1/Alright, you (might not have) asked for it: A thread on why anime is neoliberal.
2/Many have expressed skepticism of this idea, since many alt-right trolls use anime avatars - or at least used to.
But this is purely posturing. Rightists use the avatars ironically. Meanwhile, the anime industry in Japan has traditionally attracted more leftists.
3/But this is beside the point. Anime itself, as an institution, is clearly neoliberal.
The first (and simplest) reason is that anime is a global industry, bringing people together through shared enjoyment of products they consume.
4/The industry has also helped Japan diversify into services, and boosted its exports - both monetary and cultural. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
5/Anime often depicts explicitly globalist themes - characters with names and appearances implying that they're from all over the world, themes of international cooperation and peace, etc.
6/The most neoliberal anime is probably Cowboy Bebop, which depicts a hardy band of entrepreneurs trying to make it in a fully globalized, capitalist future.
7/But the ultimate reason that anime is neoliberal, as I see it, is something more subtle.
Anime depicts thriving technological civilizations that are *explicitly nonwhite*, and not associated with the colonial legacy of Old Europe.
8/Perhaps the central idea of neoliberalism - at least the left-leaning 1990s version rather than the reactionary-libertarian 1980s version - is that global trade and a mixed economy can make the developing world rich.
bradford-delong.com/2018/12/delong…
9/Since decolonization in the mid-20th century, we've seen a remarkable flowering of industry, technology, and mixed-economy prosperity, especially in Asia but also increasingly in Africa.
That, in my opinion, is the good kind of neoliberalism.
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
10/As a side note, If I were waxing philosophical, I'd point out that Japan was the first country to explode the idea that European countries were the world's natural masters, when they won the Russo-Japanese War...but perhaps that takes us too far afield.
history.com/topics/korea/r…
11/In any case, to bring us back to the point, anime is a force that brings together people from every background, and every country, to celebrate fun stuff that they like.
Which is, ultimately, the whole point of globalism.
12/The world neoliberalism has created has a great many problems, and we need to fix those problems. The solutions won't always be neoliberal ones, either.
But in the meantime, enjoy some anime.
(end)
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