Politics: real and fictional
Yeah, I know that politics is something that usually is not arguable. I have one opinion, you have yours, and it's astonishingly difficult for either to persuade the other.
Instead, I'll just make comments about something that must be my karma...
I finished my posts about my round the world trip. And for some reason, almost all the countries I went to were during election campaign... I cannot say much about Canada, England or Germany. Although I've been there, my daily routine was mostly touristic. I wasn't really paying attention except for one news at the airport or some outdoors.
In Brazil, there was the campaign for mayor and aldermen (vereador in Portuguese). Returning to Japan, there is some election... have no idea what it is for. Nevertheless, I notice one annoying thing in common:
I don't know if there's an specific word in English, but I'm talking about those cars who have a reasonably powerful sound system aimed at making announcements. In this case, political propaganda... or in other words, "vote for me". You're there watching a movie or chatting online with someone and there comes one of those things next to where you are...
It makes some sense in Japan, where propaganda restrictions prohibit any kind of propaganda that could aim at more than some percentage of the public. That includes TV or internet. It forces the candidate to walk around. I've seen some around. In Brazil I met only one, running for alderman, at a road crossing.
Plus in Brazil there are not so many of those around when it's not election time. In Japan there are others. Some recycling trucks, neighbourhood patrol are examples of useful ones. Ambulances, fire trucks and police cars also have a sound system, very useful to give warnings or just to warn other cars about a turn. Of course, some also use it for religious and other sorts of propaganda.
Another point where I'm more confortable with the Japanese side: when they do political propaganda, they usually say something. Most time it's some stuff like "for our children" or other sentences not really giving any idea of any project or giving any "real" reason why someone should vote for that person. Still, in Brazil, or at least in my hometown, the situation is worse... Most use it only for jingles. And those stupid things are hard to forget!! The worst situation was close to a shopping mall. There was one of those cars who just parked in front of the place playing the jingles almost all day long. I felt very sorry for people who work around that area and have to listen to it all day.
Going on to fictional politics, comedy about politics often have nice skits. One that was famous in Brazil was when Seu Creysson ran for president... and he could have at least surpassed some real candidates if elections were not already electronic at the time. Another Brazilian one that I liked was Branco Nulo, but that requires some understanding of Portuguese to really understand the jokes. (Well... coming back to the reality for a second, in some cases reality is funnier than fiction...)
Around the globe, Chaser's War Against Everything, Jeff Dunham and many others have already made jokes about politics. I don't see much of that in Japan. But after a Japan Times article, I was interested in a show that uses politics just as a background. It actually is about relationships. "Renai Shinto" (恋愛新党) is the name of the show, and quoting part of the article:
"The president of Renai Shinto, Masato Sakai, is played with flair by the actor Masato Sakai — with the use of his real name adding to the slapdash skit feel of the program. He believes only love can save Japan; declining birth rates are thrown up as one of many forms of evidence. The only problem, he says, is that in contemporary Japan love must contend with many obstacles.
'We, Renai Shinto, vow to abolish things that would impede love!' he proclaims.
It turns out there are a lot of them, especially in the form of women's trends. And therein lies the program's exquisite irony: 'Renai Shinto' launches assaults on the very trends that Japanese television generally thrives on."
So the humor is a little different than usual for Japanese TV. And that's a good thing especially now that Japanese TV is becoming famous abroad for its weird shows that are reproduced in YouTube. As a sidenote, some people asked me in Brazil if most Japanese shows are like that... The answer is no, but the average is not much better anyway. (As a counterpoint, Brazilian TV average is not that good either...)
About his arguments, the show usually focus on how women are imepding love (especially on the first shows), although there are some punchlines criticizing men too. The arguments are exaggerated (on purpose), but sometimes they hit the mark. I haven't seen them all, still my favorite is the one about make-up (part 1 and part 2... Japanese without subtitles only). His point? Most men like women to use make-up and look pretty, and many women use make-up (I'd say that in Japan it's very hard to find a girl wearing no make-up). Still, many women become unable to meet people without make-up. Worse, that make-up fever is also affecting children.
