Seeing Characters for What We Want, Instead of Who They Are

 

“After much soul searching in his fortress of Basement Apartment, our defender of characters emerges pouring forth a topic he really wanted to talk about. It may be a while until our hero picks up the quill and parchment again, so enjoy what he has to say now!”

 

Hello fellow explorers,

It’s been a while. I didn’t know if I wanted to keep this blog up or not, but decided to give it another go. I think posting weekly will be a bit too hard to do so instead I am going to just do this when I feel like it as a way to relax. After all, thinking about this stuff is a lot of fun for me.

You know what else is fun? My roommate, Andrew. He has a blog all about manga (Japanese comics) that you can check out by just clicking this sentence! Andrew and I spend a lot of time together as we’re not only roommates but really good friends. We read each others comic books, we talk about a lot of cool (and sometimes rather pointless things) and we also watch anime together.

Here’s a fun fact: the term roommate has in its implication that the two people share a room, but usually for two heterosexual guys in their twenties, this is not the case as both of them would need a lot of privacy for all the sex they are having.

IN FACT, if two guys DID share a bedroom, people would consider them a bit more than friends and instead assume they are gay lovers. Case and point, this recent New Yorker cover portraying quite possibly the most recognizable roommates in western culture, Bert and Ernie, as a couple.

I want to put a joke in here, but I think anything I say will be tasteless and offensive. Sorry.

Unfortunately for the New Yorker, Bert and Ernie are, in fact, NOT GAY (those are two separate links, by the way)! They have never been gay, and hopefully never will be. Do I say that because I despise homosexual people and don’t want to see them on a show I haven’t watched since I was five? Nope. I do not harbor any ill-will to gay people.

“I’m holding out for someone who likes bubble baths and rubber duckies.”

I say that I never want to see them turned into gay characters because it takes away from who they are as characters. That is that they are two people who are very different, but manage to be the best of friends despite their differences. which, if you think about it, is a much stronger message for gay rights than making them into a couple. Because if those two can get along despite their differences, can’t we all do the same?

But this is a weird thing, right? In our culture, if two people are close, they are a couple. This is why when growing up if you’re a guy and you had a female best friend, you might get teased relentlessly for having a girlfriend, or why in high school if you don’t have a girlfriend (and especially if you have female friends) then again, you’re the object of ridicule as that means you’re gay.

But that’s just normal, right? I mean, no matter where you go in the world, if two people are always hanging out with one another, they are totally together even if they are guys. Like for real. There will never be a show anywhere in the world where two guys hang out, basically live together, love each other immensely, and are not homosexu…

I think they’re laughing at how narrow-minded some people are…

This is Gon (on the right) and Killua (on the left). They are the two main characters of the Japanese cartoon, Hunter X Hunter and guess what… there is absolutely no indication within the show that these two are lovers! They love each other, that part is fairly obvious by how they treat one another, but the way they treat one another also suggests that they are NOT a homosexual couple.

Before I continue, here’s a disclaimer. The comic book these two originate from (and as the cartoon follows the comic, the cartoon as well) is not done. It could be that older Gon looks to his white haired friend and professes his undying romantic affection for him. But I doubt it.

The funny thing is, this is NOT the only japanese cartoon that does NOT involve a romantic relationship. In fact, a lot of the Japanese cartoons that I have watched that do include a romantic subplot do not have it as its central theme. Some, like my favorite Japanese cartoon which is called One Piece, only has romance as a comedy bit. The creator has stated in the past that he does not plan for any of the characters to hook up. That’s weird, Japan… where’s your obsession with sex?

Here’s the thing. Japan is NOT as crazed about sex as people may think. According to this study, the average Japanese person will have sex 45 times a year which is a lot less than everyone else around the world. this study talks about Japan’s plummeting birthrate due to all the sex they are not having.

The reason I bring this up is that here, we have a problem with Bert and Ernie not being a couple and the reason (probably) is that our culture views sex as kind of an end point. In romantic comedies, it seems the driving force for the couple is the libido. Teen dramas are all about people hooking up and other things that also happen (but mostly people hooking up). Heck, the Transformer movies seem to be more interested in Sam Witwicky and his quest to get laid than those cars that Transform and protect the earth and stuff. In fact, if you look on the IMDb cast list, you’ll notice that the actual transformers aren’t listed until 73 other characters (one of which is only listed as “Moustache Man”) are shown.

“I know that my ancient civil war against the decepticons is important, but not as important as Sam getting to “park his car” in Mikaela’s “garage”… if you know what I mean ;) … I mean sex.”

“Yes, Optimus, we know. We get it.”

Is there life outside of the bedroom? Can two guys in our culture really just be roommates without people lobbying for their right to be married?

This is a heavy-handed topic that I would normally reserve for my other blog, "Walking in the Garden" but I am using this topic for this blog because I hate what this turns characters into. They are no longer themselves, but a walking pile of hormones looking for their next lay. First off, that says something deeply disturbing about our society. It says that, above all, sex is more important than the people having the sex. Should an action be prized above a person? I don’t think so.

Second off, it will get in the way of the narrative. For whatever reason, Sam’s relationship with Mikaela in the Transformer movies took front seat while the ancient robot civil war was pushed into the trunk. It was there because the name of the movie was “Transformers” and that is not because the plot revolved around it.

So I say no more. No more do I want to watch something that HAS to have a romantic subplot. If it has one, it has one and there is nothing I can do about that, but I want people here to know that it doesn’t need one and we should not be too quick to put romantic labels on something that is clearly not romantic in nature.

If you’re looking for something that doesn’t have a heavy-hand in the bedroom, the Scarlet Spider comic out right now has a romance in it, but it’s secondary to the plot which is more focused on kind of a big brother, younger sister relationship between Kain (the Scarlet Spider) and a girl he rescued in the first comic.

By the way, just like Bert and Ernie share a bedroom that has two beds and are best of friends, Andrew and I ALSO share a bedroom with two beds. Neither of us have sex (with others or each other) so we don’t really need one bedroom each. I suppose when you boil everything down, the REAL reason the whole Bert and Ernie thing irks me is that it takes me friendship with Andrew and puts it in a box that it does not belong in.

- Joy-Rider

“There you have it, fellow explorers! The issues of putting everything into a romantic setting AND no mention of Spider-Man (Scarlet Spider is NOT Spider-Man… he’s Spider-Man’s clone… he doesn’t count!). Who knows the next time Joy-Rider will regail us with a defense of a character. Who knows if it will be related to Tim Sale’s portrayal of Batman villains. I mean, I don’t… I’m just an announcer character made up by Joy-Rider… ANYWAYS! TUNE IN NEXT TIME (whenever THAT is).”