In the anime film Perfect Blue, many different issues were brought to light. First of all: materialism and consumerism in society. The main character of Perfect Blue, Mima, is portrayed as a cutsie teeny-bopper pop idol. Her fan base is obsessed with her pure and sweet image and will do anything to keep her in pristine idol condition. They wait at newsstands and bookstores for any new information on her, like hungry dogs waiting for someone to throw them a hunk of meat. To her fans, Mima is nothing more than a piece of meat, a materialistic object in the eye of the media. They do not care about her personal well-being, they only care for how they can receive satisfaction from her. And if they are dissatisfied with what they get out of her, they cause an uproar. The people only care about what they can reap from Mima’s success, and “consume” it greedily. Another issue was the objectification of women in the media. Mima is constantly in the spotlight of the people; they scrutinize her, judge her, and expect nothing less than perfect from her. Most of the public eye consists of men, men who wish to see her more risqué and mature side. They force more scandalous roles and situation upon Mima because it is what they desire most from her. Men have tasted her sweet and innocent side, and now they are hungry for more. Women in media are (more often than not) seen through the eyes of a man and portrayed as sex symbols and nothing more. Men desire women, and they won’t stop until they get their fill of how they want women to be seen on the big screen. Another thing about Perfect Blue is that the storyline was very similar of that to the movie Black Swan. Both of the main characters were strong and beautiful women who were seen as petite and delicate, yet they had a darker side to them. There were antagonists that led them to believe what they perceived as reality may or may not be true, which led them to a spiraling downfall of confusion and madness. The female roles in Perfect Blue and Black Swan both faced demons in their own ways, and eventually overcame them, in justice and death.I got that picture from here.
Hey Ash,
ReplyDeleteI think you’re spot on in your observations about the objectification of women, as far as Perfect Blue goes. Aside from Mima’s consent, there’s really nothing about her transformation caused by other ladies. I think that in real life, the issue is a bit more complicated than that. It all has to do with power and control in my opinion. When men objectify women, it’s a form of exercising power over them. Likewise, many women use their sexuality to manipulate men. Benisato in Ninja Scroll is a great example of this. In fact, the idea of a dangerous and seductive woman is a nod to the power struggle. Since this appears in media controlled mostly by males, it could be viewed as a warning to other guys, and an attempt to discourage girls from behaving in that manner. I think it’s interesting that Perfect Blue more or less ignores this entire aspect of relationships.
---Logan
This movie is totally like black swan, which I also love. Natalie Portman is my dream girl. I was too busy being mind raped by the movie to remember it. I do not think that mimas fans consume her success greedily, there is no scarcity of Mima to anyone but the other fans. Mima loves her fans and her fans are what keep her fed and living in her room with her fish that she loves so much. If Mimas fans did not consume her success she would not have any success. Without the men that see her as nothing but a piece of meat, Mima would have to find some other way to keep herself living, without doing what she loves most, being an entertainer. Mima is making a choice to be an entertainer, no one made her do it, no one has a gun to her head saying her must be an entertainer. Guilt from her manager getting her where she is doesn’t count either because she still has the choice to quit. The same is true is about all women in the media they made the choice to be sex symbols and without their audience they could not do what they love.
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