Instead, I'll just make comments about something that must be my karma...
I finished my posts about my round the world trip. And for some reason, almost all the countries I went to were during election campaign... I cannot say much about Canada, England or Germany. Although I've been there, my daily routine was mostly touristic. I wasn't really paying attention except for one news at the airport or some outdoors.
In Brazil, there was the campaign for mayor and aldermen (vereador in Portuguese). Returning to Japan, there is some election... have no idea what it is for. Nevertheless, I notice one annoying thing in common:
I don't know if there's an specific word in English, but I'm talking about those cars who have a reasonably powerful sound system aimed at making announcements. In this case, political propaganda... or in other words, "vote for me". You're there watching a movie or chatting online with someone and there comes one of those things next to where you are...
It makes some sense in Japan, where propaganda restrictions prohibit any kind of propaganda that could aim at more than some percentage of the public. That includes TV or internet. It forces the candidate to walk around. I've seen some around. In Brazil I met only one, running for alderman, at a road crossing.
Plus in Brazil there are not so many of those around when it's not election time. In Japan there are others. Some recycling trucks, neighbourhood patrol are examples of useful ones. Ambulances, fire trucks and police cars also have a sound system, very useful to give warnings or just to warn other cars about a turn. Of course, some also use it for religious and other sorts of propaganda.
Another point where I'm more confortable with the Japanese side: when they do political propaganda, they usually say something. Most time it's some stuff like "for our children" or other sentences not really giving any idea of any project or giving any "real" reason why someone should vote for that person. Still, in Brazil, or at least in my hometown, the situation is worse... Most use it only for jingles. And those stupid things are hard to forget!! The worst situation was close to a shopping mall. There was one of those cars who just parked in front of the place playing the jingles almost all day long. I felt very sorry for people who work around that area and have to listen to it all day.
Going on to fictional politics, comedy about politics often have nice skits. One that was famous in Brazil was when Seu Creysson ran for president... and he could have at least surpassed some real candidates if elections were not already electronic at the time. Another Brazilian one that I liked was Branco Nulo, but that requires some understanding of Portuguese to really understand the jokes. (Well... coming back to the reality for a second, in some cases reality is funnier than fiction...)
Around the globe, Chaser's War Against Everything, Jeff Dunham and many others have already made jokes about politics. I don't see much of that in Japan. But after a Japan Times article, I was interested in a show that uses politics just as a background. It actually is about relationships. "Renai Shinto" (恋愛新党) is the name of the show, and quoting part of the article:
"The president of Renai Shinto, Masato Sakai, is played with flair by the actor Masato Sakai — with the use of his real name adding to the slapdash skit feel of the program. He believes only love can save Japan; declining birth rates are thrown up as one of many forms of evidence. The only problem, he says, is that in contemporary Japan love must contend with many obstacles.
'We, Renai Shinto, vow to abolish things that would impede love!' he proclaims.
It turns out there are a lot of them, especially in the form of women's trends. And therein lies the program's exquisite irony: 'Renai Shinto' launches assaults on the very trends that Japanese television generally thrives on."
So the humor is a little different than usual for Japanese TV. And that's a good thing especially now that Japanese TV is becoming famous abroad for its weird shows that are reproduced in YouTube. As a sidenote, some people asked me in Brazil if most Japanese shows are like that... The answer is no, but the average is not much better anyway. (As a counterpoint, Brazilian TV average is not that good either...)
About his arguments, the show usually focus on how women are imepding love (especially on the first shows), although there are some punchlines criticizing men too. The arguments are exaggerated (on purpose), but sometimes they hit the mark. I haven't seen them all, still my favorite is the one about make-up (part 1 and part 2... Japanese without subtitles only). His point? Most men like women to use make-up and look pretty, and many women use make-up (I'd say that in Japan it's very hard to find a girl wearing no make-up). Still, many women become unable to meet people without make-up. Worse, that make-up fever is also affecting children.
1 comment:
Talvez, quando a nossa civilização for um pouco mais evoluída, esses carros chatos de propaganda venham a ser reconhecidos como formas de tortura dos séc. XX e XXI…
Post a Comment