Cinemanarrative Dissonance and Anti-War films.

So this is my second post on Cinemanarrative Dissonance, a term I didn't coin but want to help popularize.

In the first post I talked about how this related to the Male Gaze, which was the context of the example provided in the Folding Ideas Video I got the term from.  Anti-War films didn't come up in that video but did in the comments section.

I discussed the issues that Anti-Wars films often have in my post about Kong Skull Island.  That was my knew jerk reaction to express my general enjoyment of that film, so I may have gone over board, it too has ways you could interpret it as being Pro "the right kind of War", via the Island needing Kong to defend it from the ugly less human looking lizard monsters.  Still, I definitely stand by the Gundam franchise being the best Anti-War genre fiction.

It basically comes down to how much the need for the violence to be entertaining, undermines the objective of making it horrific.  Again, this too is perhaps easier to do allegorically with some Sci-Fi or Fantasy horrificness.  When it's Lovecraftian Elderich Abominations or Giant Robots destroying buildings and lives, our subconscious is less likely to decide that looking cool makes it good in real life cause we know it presumably can't happen in real life.  Examples of this can go from how the original Gojira works as an allegory for Nuclear War, to how good Miyazaki is at making things look unnaturally ugly in films like Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke.

Still, the main suggestion I want to make today, is that if you really want to have a completely realistic Anti-War film.  Maybe the solution is not to go the Gritty front line horror route.  But rather to, and this will offend the-fanboy-perspective blog endlessly, not seek an R rating.

When you're depicting the people on the front lines, you're depicting the people who even the most already inclined to be Anti-War viewers are naturally likely to sympathize with.  There is a desire to view the brave warrior on the front line as worthy of respect, maybe as a victim rather then a hero, but still worthy of respect.  And I think that really lies at the heart of how Anti-War films unintentionally undermine themselves, even if it doesn't directly seem like the main reason.

Maybe it's better to focus more on the people who aren't on the front lines, the people who aren't directly risking their lives as much, yet are much more the reason the Wars happen to begin with.  The politicians and really high ranking generals.  Show their cold detachment.  Much of Lawrence of Arabia does this, which is why I like that film so much. 

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.