Reading manga in schools (and another discussion)...

[Dark Scizor]

I've been meaning to post this for a while now since this article was written on November 16th in the Times newspaper, anyway here it is (Can't post link because the times doesn't allow for free access to articles more then a week old):

See Janet Slaughter John

SEX and violence might have made Manga comics notorious, but a leading literace orgranisation wants Kapanese cartoon novels to have a place in classrooms. Mange comics typically show heroes battling to overcome fantasy villains from futuristic worls. Yet they have become known for containing graphic depictions of violence and sex because, as a genre, Manga caters for adults as well as children.
But cartoon novels ould be the key to getting "reluctant" boys to read, reports The Times Endicational Supplement (Nov12).
"A lot of the stories are quite sophisticated with compicaared storylines and development of different characters. It's more subtle thatn just a hero going out to battle evil," says Rith Harrison of the reading agency.
The angency has drawn up a list of 150 reconmmended Manga titles, deemed suitable for teenagers, which it will be sending out to all libraries and schools.
Despite initial reservations about the violent content of Manga comics, Tony Sewell, an educational consultant concedes: "Boys are interested in voilences, so it's a way of engeging them. You need to offer something that will grap them."
Helen Pallett, the literacy co-ordinator at Djanogly city academy in Nottingham agrees: "Getting them to admit that reading is cool, and that they enjoy it is the first step. Once you'ce got ove the barrier, you can easily get them to move on to graphic novels, and then to other books," she says.

So, what does everyone think about having Manga in schools, albeit it is to encourage boys to read normal books I just wanna hear everyones opinions on this.

And on the secondary discussion, Its anime not manga.

Around where I live people who are supposedly "anime fans" call anime manga, or in one case when I was on the bus talking to a friend he was telling me about an art project he was doing on "Magna" not Manga or anime and continued to go on about how he likes watching magna :sweat2:. Quite a lot of people here get confused, and I've just given up all together on correcting their erroneous ways. I'll edit a bit more in later, but does it or doesn't it get to you when people call an anime, a manga?

[Roarkiller]

What i find amazing is that they didn't recommend Superman or Spiderman first.

Meh, anime or manga, i bet all they watch is pokemon and digimon. And prolly yugioh too.

[EVme15]

I think it's cool how they're introducing manga to the public, but I hate how everyone thinks it's "people slaughtering other people while having sex" (yes, someone actually thought it was that, and told me so, thus the quotation marks).

As for the anime/manga/magna, when I first came to the high school they gave me a pamphlet with a list of the clubs and a short description. Magna Alliance: Come watch anime and draw magna. :rolleyes:

There usually isn't much confusion, especially when staying in one genre. If I'm trying to compare a manga to its anime counterpart, however, some people get confused. But it's usually ok.

And, yes. They probably think that the four shows that define anime are as follows: Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Akira, La Blue Girl.
Kid#1, Kid#2, Bloody, Sex

I'm not saying those shows are bad (though I can't speak for La Blue Girl), but they don't define all anime.

[EngiMatikul]

The concept of a graphic novel as a literary work is not first thought of by Manga. I'm not entirely clear on the subject, but I do believe "Sandman" is considered a literary work of art... Don't quote me on this, I never read Sandman so I can't say a bunch about it anyway.
However, manga really does have its merits. Essentially, it's a lot like reading a play, since the story only has dialogue, and in schools many people read Shakespeare (which, if you analyze it carefully, can have a lot in common with manga). Manga's only difference is that there are artistic components as well as literary components. Ironically, this would make identification of some literary techniques, such as symbolism and mood, a bit easier as we have a visual aid to help our understanding (whereas in plays we had to think more deeply and read in between the words to figure out that the hankerchief is *gasp* pink in Othello).
One of the main disadvantages that I can see is the lack of imagination Manga will give to future generations. Being that the picture is right in front of the person reading the manga, the manga won't probably stir much up for visual interpretation. Manga may also cause children to be less tolerable to reading long novels, since mangas are usually pretty short; children these days are already reading less and less, and manga probably wouldn't do much to help that downtrend.

And I really don't care if a person calls anime manga or manga anime. I enjoy it for myself and I don't bother with what other people say. If they really wanted to get into it they would learn proper terms on their own; if they don't, o well.

[Last Exile]

Roarkiller, 19 of the top 20 selling comic/graphic novels every month in the US are manga! Only SPiderman is in the top 20 and it's usually about 16th or something.

Yeah, manga and anime always suffers that stigma, Kayla. But this is a ghood idea to get kids to read. I've shown my manga to teen guys and they LOVE IT! I'm even talking about the less-action + more emotional mangas too.

It is a booming market which is worth captialising on. It's a clever marketing move more than anything else. But hey, if kids start reading again, I'm not complaining. ;)

[Razola]

They make kids read Shakespeare, and that's full of violence.

[Last Exile]

They make kids read Shakespeare, and that's full of violence.

It was in English. Hence no stigma. Despite the fact SHakespeare slept with 13 year old girls and kidnapped a 14 year old girl.

[Razola]

English? You realize that he made up like half the words in his plays.

[EngiMatikul]

Shakespeare was considered crude literature at his time, but everyone just liked it anyway. It was a fad.


Perhaps manga will do the same in 300 years. And maybe just as much people would be saying "who the hell reads this... stuff" :P

EDIT: BTW I said all this in my previous post. I'm glad you guys take my posts into consideration so much when making new posts. :P

[Roarkiller]

English? You realize that he made up like half the words in his plays.

Times (or Reader's Digest or someone i don't care) named him as the greatest contributor to the english language in recent history, considering that a big percentage of words and idioms (obscene, dead as a doornail) are created by him in his plays.

In any case, Kayla and Ryan, a lot of manga is exactly nothing BUT that: sex and violence. That's their main theme, that's their selling point. It's a pity, but then its Japan we're talking about here.

That's why i love ghibli and Miyazaki :)

[EngiMatikul]

Well, I guess if you put it that way, then manga shouldn't be compared to Shakespeare, but into plays, dramas, and movies themselves. Yes, there are some good ones that everyone agrees is a masterpiece, but a majority of it is just fad stuff.

Same with manga and you stated perfect examples... some create more deep-themed works, while others just bs something to sell it.

Eeeh, and I think language barrier isn't a problem. I had to read "world literature" in my high school... including "Thousand Cranes" from Japan, and that one was pretty weird...

[Razola]

I'm going to agree with Roarkiller; there's sex and violence to add meaning and realism, and then there's appealing to teenagers.

[ryandude713]

id love it if that happened
"ok class, turn to page 26 in stg. frog"
"who can explain the sexual tensions between sgt. frog and his niece?"
stuff like that would make good debate topics