David

Proposal (Nov. 18): From One Political World to Another

 Posted by on Fri, 11/18 at 3:09am  proposal  No Responses »
Nov 182016
 

From One Political World to Another:
How One Piece Sub-Culture Can Prompt Mainstream Political Engagement Online

With fantasy and fiction being sometimes conceived of in the popular mind as being disinterested in or irrelevant to the larger affairs of formal politics, it seems there is room for a work of such a nature to break the grounds (or rather build bridges) between these entities. Enter the Japanese manga and anime series One Piece, which is created by Eiichiro Oda and has run for almost 20 years now (the anime started July 19, 1997). The series, although fictional, contains various parallels and allusion (sometimes even direct references) to real world, formal political entities and historical events. The line of research I’ve focused on has concentrated on evaluations of the leadership of Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece‘s main protagonist) done by vloggers, bloggers, and other commentators online. Considering both the amount and depth of the discussions had by these groups on one political topic (leadership) and the politic-heavy nature of One Piece, their platform (online) and compatibility could facilitate local, national, and transnational discourse of political nature.

For fans of the series who enjoy it as it is, this is not to say that fictional elements of the communicative culture already created by One Piece should have elements taken from it or diminished, but rather that further non-fictional elements can be added to these already existing dialogues, in addition to the non-fictional political elements that are already existing in OP (One Piece).

For example, in the One Piece world, there is a group of characters called the tenryuubito, otherwise known as “World Nobles”, who, because of their dynastic history of amassed political gain and wealth, control some of the most powerful organizations in the world, including the world’s foremost and widespread military/law enforcement organization, the Navy, that often punishes criminals unjustly, but allows the tenryuubito immunity from the law and subsequent punishments that follow breaking it. This alone could invite One Piece fans and enthusiasts, who, as part of a subculture that can be seen as disengaged with mainstream political discourse, to consider the nature of actual injustice and privilege in the real world that parallels those found in the world of One Piece; and that’s just for starters.

These new conversations, because of their online occurrence, could transcend national borders and biases, leading to various groups of people being better educated and informed, which—as has been argued in many democratic societies and in the ever-growing globalized world—is part of being an exemplary citizen of their country, nation, and/or world. Thus, taken all together, contributions can be made from one world (One Piece) to another (the real world), by another (the Internet).

READING: Frederick Douglass’ Rise to Leadership(Nov. 13)

 Posted by on Sun, 11/13 at 8:18pm  reading  No Responses »
Nov 132016
 

For citation purposes, the book I’m citing for this post is: The Norton Anthology of American Literature by Nina Baym (editor), Package 1/Vol B (1820-1865), 8th ed, New York: W. W. Norton, 2012, page 1184.

The man much credited with aiding towards the liberation of Black slaves in America, Frederick Douglas, holds my attention this time. In a post much earlier (I think it was my 3rd or 4th), I was moving to talk about our so called Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and what they might’ve brought to the table for America to shape an image of. Both of these men were industrious and highly creative, strong characteristics of the ideas surrounding what some might now say call “leadership”, but I’d like to regard Mr. Douglas for his also extraordinary feats. How a man went from being a slave to buying his freedom to later in his age holding a position in a public office is no thing to shrug at. I recall in a lecture for the class I’m also reading his story for (Early American Lit.), our Professor told us about a person who said Mr. Douglas was caught in quite an interesting dilemma throughout the times of his rise and much throughout his work to help abolish slavery. His theory more or less stated that Douglas’ dilemma was, having acquired the language of the oppressor (teaching slaves to read was against the law in this times) and gradually garnered influence in his space, balancing his person as not being so close to white people of his time that he became alienated from the culture of his enslaved people, and not being so caught in between his people that he alienated whites whom he would have to mingle with to get around to do what he wanted (freedom for black slaves). In no way to do I mean to diminish thought of the myriad of questions that could arise upon hearing such conditions, but for the purposes of my post for my class, I wonder how these kinds of situations affected his leadership and his views of leadership? Race is perhaps a topic separate to that of Monkey D. Luffy’s leadership, she freedom and oppression is not.

