Because I am the luckiest person EVER, I've been chatting with the fabulous and sparkly ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
esmenet about gender in Rumiko Takahashi's manga Ranma 1/2. It made me remember this godawful analysis of gender in Ranma 1/2 I read a while back (Akira and Ranma 1/2: The Monstrous Adolescent by Susan Jollife Napier, available as part of a Google Books preview for USAians). While arguing that in Ranma 1/2 "boundaries are reinscribed into the conventions of a heterosexual hierarchical society" with a straight face (ahahahaha), she said this. (Out of spite, I fixed a sentence. My correction is in bold and CAPSLOCK):
( AHAHAHAHAHA. Also, discussion of Ryoga's canonical creepy stalker behavior )
TL;DR:esmenet's analysis of gender in Ranma 1/2 is WAY BETTER.
*And by "complicated" I don't mean "emasculating." Ryoga is very strong and capable--and Ranma's first serious threat--but he doesn't quite fit the very strict box of Shining Maleness that exists IN HIS OWN HEAD. IOW, Ryoga's the one with strict ideas about masculinity--not the series. He is always telling Ranma to do things "like a man" and, in cases where Ryoga's gotten so lost he couldn't find Ranma for a fight (once in the middle of the fight they were having), he accuses RANMA of "running away" or being a "coward" and gets angry/defensive when Ranma tries to defend themself with the facts. ("You wandered off and got lost! "Don't patronize me!")
esmenet about gender in Rumiko Takahashi's manga Ranma 1/2. It made me remember this godawful analysis of gender in Ranma 1/2 I read a while back (Akira and Ranma 1/2: The Monstrous Adolescent by Susan Jollife Napier, available as part of a Google Books preview for USAians). While arguing that in Ranma 1/2 "boundaries are reinscribed into the conventions of a heterosexual hierarchical society" with a straight face (ahahahaha), she said this. (Out of spite, I fixed a sentence. My correction is in bold and CAPSLOCK):Ryoga, one of Ranma's competitors transforms into an adorable miniature pig, unhappily at first, but he becomes increasingly philosophical about it as he realizes this allows him to sleep with Akane. It is clear therefore that male is the norm, and it is the female that is one of a variety of attributes (including panda-ness, pig-ness, [DISABILITY],) that signify difference. Furthermore, being female is coded as being inferior to being a pig or a panda.
( AHAHAHAHAHA. Also, discussion of Ryoga's canonical creepy stalker behavior )
TL;DR:
esmenet's analysis of gender in Ranma 1/2 is WAY BETTER.*And by "complicated" I don't mean "emasculating." Ryoga is very strong and capable--and Ranma's first serious threat--but he doesn't quite fit the very strict box of Shining Maleness that exists IN HIS OWN HEAD. IOW, Ryoga's the one with strict ideas about masculinity--not the series. He is always telling Ranma to do things "like a man" and, in cases where Ryoga's gotten so lost he couldn't find Ranma for a fight (once in the middle of the fight they were having), he accuses RANMA of "running away" or being a "coward" and gets angry/defensive when Ranma tries to defend themself with the facts. ("You wandered off and got lost! "Don't patronize me!")
