Popular Visual Culture in Art Education: A Group Creativity Perspective

Abstract

People in Japan are up in arms about Rokudenashiko, a female artist who just got arrested for running afoul of the country’s obscenity laws. Her “crime” was making art meant to “demystify” female genitalia. Also shocked and outraged are CNN and numerous other Western news outlets. As well they should be - this is censorship pure and simple, and Rokudenashiko should be released immediately. But CNN manages to squeeze this into their report:Many critics of her arrest have pointed out that Japan only banned the possession of child pornography a month ago, and even then, the ban excludes explicit anime and manga cartoons. Actually, no. Perhaps some ill-informed Western journalists are saying that. Many Japanese critics of the arrest are pointing out that this is yet another example of why Japan’s obscenity laws are dangerous for ALL creators - because they are wildly outdated, vague, and very arbitrarily enforced. Rokudenashiko and the people who protested to keep manga out of Japan’s vague new child pornography law are on the same side. They are both victims of outdated laws that police and bureaucrats use to try and enforce their idea of “public morality”. CNN and other major Western news outlets have absolutely no clue about the actual situation in Japan, as I argued last week. They really are just reporting whatever the hell they think will resound with their viewers/readers. Rokudenashiko is a perfect victim: she’s an artist fighting to improve views of female sexuality. The people who were protesting to keep manga out of child pornography laws are just as concerned about freedom of expression as Rokudenashiko, but they are not perfect victims. They’re (mostly) guys drawing cartoon porn, a form of expression that CNN just doesn’t like very much. It would be a bit more work for CNN’s viewers to sympathize with mangaka. So CNN vilifies them as child pornographers instead, never mind that that means smearing one of the most powerful voices in Japan’s free speech movement. Then weeks later, a more perfect victim appears, and CNN gets to decry why on earth Japan has these barbaric censorship laws. The reaction of CNN and other news outlets to this artist’s arrest is the best proof you could ask for that they know literally zilch about Japan. And the difference in reporting cannot be explained by different people being involved - both pieces are at least co-written by the same guy, Will Ripley, whom I can only assume has two separate brains.