionally brilliant in their field. (Like the books and the TV series about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, for example, or the books by Dan Brown.)
Fandom Questions:
At a guess, are the majority of the people you regularly fan with your nationality?
No, not since I made the progression from the (smaller) German-language forums to the English-language forums. There’re quite a few other Germans around in the J-Pop, anime/manga and TV shows fandoms, but the majority are either Asian (in the J-pop fandoms), American (in the TV shows fandoms), or both.
Do you think this changes depending on what fandom you’re in?
This really, really depends, I think. I would generally say yes, simply because of exposure of the source materials – J-pop is far more known in other Asian countries than in Europe or the United States, which of course means that the majority of people come from the countries (or cultures) with more exposure. Since these fans are not Japanese, however, they’re more likely to organize themselves in an “international” fandom, resulting in an international, English-speaking fandom which has majority of people from Asian countries. And if it’s a fandom that is organized not in English, but in the language the original material is in (like German-language bands, for example), chances are high that the majority of people there are also native speakers. On the other hand, though, there are certain fandoms, like “Top Gear”, “Gorillaz” and (the new) “Doctor Who”, in which there seem to be a lot more people (in the organized online fandom) from other countries (especially the United States) than people from the country that the original materials comes from. It might have something to do with the source material’s original language… but I’m not sure about that.
If you go to live fan events/conventions/meet-ups, have you attended different fan events for media of different cultures? (E.g. have you gone to both conventions for an English-language series (such as Supernatural) and anime conventions?)If so, have you noticed any differences between such conventions?
No, sorry, I’ve never really been to a convention.
Have you ever attended fan events/conventions/meet-ups in more than one country? If so, did you notice any differences?
Again, I’ve never done that.
EDIT: Sorry, accidentally copied some stuff twice! ^^"
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Part 3
Date: 2010-07-12 02:57 pm (UTC)1.) The Japanese manga / anime / drama stereotype of “good girls” being quiet, shy and fragile, while “funny girls” are loud, brash and open, with the “funny girl” not often being a serious love interest unless it’s a comedic manga / anime / drama. (And even then, there often seem to be scenes showing her being quite shy and withdrawn around her love interest.)
2.) The American (i.e. United States) stereotype of a hero / expert being exceptionally good at his/her chosen field. This is especially noticeable when compared with a lot of European books / TV shows: A lot of the detectives in British or Skandinavian books / TV shows are good, but not really exceptional at their job (unless they’re James Bond or possible The Doctor, though he seems really bad at doing some of his people’s stuff too, like repairing the TARDIS…), while a lot of the detectives in American books are often explicitely shown/described as The Expert or exceptionally brilliant in their field. (Like the books and the TV series about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, for example, or the books by Dan Brown.)
Fandom Questions:
At a guess, are the majority of the people you regularly fan with your nationality?
No, not since I made the progression from the (smaller) German-language forums to the English-language forums. There’re quite a few other Germans around in the J-Pop, anime/manga and TV shows fandoms, but the majority are either Asian (in the J-pop fandoms), American (in the TV shows fandoms), or both.
Do you think this changes depending on what fandom you’re in?
This really, really depends, I think. I would generally say yes, simply because of exposure of the source materials – J-pop is far more known in other Asian countries than in Europe or the United States, which of course means that the majority of people come from the countries (or cultures) with more exposure. Since these fans are not Japanese, however, they’re more likely to organize themselves in an “international” fandom, resulting in an international, English-speaking fandom which has majority of people from Asian countries. And if it’s a fandom that is organized not in English, but in the language the original material is in (like German-language bands, for example), chances are high that the majority of people there are also native speakers.
On the other hand, though, there are certain fandoms, like “Top Gear”, “Gorillaz” and (the new) “Doctor Who”, in which there seem to be a lot more people (in the organized online fandom) from other countries (especially the United States) than people from the country that the original materials comes from. It might have something to do with the source material’s original language… but I’m not sure about that.
If you go to live fan events/conventions/meet-ups, have you attended different fan events for media of different cultures? (E.g. have you gone to both conventions for an English-language series (such as Supernatural) and anime conventions?)If so, have you noticed any differences between such conventions?
No, sorry, I’ve never really been to a convention.
Have you ever attended fan events/conventions/meet-ups in more than one country? If so, did you notice any differences?
Again, I’ve never done that.
EDIT: Sorry, accidentally copied some stuff twice! ^^"