If it's okay there, how should we take it here?

[Morrison_Lad]

I always thought it was weird that British people are usually villains or crazy eccentrics on US shows and generally speak in a very upper class accent and they all went to Oxford or Cambridge. Very few US shows have British people with distinct UK regional accents (apart from Scots, who usually end up speaking in an outrageously heavy Scottish accent but speak about half the speed an actual Scot would) and you would think there were no working class or lower middle class people in the UK as US shows portray everyone to be Sir Humphrey Littlebourne-Smythe or Lady Penelope Wimbleberry-Tootingham. There are few John Smiths on US TV.

That's because we can't understand people from Manchester.

[Hugin]

I always thought it was weird that British people are usually villains or crazy eccentrics on US shows and generally speak in a very upper class accent and they all went to Oxford or Cambridge. Very few US shows have British people with distinct UK regional accents (apart from Scots, who usually end up speaking in an outrageously heavy Scottish accent but speak about half the speed an actual Scot would) and you would think there were no working class or lower middle class people in the UK as US shows portray everyone to be Sir Humphrey Littlebourne-Smythe or Lady Penelope Wimbleberry-Tootingham. There are few John Smiths on US TV.

For the same reason 90% of the american characters sound like they come from the midwest. TV execs think that's the most 'normal' sounding voice. I have no justification for the overabundence of nobility, though, that's just execs being stupid.

And Karen, I'm sure we've discussed it before, but the problem is there's no way to get rid of the guns. Grandfather rules prevent outlawing guns people already own, and even if you could make them illegal, criminals wouldn't give up their guns. The only thing worse than everyone having a gun is criminals being the only ones who have guns.

Back on the original topic, I honestly don't care what the cultural standards are elsewhere. If I think something is morally wrong, I'm not going to enjoy it.

[Aiguille]

JBK405, I've always considered cultural relativism as a mechanism for placing cultural mores within their own context in order to effectively analyze said culture in anthropological and sociological terms. Cultural relativism is meant to function as a means to an end, a method by which we understand a culture, not a carte blanche to ignore or condone the dysfunctions within one. In fact, ethnographic studies often articulate and diagnose entrenched cultural dysfunction by using cultural relativism as a means to explain it, and to offer prescriptions and strategies for enacting social change without alienating the host culture. As for taking Battle Athletes to represent Japanese opinions on pedophelia and ephebophilia as a whole, I'd like to point out Paranoia Agent as an anime that, beneath its paranormal genre conventions, is a thinly-disguised and absolutely withering critique of Japanese social problems, the simultaneous and contradictory juvenilization, sexualization and fetishization of girls among them.

[Morrison_Lad]

Hmm. I just had a thought, and I have absolutely no way of analyzing it, due to lack of information.

Is pedophilia in Japan as much of a problem as it is here in the US? I was just wondering if it's possible that the fact that it can be treated as a joke makes it less of an actual problem?

Note, I'm not saying that these portrayals are good. Not at all. It was just an off-hand thought. But like I said, I don't have any data.

[JBK405]

Unfortunately, no, the (known) cases of pedophilia are actually higher. One of the reasons is that, since there's less demonization, there's much less effort put into making sure that nobody ever discovers your hidden little secret, and people can be (relatively) more open about it.

[Karen El]

Ah, the good old British Villain (Noble title optional). That's a classic and we get as much mileage out of that one as we can.

Karen, I didn't get the impression that Tanya was supposed to be Brazilian (Or "foreign"), but if that's what they were going for then yeah, it's skirting some troubling territory. I actually wondered at why they had her act as she did (It's like they wanted a catgirl in the series, but didn't have the courage to actually make her a catgirl), I thought it was just a quirky character tic, but if they were going for "These people are animalistic" then...well, then this thread has two unfortunate issues to discuss. However, like I said, I (personally) didn't get that impression.

I think her background is given more depth in BAV. And it doesn't really matter if it's a character tic or if she's meant to be representative when she's the only person you ever see with her background. You get a similar thing with old movies where the villain is oriental. And the worst way to address that issue, and the one seen so often, is to make the character white, like everyone else, when what would be so much better would be to include more people of that background, so that they aren't representative.

I particularly hate the remakes of Flash Gordon that make Emperor Ming bland. But then I could never see Ming as problematic anyway (except where he was being played by a white guy pretending to be oriental) - to me, Ming was awesome. But that maybe says something about me...

[Thequeerjock]

White people finding stuff like that "cool" is nothing new. There's some great writings I've read about the phenomena around whites absolutely eating up stuff like Supa Fly and other Blaxploitation stuff while actual minorities were off face-palming to the side. Much as I love him, I'd say the works of Quentin Tarantino are rife with examples of this.

[Karen El]

And Karen, I'm sure we've discussed it before, but the problem is there's no way to get rid of the guns. Grandfather rules prevent outlawing guns people already own, and even if you could make them illegal, criminals wouldn't give up their guns. The only thing worse than everyone having a gun is criminals being the only ones who have guns.

Except it's just not true. Guns were legal to own in the UK until quite recently, and then after a school shooting the overreaction of public opinion was levered into outlawing private gun ownership overnight. Anarchy did not ensue. Been there, done that. You are provably wrong.

The reason it won't happen in the USA is because the NRA has a ridiculous amount of political clout, and greedy politicians would rather take their money than fix the country.

[Morrison_Lad]

Unfortunately, no, the (known) cases of pedophilia are actually higher. One of the reasons is that, since there's less demonization, there's much less effort put into making sure that nobody ever discovers your hidden little secret, and people can be (relatively) more open about it.

OK, that settles that. Thanks.

[Karen El]

White people finding stuff like that "cool" is nothing new. There's some great writings I've read about the phenomena around whites absolutely eating up stuff like Supa Fly and other Blaxploitation stuff while actual minorities were off face-palming to the side. Much as I love him, I'd say the works of Quentin Tarantino are rife with examples of this.

Okay then, how do you fix it without whitewashing the cast (the standard way of dealing with it), or increasing the diversity (my best idea)?