“I have had two masters.” These are Frederick Douglass’ words. “Being the Pirate King means being the Freest Man in the World.” Monkey D. Luffy’s words (I will find the link to the video which contains Luffy saying this and post it here later). I do wonder, how having a master could, in turn, make you a master (of sorts)? Would it make you most like a “mister” or would it make you more like a monster? I don’t recall the exact page, but I do recall that somewhere Douglass mentioned that if there’s a reason his slave brothers grow up and appear to not be thoughtful or are harmful towards each other (or something along these words), it is because the environment has created these dispositions for them, and not because they always were like this because of their race. I should find a particular example, but there are many instances when enemies (or even friends) of Luffy infringed on his freedom to do what he’d like, and he goes berserk. In time, with reading and research, I hope I will be able to produce thoughts of more substance for my paper given this lead that I’ve got now. But again, what sticks out to me, is the question of oppression on leadershipliness…

…

..

Thank you!

IDEAS: Post-CA Reflection (Nov. 13)

 Posted by on Sun, 11/13 at 8:03pm  ideas  No Responses »
Nov 132016
 

This post will be just a bit more paper-centered than the last posts, ergo the post’s title.

Basically, the layout of this first draft I turned in was

  1. Introduce mugiwara (a.k.a MG [my personal referential term] or Luffy’s Straw Hat)
  2. Discuss MG ontology as created by culture
  3. Discuss MG ontology as creates culture
  4. Connection betwen points 3 & 4; Closure

While I felt very happy at the delivery and formation of my sentences, specially around the middle of the paper, I felt I needed to garner more insightful ideas. My ideas weren’t superficial, but I  think they could’ve connected much farther.

I just watched a little bit of a video discussing the famous French novelist Marcel Proust and his life’s work (Sources at the bottom of post). I liked his ideas of being able to do with writing what his father (a great physician and scientist who helped create a cure for many ills of those times) with medicine. I’m still trying to figure out where to go with my writing, but that is a nice goal to have. With my essay, I know I’d like to have taken my ideas farther by connection more with Japan’s history, and the history of manga in general, consumer culture for manga-inspired items, and also working on my abilities to analogize to create not fluff, but a kind of “ahh” moment for my readers. Ideology isn’t alway easy to get across. Oh, and technology!

I know I could discuss further how big industry has made great efforts to prevail and has much risen in Japan, so much so that it’s reconstructing manners of living for many citizens. I think One Piece may have some criticisms (actually, it probably has many criticisms) of modern Japanese culture, and that this may somehow be related back to the straw hat.

Also, there is the idea of inheritance. Luffy gets the hat from Shanks, Shanks from Gol D. Roger. Why inheritance? It seems that physical items are overwhelmingly part of the arsenal for many action-hero like characters (for most super heroes, we can consider these to be their costumes or their alter ego outfits). The item here doesn’t change much though; but the USER does. This suggests something is stable. Even amongst the instability of the world of One Piece (and, possibly by extension, the real world), something stays at the center, and, moreover, if we were to remove this, total imbalance might be inevitable. The hat does have spherical features, the sphere somewhere in time suggesting perfection, harmony, “full circle”.

 

These are two points I’d like to more go into for my Cultural Artifact essay, though I still have to tackle the piece about consumer culture of MG merch, and the related ideas there (something like Professor Mason’s work on Thomas Kinkade); at this point though, I’m dry. I’ll have to return or write up a new post once I have something really profound…

 

Anyhow, thanks!

 

Video on Marcel Proust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mLdo4uMJUU

Idea: Leadership “Acts” (Nov. 6)

 Posted by on Sun, 11/6 at 11:53pm  ideas  No Responses »
Nov 062016
 

The Summer of 2013, I was an Orientation and Welcome Leader at FAU. What this basically means is that when Freshmen students (and sometimes Transfer students) came into FAU for Orientation, I was part of the welcoming wagon for the University (more specifically, I was like their student liaison for the two days). The highlights of being an Orientation Leader, or at least one of the most significant highlights was holding “Parliament” meetings/groups (parliament is what some have called a group of Owls, and since students at FAU are “Owls”…. you get it). In these parliament meetings, the Orientation Leader (each parliament had only either one or two) had a group of roughly 12-27 students, and Orientation Leaders had various parliament groups throughout the Summer. I can’t decide if I was, but I feel like some of the things I did back in those times weren’t really me (although I had a great time). Perhaps it has to do with the type of thinking and behavior I employ nowadays (much more serious and more judicious), but I wonder how much of that stuff was an “act”? Like, I acted leaderly because I was in a position that required it.

