Il y a presque un an, nous avons écrit un billet présentant différentes études sur les fans de Disney. Cette semaine, notre billet s’intéresse aux études liées à l’animation, qu’elle soit occidentale ou orientale.
En 2012, Samantha Nicole Inëz Chambers, étudiante à l’Elon University, a rédigé un article intitulé « Anime: From Cult Following to Pop Culture Phenomenon ». Par une étude documentaire et un sondage mené auprès de 107 étudiants et jeunes adultes, elle s’est intéressée à l’influence que les animes ont eu sur les Américains nés durant les années 80 et 90.
The secondary research and the survey confirmed that anime still conveys a negative image associated with violence and fringe culture, even though many advocates of anime clearly state that « anime wasn’t all blood, guts, and porn » (Borrelli, 2002). However, new terms are being used to describe anime in today’s culture. Terms, such as ‘colorful’ and ‘artistic’ used by the survey participants to describe some shows in the survey, indicate a shift that people see anime as more of an art form than tasteless violent film with no redeeming qualities. (Chambers, 2012)
L’anime fait aussi partie de la recherche menée par Yang Feng et Jiwoo Park. Leur article, publié en 2015, analyse les principaux antagonistes des films du studio Ghibli et ceux de Walt Disney.
This study uses a possible framework from cognitive psychology—holistic/analytic thinking framework—to explain the moral ambiguity of the Studio Ghibli narratives and the unambiguous depiction of good and evil typical of Walt Disney-animated films. It was showed that many main antagonists in Studio Ghibli-animated films are not as bad as Jafar in Aladdin or as evil as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, because these characters in Studio Ghibli still have their “sweet” side, and their “dark” side might be, at least, partially attributed to a situational factor. (Fang & Park, 2015, p. 382)
Enfin, dans la même année, Anne Gilbert a analysé la façon dont les médias décrivent les bronies, ces fans adultes (principalement de sexe masculin) du dessin animé My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic.
Bronies generate a great deal of public interest, and as a result, are the subject of a wide array of media coverage that is written by nonbronies in order to describe, explain, or critique bronies for a mainstream audience. Despite the fact that much of this coverage seems positive, the language it uses reveals a desire to dismiss bronies: They are discomfiting, incongruous, and baffling; they lack masculinity or cultural capital; they are closeted homosexuals or, worse, sexual deviants. Articles on bronies may explicitly counter these claims, but they implicitly reinforce that bronies confound popular preconceptions. Bronies are disconcerting because, as media consumers, they do not behave as expected. These grown men elect to consume media created for very young girls, to form a strong and effusive community around it, and to do so without irony. (Gilbert, 2015)
Comme nous pouvons le constater, les préjugés existent toujours, qu’ils visent un genre d’animation ou un public différent du public cible. Et vous, avez-vous été témoin d’un jugement hâtif à l’endroit des dessins animés?
