Commercialization of art

Japanese artistic works, such as video games, movies or comics, are works targetted at the local Japanese audience. They are often full of memorable characters, have good world building and interesting plots. Animation and comics in particular often present niche or disputable themes. Majority of their products never leave Japanese borders.

American, or Western products are often targetted to the global audience. This in effect creates barriers regarding the covered themes. Certain themes are not even considered for inclusion. A lot of products are being censored, or maybe the authors themselves are in the dark regarding themes such as sexuality in particular.

_ often have thought that Japanese products are ‘better,’ but when _ stop and think about it, _ realize that it is Japanese stereotypes that _ like. The characters are often caricatures that hyperbolizes some of their aspects, but where Japanese stories shine is that they are not so monothematic. There are often multiple themes within a single work. It creates opportunities for these characters to be presented as living beings, with all their good and bad sides. When _ recall Western works, they seem to lack this diversity of content in comparision and this is probably because of the targetted audience.

When you try to sell a product to such an undefined group as a ‘global user,‘ you effectively cut out and disagree to include themes that might offend somebody, somewhere, because it will reduce sales. The problem is that there is no such thing as a ‘global customer.’ The possible scope of themes a work can take on its shoulders becomes slim. The result is maybe an interesting story to follow, but it is devoid of content or a message.

The message is particularly hard to achieve. If your target audience is well-defined, you know well who are you sending a message to. What kind of messages are the artists supposed to send to a ‘global customer?’ What problems are these ’global customers‘ facing? It is simple. They have none. Because there is no such person as a ‘global customer.’ ‘Global audience’ never faces any problems that could be discussed through art.

But then, after a while, _ notice that the real issue lies in what is regarded by artists as the art they strive for. In America and Europe, these are rather moving pictures. Movies lasts for two to three hours. They are fairly short. In Japan, it is not movies, but animated series or comics. Stories in these media are way longer and richer in content.