I know some of my colleagues had great issues “controlling” their parliament groups, but it never felt like I had to control anything. It’s likely that by then they were already socialized into conforming and going along with a moderately benign authority figure. I personally have never liked being a figure of authority intentionally, though I see reason to enact in such a way more so nowadays; I have found myself enacting as such in my take/study to be a teacher. When I teach nowadays, it could be said I put further effort into an “act” than I did when I was an Orientation Leader. I am considerate, but assertive; opinionated, but to draw out thought (from my students).. This act is strange, because I know it is contrived, but I mean with all intention to do it. I wonder, how often is leadership contrived, and is that a good thing? I recall in my past, people who were in leadership positions, but their leadership style seemed so unnatural, even if contrived (which I couldn’t tell most times: they were good at keeping this unapparent). They clarified certain things that seemed to need no clarification for the group; they reviewed all necessary duties at the end for the group; and they had what seemed to be a contrived but somehow genuine smile about all that they did — and it’s bothersome. Strangely, I do this all nowadays as a teacher, but I don’t want to appear as if I’m contriving, which I am. If I am, and others know it, would that change their perception of me? If I wasn’t, like Luffy, but thought that I was or should have, would that change their perception of me? I wonder how much of leadership is “other”-based, “other”-created, and how much is self-asserted, self-originated….

Reading: Utility of Leadership? (Nov. 6)

 Posted by on Sun, 11/6 at 11:12pm  reading  No Responses »
Nov 062016
 

What is the utility of leadership? If leadership is just “practical”, is all encompassing it (including followership) just an act? Just a theatrical?

These are the kinds of questions that came to my mind upon digging up more information to strengthen my understanding of leadership in One Piece (more specifically as exemplified by Luffy, crew captain). In an argumentative discussion on what it means to be first mate (second in command) in the Straw Hat pirates, here’s a very abrupt and unforeseen quote that sent the argument on a subtle tangent: ” … leadership doesn’t mean anything with the Straw Hats. Every single member has given out orders at least once.” This quote calls into question the applicability of “leadership”; its functions as used. Who gets to “use” it? When? How? Where? Why?

My original research today was about Zoro and his viability as a leader. Roronoa Zoro is arguably the unofficial “second in command” in the Straw Hat crew. Many a times in the show, he’s bumped heads with Luffy (once even fought with Luffy); many times in the show, he’s heavily advised Luffy. As a leader though, a few commentators from the sources I’ve cited agree that Zoro is too serious of a leader. It might be safe to say that if Zoro was the 1st in command, he might be a tyrant. We see a kind of leadership like this with Blackbeard and his crew. However, disregarding Zoro’s strong affinity for booze, he has a very disciplined side, one very compatible with Bushido (Japanese for “way of the warrior”). This warrior’s discipline gives him a kind of “paradigm” from which he works as a leader from. Now, because all of the One Piece crew members, who are as diverse as they come and might even represent a “globalized” group, are so variable in character, it would be hard for Zoro to apply this paradigm towards the crew. The individual members of the crew overwhelmingly like their ability to each get into their own respective hobbies and interests. Such leadership “styles”, from Luffy’s laid-back applications to Zoro’s quasi-militantry, show the various possibilities for  “forms” of leadership.  The interesting type here is Nami’s “leadership”. Nami is the ship’s cartographer and navigator, but she is the most mood-swingy crew member (maybe even One Piece character). She diffuses many arguments between the Straw Hats when in conflict, but we see less of her politics when the crew is calm. Altogether, I think we can see that this idea of “leadership” is very shifty, as least as it presents itself in One Piece, and so much more so suggest that situations craft leaders, though leaders can “craft” situations. These should be places for analysis and incorporation in my next essay; much more so than just the voice of commentators.

