Stereotypes in Animation?!
Question: Hey, I have an essay to write on stereotypes throughout animation, i was just wondering if anyone had any poignant views on the subject, maybe any examples of what they consider to be stereotypes in any animation they have encountered. Thank You
Answers: Hey, I have an essay to write on stereotypes throughout animation, i was just wondering if anyone had any poignant views on the subject, maybe any examples of what they consider to be stereotypes in any animation they have encountered. Thank You
First of all you have to decide what genre you are writing about. The stereotypes in a shojo series are different from the stereotypes in a shonen or seinen series. I'll start with shonen because that's the genre I probably know best.
I think the stereotype we all think of first when we hear 'Shonen-Animation' is that of the tragic hero. Inuyasha from 'Inuyasha', Allen Walker from 'D.gray-man', Train Heartnet from 'Black Cat' or Edward from 'Full Metal Alchemist' are examples of those. A tragic hero always made a mistake at some point of his life that costed somebodys life or destroyed it. For Inuyasha it was his fight with Kikiyo, for Allen it was the ressurection of his fosterfather Mana and for Ed it was the attempt to revive his mother. Usually this mistake occured because of the ignorance of the hero. The protagonist of 'Rurouin Kenshin' is such a tragic hero as well by the way. The tragic hero usually has a strong urge to protect and has a lot of personality issues such as self-loath or insecurity. Another feature of a tragic hero is that he has a very cheerfull and even rash personality to cover up the wounds in his heart.
Following the tragic hero-line we reach another stereotype of the shonen genre. The girl beside the hero. The girl usually is in love with the hero but does not admit it. This girl usually has something the hero absolutely needs to fullfill his mission, is able to heal, and even posseses some combat skills, but not enough to keep herself safe, so the hero has to protect her. Example of the 'female companion' would be Kagome, who can see the Jewel Shards or Winry who can repair Eds automail. The hero is always very protective of that girl.
Next Hero-stereo type is the simple minded but pure heartet Guy. Naruto or Yusuke Urameshi from 'Yuyu hakusho' are examples of those. This character is also very protective, very strong but usually not very popular. Usually he has extreme Powers due to some twisted fate, like the Kiyubi within naruto or the fact that Yusuke is infact a half demeon. The personality often is similar to that of the tragic hero, because in fact I think you can call this type of hero a sub-category of the tragic hero. The biggest difference between the two characters is that the tragic hero caused his fate himself while the fate of the second was inflicted by others.
Both variations of the tragic hero have one thing in common: A scared heart.
Next stereotype would be the magic helper. The magic helper is someone who does not necessarily posses such strong power himself but a big knowledge about the mission. Botan from yuyu hakusho is a magic helper, Kisuke Urahara from Bleach as well. The magic helper can be a very mysterious character but doesn't have to be.
Another stereotype is of course the character 'childhoodfriend'. It's always a friend from the opposite sex who is in love with the hero. Ran from case closed would be a childhoodfriend chara, also winry from fma.
last stereotype I'm gonna write about is the 'travel companion'. That character usually hangs out with the hero a lot and is strong, though in position after the hero. Examples: Miroku (Inuyasha), Chad/Ishida in Bleach...
I think i wrote down the most common characters on the good side. You can mix the stereo types to create other stereo-types, you get Ichigo from bleach that way (Mix Hero1 and Hero2), Winry (childhoodfriend and female companion, both stereotypes can be summarized as 'Love interest') and so on. Hope that helped you!
Well nearly animes start with the main charater who is suffering on the inside and sometimes outside as well. But then some life changing event happens and it brings out the potential in the main character. That's pretty much the beginning of more than half of the animes out there. Check out Bleach, Naruto, Zero something, Shugo Chara and more.
Animation is such a broad category, you might want to narrow it down by genre.
There is, of course, the stereotype about animation that it is only for children.
Disney animation (at least up to about the early '90s) is characterized by female characters whose problems all seem to be solved when they "get the guy."
Anime is full of stereotypes, which differ depending on who it is targeted at. Anime aimed at guys tends to feature dorky but warm hearted male characters who mysteriously become surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women. I can't really think of a particular stereotype in anime aimed at girls, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any.