reading some chinese manhua and i think i’m picking up some features of chinese culture that intrigue me. for example: it’s taken as a given that female attraction towards men is heavily mediated by wealth + status. also: “poor” is a typical insult, which is wild to me
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it’s like... in american fiction you don’t live in a society with your enemies. either you or your enemies or both are outside society in some way. in these manhua you and your enemies are both people who live in society, and beating them means they submit to you as higher status
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it’s striking how much more alien the read of chinese culture i get from manhua is than the read of japanese culture i get from manga and anime is. i don’t know if i’m more used to japanese culture by now or if it’s genuinely more westernized or what
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the difference is like... japanese culture as revealed through manga has a fundamentally romantic / sentimental streak that jives with american pop culture, and chinese culture as revealed through manhua is... deeply pragmatic or something, by comparison?
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in case anyone would like to check my work, links (reading on this particular site involves dealing with a bunch of annoying sexy ads tho): https://kissmanga.com/Manga/My-Amazing-Wechat … https://kissmanga.com/Manga/Rebirth-of-the-Urban-Immortal-Cultivator …
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i should also say, this thread could be read as criticizing chinese culture but american culture also comes across weird in comparison in a few ways, e.g. it's actually strange how comfortable i am with "heroes" solving problems with violence as opposed to soft power / guanxi!
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the prototypical "hero" in american pop culture is actually a glorified cop and i'm sort of amazed i never really made that connection. "heroes" take down threats to the social order with a monopoly on violence. wild
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