Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative - ISSN 1780-678X
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Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative - ISSN 1780-678X |
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Young Girls, Cats, and Camcorders |
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Author: Heike JÜNGST Abstract (E): The illustrations of Japanese instruction manuals for camcorders are different from those produced in Europe. It is interesting to note that most illustrations, no matter whether they show screen shots or demonstrate the correct handling of the camcorder, show young girls. This article provides an analysis of some examples from a variety of Japanese camcorder producers. Abstract (F): Les illustrations des modes d'emploi des vidéocaméras vendues au Japon sont différentes de celles vendues en Europe. Or, ces manuels ne montrent pas seulement comment il faut utiliser les caméras, elles contiennent aussi des images de jeunes qu'il est intéressant d'analyser en elles-mêmes. Keywords: Manga, instruction manuals |
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If you buy any kind of electrical gadget in Europe, you will be furnished with operating instructions or other kinds of documentation which are multilingual, often lack pictures and on the whole look extremely sober. If there are any illustrations, they will probably just show the wonderful gadget itself; sometimes, operations are illustrated more clearly by adding a human hand. These hands are politically correct: slightly artificial (many of these illustrations in fact look more like gloves) they make it impossible to decide whether the hand belongs to a man or a woman, a black or white person, an old or a young person. We hardly ever see a complete person or a face (cf. Nickl, 23). Neutrality rules. However, none of this is true if you buy a camcorder. Camcorders for the European market are generally produced in Japan, along with the technical documentation (e.g. by Panasonic, Sharp, Sony, JVC, Hitachi). The pictures we find in these operating instructions are culture-specific. It is of course possible to localize culture-specific pictures; a whole industry is busy localizing all kinds of computer documentation and web pages. Localizing means that pictures which are specific for a certain source culture are replaced by pictures from the target culture when translating the text. A typical example is the localized tree: a fir tree shown in operating instructions meant for northern Europe might become a palm tree in the export version for Arab countries. In this article, I refer to operating instructions in Japanese as "Japanese instructions" or (J) whereas "European instructions" (E) is used for instructions for the European market in European languages. However, we have to bear in mind that they, too, are of Japanese origin. As said before, these operating instructions are not localized. Moreover, they look different from the sober European technical documentation described above. Pictures of people and animals abound. This is partly due to the product itself: if you want to show the correct position when operating a camcorder you necessarily have to show a person (e.g. Sharp Viewcam, 47, and VL-HL2 [J], 20; identical with [E]). If you use screen shots, you normally use screen shots of things people really film with a camcorder: People. Representing people is a culture-specific thing. If you do not draw the most simplified kind of stick people, sex, age, race can normally be deduced from the picture. This is true for pictures showing the operation of the camcorder as well as for the screenshots. Particularly the screenshots tend to have an emotional content, quite separate from their technical content. The technical content might be a demonstration of what a wipe or a zoom look like. The non-technical contents offer a choice of pleasant situations in which people might actually use a camcorder: weddings, birthdays, sports events, visits to the zoo. This makes the user anticipate the fun s/he is going to have with the camcorder. All the people we can see in these screenshots are unbelievably happy (they probably enjoy being filmed with such a wonderful camera ?). Sometimes, photographs are used for screenshots. However, many screenshots are rather small, and as line drawings can be printed with less fuss and costs, most screenshots are line drawings. The events depicted in the screenshots are sometimes culture-specific, e.g. a family enjoying a sushi picnic (Panasonic NV-S5 [J], 76). If these highly culture-specific pictures do not contain information which is absolutely necessary for the user, they do not appear in the European version. Instead of being localized (hard-boiled eggs instead of sushi should do fine) they are simply chucked out. However, some of them do contain information which is absolutely necessary, so that they have to remain in the operating instructions. This is true for a girl singing karaoke (Hitachi VM-2800E [E], 52) in a set of operating instructions published in German in the mid-nineties when karaoke had not yet reached Germany. Even more culture-specific is the very popular Japanese idea of representing rain in a way that resembles the kanji, the character, used for rain. The frames of the window and the raindrops together make up the shape of that kanji. In this case, aesthetic extra information is lost on the user in other parts of the world. It is the primary function of the picture which is important for the user: the use of the camcorder, the technical functions. It is not just the ideas and situations in the pictures which are highly culture-specific. It is also the representation of the people themselves. Sony and JVC use funny little men with huge heads (cf. Schmitt, 169, on the same kind of comic person in Japanese car manuals). They look just like something you might find in an American or European cartoon strip but unfortunately sometimes do not survive into the European version. Neither do pictures of smiling camcorders or a smiling sun in the sky (Panasonic NV-S5 [J], 70). However, illustrations in a different style are more common and can also be found in the European versions. These illustrations show slim, young people - normally girls. They appear in the screenshots which might lead to the conclusion that there is a man behind the camcorder filming the girl. However, whenever the correct camera position is demonstrated, it is demonstrated with a girl as well (as a feminist friend of mine scornfully said: "This means the camcorder is so easy to use even women can do it."). Examples would be Sharp VL-HL2 [J], passim; Sharp Viewcam, 47, fig. 1 here, Panasonic NV-S5 [J], passim; Panasonic NV-V10E [E], title page. Sometimes, young women are shown filming other young women (Panasonic NV.S5 [J], 70).
