Throughout
this compilation of stories we the readers explore male sexuality, thoughts,
relationships, desires, and struggles.
However, we rarely see the women’s side as the protagonist. Women play a large part in many of these
stories, but are typically objects of lust and desire or antagonists. We simply don’t get to see the insight and
depth to them that is prevalent in the male protagonists. Only one story, Life is so Sad, focuses on a female protagonist. Even though she has her own wants and needs,
her day job is one that involves serving men and making them happy. Also, by the end of her story we find out
that she has been holding herself back because of a man she loved four years
ago. Essentially, she wasn’t able to
move on because of how her life was being controlled, even subconsciously, by a
male presence.
I found this
to be an interesting example of the abundance of well-developed male
protagonists in stories and how the same cannot be said for females. I know there are also cultural factors that
differentiate mangas from American comics, but the same trend of lacking female
protagonists exists.
Based on the lack of [positive] female representation in these comics, I wonder what this means about the intended audience. It was mentioned in class that these were written for readers in Japan and possibly in America. However, the women in these stories are all either objects of fetishes or weak characters that must be saved (as in "Rash"), so maybe these comics were mainly intended for men.
ReplyDeleteI think that the themes of impotence and emasculation that appeared in most of Goodbye can be directly correlated with the lack of female protagonists; the women in these stories serve a simple purpose - they are simply there to show how these men have been emasculated, become submissive. This is the cause of most of their melancholy and sadness. The women that are pictured are mostly prostitutes or objects of desire, very sexualized, but just out of reach. Even though women's views are not explicitly presented to us like the men's views and feelings are, many of the stories depict women in undesirable or helpless positions, implying that Japan's emasculation is the source of their woes as well. The men's emasculation has not benefited women, but left them lost and in unpleasant situations.
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