My multi-talented sister-in-law, Nicola Humphrey, recently wrote a great article for Vancouver Magazine on the phenomenon of the "Brony", as non-7-year-old-girl aficionados of the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are known.
"'There is always an initial stigma that pretty much every male fan of the show has to go through before they get into it,' says Scotellaro from his home in Arizona.... 'People want to know why guys like it. Why is that weird? It’s a good show,' says supervising director Jayson Thiessen."
Know Your Meme traces the birth of the brony on 4chan:
Any day now, someone's going to write their PhD on gender identity and My Little Pony fandom. In fact, a Wired article cites a study that may lead to exactly that...
"I recently attended a Siena college presentation about the sub-culture of bronies. The speaker cited data collected recently that showed that the majority of bronies are between the ages of 18-22, attend college, and are heterosexual. Ah…I think we hit on something here. Is watching My Little Pony a sign of being gay? There’s a reason the question of sexual orientation was asked. Many bronies keep it a secret because of cultural reactions against boys liking “girl” things. 'The pink and sparkly factor.'"
Pink and sparkly and cute. The Japanese have a word for it: kawaii.
PBS's Ideas Channel discusses the performance of gender:
Wikipedia tells us that:
"The word "kawaii" has the root word "kawai" which is formed from the kanji "ka" (可), meaning 'acceptable', and 'ai' (愛), meaning 'love'. The term kawaii has taken on the secondary meanings of 'cool', 'groovy', 'acceptable', 'desirable', 'charming' and "non-threatening'.... The original definition of kawaii came from Lady Murasaki's The Tale of Genji where it referred to pitiable qualities. During the Shogunate period under the ideology of neo-Confucianism, women came to be included under the term kawaii as the perception of women being animalistic was replaced with the conception of women as docile."
Rocketboom on fan art and gender-swapped characters:
But as Wired's history of the concept goes on to explain, the definition evolved:
"According to Sharon Kinsella, a Cambridge University researcher who has written on the subject, the cute craze began around 1970, when a fad for writing notes and letters in rounded, childish characters began to catch on among teenage Japanese girls. Scholars who studied the phenomenon dubbed it Anomalous Female Teenage Handwriting. Kids called it burikko-ji, translated as 'kitten-writing' or 'fake-child writing.' At one point in the mid-'80s, some 55 percent of 12- to 18-year-old girls were using it. Magazines, ads, even computer software picked up the style, which soon broadened into a general fashion... Sanrio's Hello Kitty character, which first appeared on accessories for kitten-writing, has grown into a 50-creature line of in-house characters and goods grossing more than $1 billion a year from sales and licensing.'"
Rachel DiNitto, co-director of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Program at William & Mary University, studies the influence of Hello Kitty and other avatars of Japanese popular culture:
"Students tell me all the time they feel American popular culture is kind of tired and worn,' says DiNitto. 'Japanese popular culture is offering them possibilities and alternatives that they find more appealing. It’s a way for them to reject or resist American popular culture they feel really isn’t speaking to them anymore.' One example is video games, says DiNitto. She explained that American video games tend to be very masculine and often military-oriented. By comparison, Japanese video games have more intricate plot lines that incorporate more fully developed characters, attracting more female gamers."
Ah, boys will be girls will be boys...
PS: Want some kawaii in your eye? I've started a Pinterest board.
I spent all my console cash last year on an XBox for Kinect research, but here are two games (both created by thatgamecompany) that are making me wish I had a PlayStation 3:
...and Flower
As a postscript wish, I'd also love to fly down to D.C. to catch The Art of Video Games at the Smithsonian:
In early 2011, my partner forwarded a YouTube video of a swordsman doing battle with his own shadow, live on stage in Tokyo. It was intriguing, the first example I'd seen of computer graphics interacting with a live performer via motion capture or motion tracking. Since then, teamLab has evolved the technique, and their most recent adventure can be seen here, in both live and post-produced versions:
"Opening video of 'Sports Japan' for overseas sports programs of NHK's international broadcast service. 'Video work that expresses the unique Japanese movement and image linked to the image space was constructed by Japanese view of the world and linear movement of the dancers.'"
