Ask John: Are the Tastes of Hardcore Anime Fans Too Exclusive?

Question:
I’ve heard that some anime fans won’t watch American made movies. They’ll only watch anime movies. Doesn’t being an anime fan teach us to appreciate and learn about another culture? What do you think about fans singling out an entire genre?

Answer:
I often hear criticism about some hardcore anime fans being too focused on anime and ignoring other types of film or animation. My perspective on this situation is relatively simple. I believe that individual hobbyists should watch whatever they like. Watching a wide variety of international film can force a person to become more knowledgeable about cinema, but there’s no need for someone to watch a variety of film if the viewer isn’t interested in diversity or knowledge about film. To provide an analogy, I happen to be a big fan of American professional football, but I don’t watch college football, or other sports including soccer and baseball. Am I irresponsible, or a disgraceful football fan or sports fan because I’m only interested in pro football? In my opinion, no. Since I like pro football, I watch pro football. There’s no need for me to watch baseball just because it’s a sport and I happen to like pro football, which is also a sport. Likewise, fans who like Japanese animation shouldn’t be obligated to also watch Italian thrillers, Indian musicals or Russian dramas just because those genres are also “foreign film.”

Someone that watches only anime is a specialist, or has very select taste. I don’t believe that anyone is obligated to like everything, or even like things vaguely related to a chosen hobby. Watching Japanese animation does encourage Americans to expand their cultural, intellectual, and artistic perceptions and awareness. This education allows fans to make informed comparisons between Japanese and other foreign film. Viewers who ignorantly criticize film genres, or whom adopt uneducated stereotypes about particular genres of film or literature are irresponsibly narrow-minded and thoughtless. Being narrow-minded and inconsiderate isn’t limited to just people whose tastes are very exclusive.

Observers have a right, arguably even an obligation, to criticize the ignorance of the misinformed or discriminatory. However, observers have no logical reason to object to the tastes of rational and reasonable people who choose to appreciate only one cinematic style or genre. There’s no reason why an anime fan must also be a foreign film fan or a fan of American movies. There’s nothing wrong with being just an anime fan. Making ignorant statements about certain films or types of films is irresponsible, but that has nothing to do with having selective tastes.