 

Source 1: http://www.onepiecegold.com/zoro-will-leave-the-straw-hat-crew/2/

Source 2: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=80809

Reading: On the Following of One Piece Itself (Oct. 30th)

 Posted by on Sun, 10/30 at 11:16pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 302016
 

Why do others follow us?

I’m not talking about children, here. I mean, given a person who has their own interests, separate from your own, why would they go along with what you may want them to do. I read a short piece by someone considering just that (I’ll leave the link at the bottom). It lead me to another question. How does One Piece inspire fans to either want to lead or follow someone? I’ve noticed this is particular to the series, considering how many people are fans of Luffy and (from what I’ve read) are almost leader-like in presenting their views to others of us on the internet, trying to get us on board with whatever their arguments/rhetoric may be. Many gladly follow along with the idea of wanting to be in a crew like the Straw Hat Pirates (see comments on various One Piece videos where the crew kicks ass/bonds). How is “One Piece” itself leader-like, and I wonder how this transfer back to its poster child, Luffy? (Although, most highlights of Luffy shouldn’t omitt the importance of his crew neither). Perhaps it is the fact that Luffy and his crew are almost inseparable as the story unfolds. Perhaps it is this very social “net” of sorts, one that captures the importance of all as opposed to one or a few, that makes viewers seemingly feel welcome or even “melted” into the category of those who are important in the story. It blends all our stories together.

Many would say the next contender for best manga to compete with One Piece is Naruto. I know very little about the show, but it seems to circle around the idea that Naruto is a boy who wants to be the recognized as the top dog in his hometown and has a few friends to go out and help him and help each other. This sounds very much like One Piece. Now, I know there are differing points between the two mangas, but I question if it is this very central component of both mangas that have made them stand out from every other manga. Ironically, Naruto and One Piece, if we consider them to, like I mentioned, consume everyONE into JUST ONE, then whatever competition is behind them could also be said to be subsumed in their stories. One way or another, it seems like these types of stories are just the kind of stories to subsume everyone else’s stories (with the exception of long-time loners or isolationists).

One Piece, not just Luffy, the leader ; us all, not just SH Pirates, the crew. What good could come from this idea? I think I’ll have to mine it for more.

 

Source: https://connerspradlin.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/leadership-lesson-in-one-piece/

Artif. Reseaux et Relationships (replacing Ideas): Luffy’s Straw Hat (Oct. 30th)

 Posted by on Sun, 10/30 at 9:59pm  artifact networks & relationships, ideas  No Responses »
Oct 302016
 

Classify your artifact. Classifications are helpful to understanding your artifact. Once you’ve placed your particular artifact in a larger group, you can make connections between your artifact and the general characteristics associated with that group. In addition, sometimes describing your artifact from within a larger, more generalized framework makes it easier to identify important features. Usually, an artifact can classified in various ways and placed in a number of groups.

1. How do you classify your artifact? In what groups can you place your artifact? What connections can you make to other artifacts in the group?

MY ARTIFACT, LUFFY’S STRAWHAT, I CLASSIFY AS THE FOLLOWING:

  • PHYSICAL
  • APPAREL
  • LEISURELY
  • NOSTALGIC/MEMENTO-IC
  • HERALDING
  • DEMOCRATIC
  • SYMBOLIC

Compare and contrast the artifact. Comparing your artifact to others allows you to generate new ideas about your artifact.

LUFFY’S STRAWHAT VS. MARINE CAPS WITH MARINE LOGO

  • PHYSICAL / PHYSICAL
  • APPAREL / APPAREL
  • LEISURELY / LABORistic (to wearers? [Luffy, Marines])
  • MEMENTOic / MEMEMTOic
  • HERALDING / HERALDING
  • DEMOCRATIC / SOCIALISTIC (NOT INDIVIDUALISTIC VS. SOCIALISTIC)
    • LIBERTY VS. SECURITY
  • SYMBOLIC / SYMBOLIC
  • Exclusive / Exclusive

LUFFY’S STRAWHAT VS. WELL-GROOMED (Hipster?) MUSTACHE

  • One-Wearer / Many-Wearers
  • For Body / FROM Body
  • Easy-going / Polished
  • Inclusive / Exclusive

2. Identify points of similarity between your artifact and others. Then identify points of difference with other artifacts. How is it similar? How is it different?

