Cinemanarrative Dissonance, the Male Gaze, Megan Fox and Anime

The Folding Ideas YouTube Channel did a video a few months ago on Ludonarrative Dissonance.

In it he references an earlier video that coined the term Cinemanarrative Dissonance with the intent of mocking the idea of talking about Ludonarrative Dissonance.  But he does so going on to say he thinks Cinemanarrative Dissonance is a thing that should be talked about, even if the examples are in general less common then in games.

He cited Megan Fox's character in the Transformers movie as a good example.  The character is a well written not very stereotyped character, who has a solid arc, and is well performed by Megan Fox.  But the camera treated her like a piece of meat, and that is how fans, both casual and even more savvy ones, saw her.

He's not the only person to observe this, it came up in a recent article on The Mary Sue.  I haven't seen the Transformers films myself yet, but I can say as someone who was on Internet Forums like IMDB back then, the perception of the character and of Fox herself was what Folding Ideas says the Cinematography presented.

Now, why is Anime in the title of this post?

Because a lot of female Anime characters have kind of been given the same Cinemanarrative Dissonate treatment.  Characters who are well written, have agency, and depth, and are relate-able.  Yet the animation constantly objectifies them with a lot of the Anime Style Fanservice that I dislike.

The difference I've observed is which way of viewing the female character in question prevails in the general perception of viewers.  With the Anime I'm thinking of this use of fan-service is criticized, but it does not control how the characters are perceived.

Highschool of The Dead is a good example, reportedly most of it's fans are women.  What's empowering about the characters' managed to not be completely drowned out by all the uncomfortable panty shoots and ridiculous boob physics.

But with Transformers, both Megan Fox's character and the actress herself were slut shamed by society, including Feminists, with websites like TheMarySue not feeling the need to stick up for her till fairly recently.  People somehow saw it as her fault that Bay objectified her.

Now in some Anime this contrast is intentional with a feminist commentary in mind, like The Woman Called Fujiko Mine or as I've been told Kill La Kill.  Those I would not compare to Transformers.  But their Live Action Hollywood counterparts do also seem to have more trouble obtaining artistic respectability, like Jenifer's Body (another Megan Fox film) and Sucker Punch.

Why is the general viewer reaction to this contrast so different?  Shouldn't it be easier to see the humanity of the character when it's a flesh and blood human being?  Is it harder to view the actress herself as culpable when she's not physically there?  Is it related to how Anime is inherently more abstract?

Maybe it's because the audience for Anime is more Niche, and so a larger percentage of viewers are inclined to read deeper.