Two recent incidents were hotly debated on social media for their association with the so-called ACGN subculture — animation, comics, games and novels. The common theme was a philosophical debate concerning the “utility” of culture.
In the preface of his new book, Keep Promise (漫畫柯文哲), Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) wrote that comics seem to be for children and merely a source of humor for adults, but are never a medium for anything major.
However, his campaign office was forced to backtrack after the comment was criticized, saying that it was “not their intention” to disrespect or denigrate the Taiwanese comic industry.
The next day, the Ministry of Education released a commercial about the National Childcare Policy for Ages 0-6. The 30-second video depicted a married couple with two young children returning to the father’s family home to visit their grandmother.
The father asked his mother to do him a favor, saying he had bought action figures that would be delivered to her home the next day.
Handing her some cash, he asked her to pay the delivery person when the toys arrived.
The mother replied scornfully: “What? Are you still playing with those figures?”
She then used the money to buy what she called “more meaningful” things for her grandchildren — educational books and toys.
Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidate Justin Wu (吳崢) said that the video was discriminatory.
Amid a furor, the ministry pulled the video and apologized for causing offense to or disrespecting the animation and action figure industry.
While a lot of discussion online and in the media has focused on the ignorance, misunderstandings and discrimination involved in the incidents, the crux of the problem is that Ko and the ministry regard pop culture as having utility only when it is embedded with value.
The targeting of ACGN culture could have been easily been focused on celebrity culture, street culture or LGBTQ culture. Culture is a set of daily norms, symbols and signs arising from the material conditions and ideology of a group. Pop culture shifts under the drive of capitalism.
Nevertheless, if an ideology gains utility, it gives rise to “useful” texts, although they do not constitute a culture.
Cultures are founded on non-essentials, which is why they have the capacity to become symbols and norms that people follow. Cultures form because of a lack of utility and become useless the moment they are bestowed with purpose.
Why would the ministry publish such a discriminatory video? The script must have been inspired by a report last year that a married couple had a serious argument because the wife gave the husband’s Godzilla figurine away without consulting him.
However, the scriptwriters must not have picked up on the misogyny and discrimination that emerged in the reactions to the story.
There must be pop culture-savvy staff among the ministry’s content creators, given the content it posts on Facebook. The script probably was not discussed with the social media editors before filming began, leading to the public-relations disaster.
As for Ko, his campaign team should be well-versed in damage control given his penchant for off-the-cuff remarks.
Even though the office relented due to the fear of losing more support among young people, it did not offer a formal apology, but gave a reluctant “not their intention” justification.
It would be easier not to push the buttons of young people.
Chang Yueh-han is an adjunct assistant professor in Shih Hsin University’s Department of Journalism.
Translated by Rita Wang
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