Points of similarity: 1) Outward Presentation of Inward Representation, 2) Numerology (with regards to person(s)), 3) Group Identity.

Point of difference: 1) Extrinsic Purpose, 2) History, 3) Ontological Obtainment Method

Create an analogy or metaphor for your artifact. Analogies and metaphors are ways of making connections between your artifact and other artifacts (anything goes… items of clothing, locations, holidays, texts, products, etc.). Be creative here… try to make (il)logical leaps.

3. What metaphors or analogies suit your artifact? (Explain if needed)

Symbolic as a Clock: working towards a certain time to come (when Pirates clash versus the other major world leaders, the World-Government and Marines).

Ontologically as an Identity “Wall”: some can be included within what it represents, some can not.

Deceitful as a Small, Physical Object: because they signify large forces at work in the world.

In a synthesis: Luffy’s Straw Hat could represent a Small, Physical Clock that acts as an Identity Wall !!

 

Examine cultural narratives. Cultural narratives are common storylines used throughout culture, telling how things typically happen. Once you identify cultural narratives that apply to your artifact, you can examine them for assumptions and stereotypes. For example, stereotypes (or rigid, generalized ideas about the character and behavior of people with certain identities) are a kind of assumption (or set of assumptions). As with cultural narratives, you may think you are not affected by these assumptions and stereotypes. However, their pervasive presence in the culture means that everyone is affected by them. Naming these assumptions stereotypes can aid you when describing the impact of culture and values on your particular artifact (or your artifact’s impact on culture and values).

The assumptions operating in cultural narratives found in movie plots and song lyrics also get played out in social practices and social institutions. Social practices are shared, habitual ways of doing things. A variety of guidelines exist for the social practice of dating, for instance: who will initiate the date, who will decide where to go, who will pay. Social institutions are larger, more formalized organization the direct our shared social structures. Questions to explore (pick and choose): I’ll take a brief shot at all of them for brainstorming and save what I can for later!

4. How is your artifact characterized? (How do people/media/groups characterize it?)

Extrinsically/Superficially, it seems to represent leisure and idleness. That is, the straw hat represents those who lay back on the beach, sipping on a margarita in the sand, or at least that’s the cultural narrative I think of when considering straw hats. There is the opposite end of the spectrum, those rice paddy hats, or, as ripped from Wikipedia “Asian conical hat”. This one tends to be associated with hard, back breaking work all day under the sun in wet, sticky, humid, marshes and rice paddies. There is a red stripe across it, and it makes me think of the cultural association of good luck in China; in Japan it is considered the color of the sun (powerful). The hat almost always stays with Luffy, whether on his head or strapped along his neck, hanging down his back, so it is something that is indicative of his personality, kind of like some tattoos are meant to be for their wearers, or at least that might be a cultural narrative associated with things “very close to you”.

For many of the individuals I’ve heard and groups I can think of, the straw hat is very much limited to the aforementioned, though I will be on the lookout for divergent views.

5. What cultural narratives govern your artifact?

More or less the same answers as above. It can also be said that because a hat is worn on the head, a place of significance and identification for many, it is increasing more important than, say, Luffy’s sandals (but this is an assumption!).

6. What assumptions, stereotypes, habits, social practices, and institutions frame your artifact?

I like this questions; for some reason it gave a  twist to my mind (like you would a lemon to get more juice from it). The institution of entertainment, more specifically, one in the manga creation series. Certainly the creators gave much thought not only to what their straw hat was going to be/mean before it existed, but they probably looked around at the other manga to see what related artifacts they brought to the arena and why.

As for social practices: reading, commentating online, and video commentating online! Exchange of words, but also, when the events come around, cosplay! The habits are very similar I would say, only that cosplay opportunities aren’t often taken seriously until a big comic convention comes around, but when it does and you have peers to come with you, usually it is a habit that everyone in your group is an individual member of the pirate crew, and wear your respective symbols (ohh! This is good, I should compare each individual members’ symbols and their relationship to being all brought under the “Straw Hat” pirate crew name).

