The ot topics in the Boondocks thread brought up an interesting point and I figured it deserved its own thread. How do you define anime?
Personally I like to take the words literal translation. It makes no sense to me to make a sentence in one language and then throw in a single foreign word for which there is a word in the original language. To me anime is animation. Although I will admit the word first brings Japanese animation to my mind.
Alrighty then, anime, discuss
It's pretty obvious what I think since I am the creator of the Boondocks thread. But no matter what I still think you should be allowed to post things that were not created in japan and have japanese creators.
Well, largely through cultural association, people usually identify anime as japanese animation exclusively. Wikipedia's article on anime is pretty concise - it depends on whether one is using the word in Japan vs. North America. Because anime is usually identified with japanese animation, stereotypical characteristics of it usually comes to mind (not me personally, but say, the average North American who neither watches a lot or have seen none) - i.e., larger than normal eyes, distinct hairstyles, disproportionate body shapes (everyone is really tall, thin and have longer legs than the length of their torso), etc. It doesn't really matter though who identifies what word with which cultural association, but for now, it's just easier to call japanese animation anime and other animation...animation.
Really though it's all the same stuff. It doesn't matter where a cartoon is made it is a cartoon no matter what.
I'm not saying that a cartoon isn't a cartoon but as with literature and music, everything has different genres. For example, pop and rock aren't exactly the same and science fiction and just fiction aren't exactly the same. The issue with anime is WORD USAGE, not what it applies to. It's the way the word is used and how perspectives of word use is different in Japan versus North America. For example, punk is viewed by some as a lifestyle that includes the music but for some, it's just the period between the 70s and maybe early 80s while for some, it's certain bands ONLY that mean punk.
That's the point I was trying to make when I asked whether The Boondocks was anime. I read a newspaper review of the series that called it "anime influenced". It was pretty clear from the review that what was meant was anime as an art style. On the other hand, I saw a review of Last Airbender which called it "American Anime". In this case I think they were referring to the types of characters and situations.
I know that anime is not all the same, any more than science fiction is all the same, but with any genre you can identify (with some debate) typical kinds of plots, characters, etc. I think you can define "anime" as both an art style and a writing style. By such a definition, you could have "American anime", but it wouldn't apply to all animation.
Yes, logical statements. Some animation can be anime, but not all animation is anime irrelevant of what country they're from (with factors dependent on current cultural assocation and word usage).
I still think that anime should refer to all forms of animation as a definition. I mean it's basically just taking the root word anima(life) from animimation(the giving of life) and replacing the a with an e. so it basically has the same definition. Anyway it doesn't really matter to me what others think the definition of anime is as long as it doesn't limit my ability to talk about anime I like.
Well, I guess people might get confused and think you're only referring to just japanese animation. You're right though, it doesn't matter as long as you are making yourself understand of what context you use a word. It's just "easier" to go by what most people understand, but that's not always the most suitable or "correct".
My definition of anime is Japanese cartoons. Whether the cartoon has an cartoon made in Japanese style is made in American style (like Kawaii! Jenny or whatever that crap) or not doesn't matter. I still think of it as cartoons made in Japan and so do most of the people I know. Except for my ASB director who thinks Looney Tunes and Mickey Mouse qualifies as anime
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