These young girls look just like shoojo-manga heroines (detailed descriptions can be found e.g. in Roedel, 136, and Berndt, 95). Huge eyes or oval-shaped eyes which consist of pupils only; certain hairstyles; a very small mouth, often slightly open and a heart-shaped face (fig. 2, taken from Hitachi VM-2800E [E]).
Hairstyles vary, but they have parallels in the manga universe. Tousled hairstyles (very much like that of e.g. Officer Rei in Neon Genesis Evangelion, cf. fig. 3 here taken from Sony CCD-TR 3200E [E]) can be found just as often as extremely long, wavy hair. Often, the girls wear bows or Alice bands in their hair (particularly in Panasonic and Hitachi operating instructions), like for example the female heroines in Ranma ½ or generally in shoojo-manga.
Although all these elements must be classified as culture-specific, they will not cause any kind of misunderstanding. It is more likely that European readers misread the meaning of a wide open mouth right in the middle of the left cheek of one of the girls. This does of course signify shock (the drawing illustrates a warning, fig. 4, taken from Panasonic NV-V10E [E]), but to readers not familiar with this drawing convention it might very well mean nothing at all. Even today, with the enormous popularity manga enjoy at the moment, there are people who have never read manga or watched anime.
Apart from girls, we find animals. Cats come first. Often they resemble the fat little mascot cat Kitty-chan (cf. fig. 2 here) and behave more like people than like animals. We only have to think of the manga series What's Michael? to get a clear picture of sweet girls with wavy hair playing with cats. The general preference for showing cats (or other cuddly animals with pointed ears like Totoro or the piglet in Ranma ½) and girls together which can be found throughout Japan is not given up in these technical texts. A girl and a cat looking out of the window on a rainy day have almost become a topos in manga and anime (e.g. McCarthy, 28). The problem of localization has been mentioned earlier. Sony and Sharp both claim that they localize their operating instructions. However, these localizations are incomplete. Sony does offer pictures of European people drawn in a realistic style (Sony CCD-TR650E/TR750E, 18; CCD-TR3200E, 17) in their European operating instructions. However, the funny little guys are still there, just like the slender girls with their wild hairstyles. Sharp, too, localize part of their operating instructions (Viewcam, 35) but use manga-style drawings in the same book (23, 38, 47). Panasonic used pseudo-localization at least once in 1995: the typical Panasonic girl with her long, wavy, black hair and the big black eyes suddenly makes her appearance as a blonde with (probably) blue eyes (NV-S85E [E], 70, 76). However, she still looks like a manga heroine. After all, Sailor Moon has blonde hair and blue eyes, too. How sexist or non-sexist are these pictures? Does it make sense to represent almost exclusively young women in these pictures? These questions are actually very difficult to answer. Personally, I would prefer more variety - not just as far as gender is concerned, I'd also like to see far more old people in the pictures. Lots of them actually buy camcorders. However, it must be said these illustrations are much better than most things you get in European-made operating instructions for any kind of electrical gadget. The almost complete replacement of aesthetics with down-to-earthness is rather depressing. Girls, cats, and camcorders - her we find the world of manga entering European everyday life, bringing aesthetics to an all to often boring field of visual design and hopefully providing some enjoyment for those reading the operating instructions for their camcorders.
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Heike JÜNGST
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