Stereotypes of Straw Hat? Most people believe, as a sign that Luffy will become the King of the Pirates, that it is a kind of “Supremacy Symbol”, it represents something that won’t die or die out. I guess one could say it’s like some religious or national symbols that won’t pass even after its members have been persecuted/marginalized (Christian Cross, KKK Confederate Flag). If it ever came to be fallen, it might be comparable to, like, Germany’s Nazi symbols, but I’m stretching it a bit here…

As for assumptions about the straw hat? Same as the stereotypes, but I guess what differs is when people consider the Straw Hat’s past, before it got into the hands of Luffy. The biggest assumptions are that the hat gets passed down from lovers of freedom who have some sort of good will in their hearts, although even this is highly contestable because the pirate twice before Luffy had the straw hat was apparently pretty crazy about “turning the world upside down.” (Gol D. Roger). Another is that all who had the hat probably had a D. in their name.

7. What doctrines or practices affect your artifact? (Or, what doctrines or practices you’re your artifact affect?) Political parties and platforms? Religious? Ideological? Which ones? Are there cultural “rules” and practices? Which?

Doctrines: The actual manga, the TV series, political censorship by states (open right now in most places, I think).

Practices: Reading, viewing, discussing amongst friends, cosplay.

Effect on Culture: definitely ideological, in the sense of demonstrating people that freedom is not simple to obtain; it is fated (what the hate symbolizes, that it is Luffy who will become the next Pirate King, and as Luffy interprets this it means he will be the freest man in the world), that is, there are forces that will try to tilt you towards and against it, and it is reach for, that is, you yourself have some influence to affect what kind of freedom you will obtain, and not just what fate dictates. People wear it to symbolize ideas like this, or even because they would like to recognized for their fondness of the show. People display it in their rooms I’ve seen on videos as a “personality marker” of sorts. It has (like other popular physical things) become a commodity to be bought and sold for the aforementioned purpose, and many other times for cosplay.

8. How does your artifact affect culture? How does culture affect your artifact?

Ahh, accidentally I explained how in my response to #7, which only asked of me to respond to the “what” of cultural artifacts, thought I talked about the “how” too.

Anyhow, I think I’ve some new ideas after playing around with these heuristic strategies, though I’ll likely have to think harder about how to integrate these into my next essay…..

IDEAS/Cultural Artifacts (replacement): (Oct. 23)

 Posted by on Sun, 10/23 at 7:06pm  artifact ideas, ideas  No Responses »
Oct 232016
 

(Note to the Professor: this post is replacing this weeks “Ideas” post.)

The three artifacts I will be discussing are the same ones I selected and talked about for last week’s post on cultural artifacts (mine is the post titled “IDEAS: In the Air: Strawhats, Models, and Opponents (O.G. 10/16; updated 10/13”)).

Cultural Artifacts related to my topic I could write about for a future paper include:

(just for the record, my topic concerns differing conceptions of Luffy — lead protagonist of the manga One Piece and his ship’s captain — as a leader, either good or bad, and how these views are disposed by bloggers, forum commentator, and vloggers.)