Dancer: Katsumi Sakakura
Animation: teamLab
The "unplugged" version:
A couple of earlier performances by the same dancer:
"Black Sun is a meticulously choreographed projection of motiongraphics onto dance, combining traditional and modern elements of Japanese culture and martial arts. Artist Nobuyuki Hanabusa and dancer Katsumi Sakakura, together known as Kagemu, have since been widely imitated by others."
"Japanese talent show 'Showtime': performance group Kagemu combines CG and live action into an impressive performance."
And from 2011, Sword Dance and Shadowgraph:
"A sword battle unfolds between Taichi Saotome and his own shadow.
Special New Year performance of Dragon and Peony, the Galaxy Theatre, Tokyo, Japan."
A Digital Tempest | Canada 3.0 Conference 2012
"Stratford Shakespeare Festival actors participated in the world's first real-time performance capture of a Shakespearean scene at the 2012 Canada 3.0 Conference (April 25, 2012). Company members Geraint Wyn Davies and Claire Lautier play Prospero and Miranda in a scene from The Tempest. Also appearing is Pascal Langlois as Caliban, in a performance displayed in real time by collaborators morro images Inc. and Motives in Movement (MiM)."
A visual tour-de-force at Luminato:
La Belle et la Bête
Created and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, Lemieux Pilon 4D Art
"The classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast has inspired countless treatments in every artistic genre, but none more enchanting than the multimedia magic created by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon. Combining theatre, film, dance, poetry, visual arts, music and sound, the Montreal-based company uses virtual reality, allowing the actors to interact with projected scenery, and with other forms of themselves, in a 3D environment. A magical experience that will astound the eye and stir the heart."
Lemieux Pilon 4D Art first brought a show to Luminato in 2007. NORMAN celebrated the life and work of groundbreaking NFB filmmaker Norman McLaren:
York professors Gwen Dobie, William Mackwood and Don Sinclair are brewing an exciting high-tech theatre experiment using the Microsoft Kinect:
Dance and theatre professors begin work on ‘Bugzzz’
25.08.2011
"...Professor Don Sinclair joins the Bugzzz team as the sound and interactive projections designer. Sinclair will map performers’ bodies on stage using 3-D motion capture technology to create a mesh outline. From the 3-D model, Sinclair can manipulate exact projections of colour, image and light onto performers’ bodies, permitting them to be illuminated without background spill.The software developed by Sinclair will advance the field of interactive technology in theatre performance. Undergraduate and graduate students in York’s dance and theatre programs will have access to the technology in a new course, The Interactive Stage: Developing Digital Design Tools for Live Performances."
‘Bugzzz’ buzzes to centre stage May 31
29.05.2012
"Combining drama, dance and opera, the play’s dual themes of sustainability and the transcendent power of art are reflected in its creative treatment and production values. Bugzzz has the look and feel of a live graphic novel, with a comic book esthetic. Instead of using resource-intensive physical sets, illustrations by graphic artist Jimmy Zhang are projected onto a comic book-shaped scrim behind the action. As the titular bugs play on the ruined staircase of the Paris Opera House, the building is transformed into its original grandeur in sequences where the insects reminisce about the world before humanity destroyed it.The work’s futuristic look continues in the costumes designed by Dobie’s colleague, Professor Teresa Przybylski , and constructed in the Department of Theatre’s wardrobe workshop. Przybylski’s creations feature high-tech wireless LED lights and a complex projection system that uses the Kinect, a motion-sensing input device for the Xbox 360 video game console.
'Our bug costumes glow,” said Dobie, the stage director, dramaturge, choreographer and co-creator of the show. “They’re lit with battery-powered LED ropes and panels that change colour to reflect the character’s moods. Using the Kinect’s infrared technology, we can light a costume with precise video projections to mimic an insect’s iridescent wings.'
The development process for both lighting systems took more than a year. Interactive media artist Don Sinclair, a Faculty of Fine Arts professor in York’s digital media program, is the mastermind behind programming the Kinect. The LED components for the costumes, as well as the set, were developed in collaboration with a team of lighting technology specialists from industry partner, AC Lighting Inc., led by the firm’s managing director, J.F. Canuel."
We are thrilled we'll be able to draw on these creators' invaluable expertise for A Midsummer Night's Dream at York next March.
Bugzzz runs May 31st through June 10th at Artscape Wychwood Barns. Visit Theatre Direct to buy tickets, and see the Out of the Box Productions website for more on the project, including an image gallery.