By: Q. Irk
Foreword:
I turned this in for a grade in my first college english
course. It was
required that we use an aspect of TV or movie media, be it
commercial,
sitcom, or feature, to show how it reflects our society. I
chose the
American censorship of the Sailor Moon TV series. This
essay isn't just
about dub-bashing - it's about how Americans view and
accept things in
comparison to how people in other countries think.
I feel I must add that I am being VERY SARCASTIC in the
following lines,
just in case someone couldn't see that...^^;;
Ah, yes. I got a 100% A on this paper.
Goodness, what are the Japanese showing their CHILDREN?
All of the cartoons down there have violence, violence,
violence! The
women and girls are far too well endowed (and wear too
little clothing!) for
young ones' eyes to see! And with all the death and with
so few happy
endings...
Well, it's no wonder they have so many problems down
there.
Our children are safe, though, here in America. Our
cartoons don't show
young eyes those kinds of things. But what about Japanese
cartoons coming
HERE? Will our children's minds be tainted by this
insidious content?
Rest assured, their safety is being guarded by the good
companies that dub
them and release them to the airwaves. Such good, moral
minds lead these
industries.
A good case study is "Sailor Moon". Sailor Moon is a
story about five
girls who transform into superheroines that fight for love
and justice.
Defeating the black-hearted villains of the evil Negaverse,
Sailor Moon and
her friends defend the earth and teach children the values
of love,
friendship, and trust in very episode.
The lessons are better learned with the changes made in
America. The
Japanese version has all sorts of inappropriate things in
it. Throughout
the series, for example, there are times when the Sailor
Scouts meet up with
villains that are far too dangerous, creating unnecessary
violence and gore.
Sometimes the short-skirted uniforms of the Scouts are
too revealing to be
proper for young girls. An old man makes lecherous
comments to girls on the
show, sometimes going so far as to look up their skirts!
And, of course,
since this show was originally Japanese we have to deal
with occasional
references to another country's culture. Of course, all of
these things do
not belong in America and are easily eliminated through
careful editing.
There were a few parts that were too important to just be
taken out,
unfortunately. Thankfully, there were solutions to the
problems inherent in
these parts. Our children are always safe when watchful,
cautious companies
are here to take care of these things!
In the first original series of Sailor Moon, our beautiful
heroines died in
the end! One by one they were killed, leaving a single
member of their team
to fight the evil Queen Beryl and the powerful Negaforce.
Imagine the
heartbreak and sadness that the poor young souls in Japan
had to go through
watching that episode! The little children were forced to
wait an entire
tortuous week with this morbid influence over them, grades
suffering, until
the next episode of the series aired. Then, in that
episode, the ghosts of
Sailor Moon's friends came back, lending their strength to
hers in a final
suicide strike against the Negaforce. Afterwards by the
powers of goodness
they were brought back to life.
But would our children go through this pain and sorrow
waiting for the
happy ending? No, the kind company that dubbed our
heroines shielded our
children. In America the Sailor Scouts were merely
kidnapped, mysteriously
escaping from their captors for that last strike, surviving
the entire
battle.
Other changes for our children's benefit were made to the
villains.
Malachite and Zoycite (who, for some reason, are Kunzite
and Zoisite over
there) were both men. Though love amongst villains is
something that should
be encouraged in shows so our children can see that
everyone can have good
in them, homosexuality is simply inappropriate. A
fantastic move was made
by the dubbers, preserving both the love and our common
decency. Zoycite
was made female, creating a clean relationship of love
between a man and a
woman.
In America, our children are protected by strict
guidelines on television,
in movies, and in books. Any material to cross over from
countries that
allow otherwise has guidelines applied that edit plot,
dialogue, and
characters. All foreign material will comply to our
beliefs, standards, and
faiths.
And this is as it should be.
Comments on this article can be sent to: Q. Irk.