  1. Gol D. Roger’s strawhat: As the hat which was originally the old King of the Pirate’s (Gol D. Roger) property, the story and Luffy himself are crucially tied to it. The idea that there is much freedom in the open, blue seas is heavily contrasted by the idea that fate is actually at the helm of the ship, and that ship’s captain just so happens to be the man who now hold’s the strawhat, Monkey D. Luffy. It has much symbolic value for the discussion of leadership and perhaps even symbols associated with it. Vloggers argue over its significance in the story, and some even have it in the background of their One Piece discussion videos.
  2. Full Crew Cosplay: The idea of forming a crew is almost non-existant without the presumption that will someone (or some few) will have to step up and command leadership positions for the crew. The crew itself is tied to the “followers” though. When groups of cosplayers come together and all manage to organize that everyone of them follows through with the idea that all 9 need to get together and be dressed as individual member of the current 9-member Straw Hat Pirate crew (Luffy’s crew), I think that is highly significant of power structures at play. Leadership its self is presumed on the idea that the group member together make a kind of “whole”, which its self in interesting in a metaphysical sense and alludes to leadership often times being “all in the mind”, just like the great “Kings” of before who were always right about whatever the claimed.
  3. “Luffy vs. Strongest Other Person” Match-Up Arguments: Significant in the respect that a new discourse, many consequently in argument form, has arisen concerning what powers one character has to overpower (or not overpower) the other (think back in early High School when some kids could always be heard arguing: “Who would win, Batman or Superman? The Joker or Doc Ock? etc.” Now this kind of discourse has consumed Luffy into it. In an episode when Luffy had to save his brother from execution by fighting the entire Navy-Marine fleet, it revealed by Dracule Mihawk (an observant in the battle at the moment) that Luffy’s greatest power is the power to round up everyone and get them on his side (mostly pirates, even pirates who fought against each other, although there are exceptions). This discourse/discussion could also offer plenty to uncover and extended about the nature of what really makes leaders powerful.

Such would be some of the “cultural artifacts” (although not all very “concrete” ones, so to speak) I would discuss related to my topic if I have to write a paper about them. Thank you!

Reading: Luffy, an antiOppressionist artifact? (Oct. 23)

 Posted by on Sun, 10/23 at 6:11pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 232016
 

“[Postcolonialist Criticism] is distinguished … by its subject: the examination of postcolonial writings that explore the way in which the colonizers imposed their culture and values on native peoples and thus distorted or suppressed their past.” – (R. Abcarian, 1135)

I read this quote late last night; some reflection today then brought me ask, “Hey… Is Luffy a postcolonialist?”

Now, sure, Luffy is certainly a postcolonialist in the chronological sense, since One Piece was created after colonial times (although real time might hold different implications for fictive works). Yet, I felt the need to know if Luffy (and maybe the whole series) would fit in some postcolonialist narrative, or, the less tasteful choice, not. If a central tenet for postcolonialism is studying the relationship and implications between the oppressor and the oppressed, I feel there might be strong correlation between Japan, where the created of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, is from, and its meaning as related to Luffy (and maybe other cultural objects for discourse too). As many may remember, or at least have some prior knowledge about, Japan is the only country in human history that has had a massive nuclear weapon be sent to explore on its territory (two places). The effects of them were terrible; if you don’t know, please google it. Not strongly arguably, the Japanese people who’s lives rotated closed to that particular event know what it’s like to have someone “power” themselves (in one way or another, here meaning the deployment of a nuclear bomb) over you. Arguably, that bomb could be said to have effected the Japanese people’s lives in some ways similar to how colonialism in other areas around the world in their times may have affected the lives of those involved.

Interestingly, in following the principle of binary value in deconstructive theory, when I conjure the subjects of postcolonialism, I think of “the oppressed/the oppressor” in that order. This is an interesting case where the “more powerful” part of the binary is the one to the right of the slash, and not the first one.

Some of the commentators online have challenged that Luffy is a weak leader, specifically for not being serious enough in his ship and being to child-like, goofy. So, like, in their minds, if they had a hypothetical binary structure to propose for leader and non-leader relationships, they would have “leader/other”. Because, to them, Luffy is not a leader, their binary representation for luffy as related to leadership might then look like this, “Leader/Luffy.” Now, if we suppose that leader is the person who is serious, calls shots, and takes order on the ship (as they suggest this is what a leader might be), BUT if we use the postcolonial binary I think of that I mentioned earlier, the binary structure might look like this “Luffy/the oppressor.” Perhaps this can bring to light the idea that the person that claims or imposes more power over others’ will is not necessarily the most powerful in the relationship (although this might be a latent realization), and, thus, they might not actually be a leader in the sense that the people who don’t oppress others are. Japan has risen again to economic (electronic technology) and cultural prominence (cultural artifacts like One Piece) after the nuclear bomb attacks, could this be because of a beneficial turn from being ones who oppressed back in the days of the Axis powers, to being the ones who been oppressed (perhaps still are?) and risen as “postcolonial” leader? Considering the above quote and much about Luffy and Japan have lead me from my first question mentioned after the quote to this one here….

 

Source:

Abcarian R., Marvin Klotz. Literature: The Human Experience: Reading and Writing. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2007. Text. 1135.

IDEAS: The Folly of Authority? (Oct. 16)

 Posted by on Sun, 10/16 at 10:57pm  ideas  No Responses »
Oct 162016
 

Shi-ro-hig-e, this more or less is the sound of the word for “Whitebeard” in Japanese. Shirohige is portrayed as a man of great honor in One Piece. He was the leader of the Whitebeard Pirates, one of the strongest pirate crews in the world of One Piece prior to his death, and was proclaimed to be “the strongest man in the world” in the anime.  The place in the story where we see the most of Shirohige and his crew, and where he ultimately passed on, is at the island of base operations for the Navy (the world’ most elite military group of the World Government), Marineford. He arrived in Marineford to save his son (what Shirohige calls his crewmates), Fire Fist Ace, Luffy’s brother, from being publicly executed by the Navy-Marines.

In these episodes at Marineford, Whitebeard displayed forgiveness under direct betrayal by a son, but did not forgive betrayal under another one. In the first case, Whitebeard was caught off-guard and stabbed through the chest by one of his fleet captain named Squardo because Squardo was lied about Whitebeard’s fidelity to him by another character. Upon being stabbed, as the blade was still in Whitebeard, who is much an infallible man in the manga, he reached down (Whitebeard being a much bigger person than Squardo) and, instead of crushing Squardo’s skull with his over-sized hand (which is what Oda visually set up to make it appear like before the following happened), Whitebeard actually reached down to hug Squardo, unfettered. This was moment that, when I first saw it, I almost fell back out of my chair. What Whitebeard was more upset with, after hugging and forgiving Squardo, was that someone would actually lie about Whitebeard betraying any one of his sons. As the story progressed, we learn that Whitebeard became the strongest pirate in the world, with a matching crew, not because he was motivated to obtain the world greatest pirate treasure (the so called “One Piece”) or to be the most fearsome pirate on the seas, but because he wanted the one thing no one ever much gave to him as a boy growing up:

 

A family.

 

We learned he was one pirate who would pick up all the misfits who had no where else to stay and made them (if they wanted) a permanent part of his “family”. This was true pretty much except for one, and the reason this one was, we could say, “disowned”, was precisely because of Whitebeard’s heart and commitment to his family, in many ways. Blackbeard, or /kurohige/ in Japanese, was the son Whitebeard did not forgive. The reason? Kurohige killed fellow “brother”. Kurohige was waiting under the protection of Whitebeard for a particular object to show up, one that would give him great power, and when it was found by Thatch (a Whitebeard crew member/captain), Kurohige killed him, left the crew and ship, and set off on his own to gather his own crew to take over the seas.

Later on in Marineford, Whitebeard faces Blackbeard, and when Blackbeard asks him for forgiveness after he is pinned down in battle, Whitebeard pummels his face. The leading concern here is, as exemplified by Whitebeard and Blackbeard’s story, is of your crew, your followers, your children, family, USING you, USING your protection, for their own gains to the detriment of others ALL in the group are supposed to treat as family, as one group.

There is a fear I’ve come to know after reading about employee relationship in the world of work and business, and it’s that the person in charge should never prepare for any of the people below him to meet or exceed the leader’s skills, because he or she might just then leave to start off his own ventures. This seems to terrible a thought and implication, because if this maxim holds true, it almost suggests necessarily holding the majority of power in your own hands for fear those under you might shake themselves from the group, or, worse, end up hurting the original group by their (whether accidental or intentional) own initiatives.

Well, what about Luffy and his crew (to keep focus on One Piece)? He is very much like Whitebeard, though most crew members are about his age, and a few are just a bit older than the rest (Whitebeard was quite old compared to his crew). I recognize the dynamics differ, but I am concerned over just how much power is good to give to your people? Or does there always necessarily need to be an power imbalance?

(I realize I’ve reached my limit, so I will close for now, but will likely return to these concerns in a later post). Thank you.

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