By: Sailor Vega
This article was sent in on: July 1, 2000
I have to try to stay away from all the "dubbing dilema", being a
Mexican who was able to see all the series with little changes or none at
all. However, I could not help to respond to Tellu's "Adaptations".
I disagree. Sailor Moon doesn't have to be censored so children love it
and understand it. I have worked with children for more than 9 years
now, as a children psychologist. In fact, I use anime as a tool for
therapy, including Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon.
I think we must not underestimate the capacity children have to analyze
the contents of Japanese anime. It is true, it is much more complex,
emotionally and intelectually speaching, than usual cartoons, but the
rich trama of anime together with the indeep characters portrayed help
children. From ages from 4 to 12, children go through a period where they
are conforming their idea of reality, their moral values and goals.
Sailor Moon, while being fantastic, has a very imporant moral element
accompanied by a reality check. Lesbians do exist, so do evil people who
kill others, but at the end, what matters is friendship, love, peace,
etc.
Overprotection doesn't work. Children do not fire guns because of TV,
they do because their parents believe TV could be the 20th century Mary
Poppins! If we don't teach them to accept homosexuality now, how will
they learn it when they are teens?
Children do know, they are capable of understanding. Once I was in
session with a group of 20 children. We were discussing cartoons, including
Simpsons, Sailor Moon and the Flintstones. We analyzed the moral
values supported in each one, the things criticized, the ideas that each
role supported or represented. Do you want to know what they concluded?
Sailor Moon had the best moral values portrayed, (and they saw Chibiusa
pointing the gun at Usa, Haruka and Michiru flirting, ect) with their
characters being the most realistic, the one they could relate better to.
They didn't want to have a family as the Flintstones or the Simpson's,
that are shows accepted at the U.S.A, they wanted to have Usagi's. They
thought that unlike Dragon Ball was fun, Sailor Moon had real reasons
for a fight.
I asked: Which is the most agressive one? They answered this: The
Simpsons... because they are violent to each other, although they don't
physically hurt each other as in Sailor Moon.
Don't underestimate your kids. Give them more credit. They can analyze
complex ideas if they have a guide. That is more important than ranting
a TV show in a certain category, is the guidance grown ups give. Sailor
Moon doesn't need to be censored to be loved, to be understand, to be
learned from, it need us to be there for the kids that watch it.
Comments on this article can be sent to: Sailor Vega.
