From: Carl_Horn@library.tmc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: Barefoot Gen
Date: 28 Jul 92 16:36:00 GMT
To: anime-l@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU




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   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
550 Steven... User unknown

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Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 08:17:00 CST
To: Steven
Subject: Barefoot Gen, a different opinion

And I suppose that, if they were alive today, we wouldn't want to invite
Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, or Cather to a literature convention;
what they had to say about people is already obsolete. Far better to
have one of today's "hot" writers like Ellis or Barker. I don't know
about other Japanese writers, but Keiji Nakazawa wrote about the
suffering caused by the war because that was the most affecting
experience in his life. As Papa said, "A man shouldn't write about what
he dosen't know."

One of the best things that can be said about ROBOTECH, by the way, is
that it encouraged the Gulf War generation to think about the uses and
abuses of military power.

--Carl Horn


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Subj: Barefoot Gen, a different opinion
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Lets face it, the reason why most of us are into comics / anime
is that it is *escapist entertainment*.  Because of this, one of
the last things I'm going to do at a con is wallow in the horror
of Hiroshima.  Now perhaps Nakazawa has done other things besides
Gen, but I'm not aware of them.  More importantly, I don't
like his art style.  Flame me if you want, but that's my opinion.

If the art resembled one of todays "hot" artists like Shirow or
Otomo, perhaps I might have given Gen a second look.  But as an
American, I don't like to dwell on such events.  I don't read
books about the slave trade, or massacre of native Americans
for fun; likewise I prefer to skip the topic of Hiroshima.
I had my share of melted eyeballs and permanent shadows in high
school and college.

I'm sure his work is very emotionally moving.  It is good that
people like him speak out about the horrors of war.  But there
is an implied message here.  Why is it that every Japanese
movie / comic / speech about the war that I am aware of dwells
on Japanese suffering?

There you have it.  This is why I avoided him at the con.  Please
don't invite him back; the money could be spent bringing a guest
that the rest of us fans might appreciate.

-steve
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime