Ask John: Is Hollywood Co-opting Shoujo?

Question:
Have shojo and shojo archetypes been co-opted by Hollywood? While high school/adolescent angst shows and movies are nothing new in either the U.S. or Japan, I’ve noticed an emphasis on more productions with assertive female characters in recent years, such as Hannah Montana, Juno, and Twilight. There even seems to be a Kite/Gunslinger Girl-esque production in the works called Hanna. And even Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass seems like she’s modeled after the typical magical girl, but with guns instead of a wand. Plus there’s The Spirited Away-esque Coraline, which even Neil Gaiman had to slightly concede had similar themes.

So is this recent surge of “girl power”-themed entertainment an attempt to copy and “Westernize” the formulas and ideas common in shojo in order to “steal” potential female consumers who might have otherwise purchased shojo products instead? And if so, why is it so hard for anime and manga companies to reclaim these demographics through the newer viewers of those alternate programs? For example, Viz should’ve jumped on the Twilight bandwagon to openly advertise Vampire Knight in theaters where the films were playing. And since Naruto already makes money for Viz, why not try convincing Disney to let them broadcast Full Moon instead? In addition, wouldn’t trying to get Haruhi on Syfy and spinning it as a Japanese Veronica Mars have been more beneficial to Bandai than betting on Gurren Lagaan? I feel there have been some lost promotional opportunities for R1 companies lately, and that if they don’t expand to non-anime/manga buyers with similar tastes, they’ll lose their turf to these wannabes. FUNi’s management evidently feels something similar if it’s actively engaging in co-productions.

Answer:
I’d like to say that Hollywood has been inspired by Japan’s successful shoujo genre and now seeks to adopt that creative strategy to reach a larger American “tween” and teen girl audience. However, I think that theory may give too much credit to the influence of shoujo in America. I have little doubt that Hollywood screenwriters and producers may be aware of the shoujo phenomena, but I see little reason to believe that Hollywood is consciously trying to usurp a grip Japanese shoujo has secured on American consumers. Author Neil Gaiman has agreed that similarities between his Coraline and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away exist but has asserted that the similarities are merely coincidental, particularly since his Coraline novel was finished a year before details about Miyazaki’s Spirited Away movie began coming to light. That situation probably parallels larger circumstances. I don’t believe that shoujo is popular or influential enough in America to sway Hollywood. Rather, I think that perceived similarities are merely coincidental.

4Kids Entertainment acquired domestic distribution rights to shoujo anime series Ojamajo Doremi and Tokyo Mew Mew in a deliberate attempt to market to an American female demographic. Neither attempt has proven especially successful. ICv2’s report of the 25 most popular manga titles in America during first quarter 2010 includes only six shoujo titles. Presumably, if Hollywood genuinely found shoujo attractive and aggressively wanted to court the consumer audience that supports imported shoujo, producers would consider not only adopting the style of shoujo but also adapting literal shoujo properties. Titles including Hana Yori Dango, Love Com, Glass Mask, Itazura na Kiss, and Vampire Knight are particularly accessible because they’re not especially heavily rooted in Japanese culture. These titles, among others, could easily be remade for American audiences. Logically, if Hollywood wants to attract shoujo fans, there’s no better way than adapting actual shoujo titles. But this hasn’t happened. I don’t see evidence that Japan’s shoujo genre has popular, successful, or profitable enough in America to convince Hollywood to usurp it.

I’m not trying to suggest that Japan has been ahead of the curve or that Hollywood has been taking inspiration from Japan on this particular front. I think that it’s merely a coincidence that Hollywood, and especially the Walt Disney company, has discovered and begun marketing to a huge receptive audience of American girls. Many of these girls may also be attracted to imported shoujo manga and anime. Whether this audience embraced shoujo first or Hannah Montana first is, I think, insignificant. I’ve read Millar & Romita, Jr.’s Kick-Ass comic series and watched Matthew Vaughn’s movie adaptation. Apart from Hit-Girl wearing a brightly colored wig reminiscent of an anime character’s hair color, I don’t see any striking parallels between Hit-Girl and a Japanese magical girl. The concept of the upcoming American action film Hanna seems more reminiscent of Luc Besson’s 1990 French action movie Nikita than the Japanese Gunslinger Girl franchise.

External critics can always criticize and question the decisions of American anime distributors because outside observers don’t know the constraints that particular licensors must abide. America’s anime industry perhaps can and should expand its marketing efforts to attract attention from outside the already established fan audience. However, doing so is expensive and particularly difficult for an industry already financially struggling just to sustain its core (theoretically) supportive demographic. Convincing outside distributors and broadcasters to take a chance on anime and manga is a challenge because mainstream entertainment industry executives are familiar with the tastes of their audience and aware that very few anime titles have ever broken through to mainstream American success. Furthermore, American distributors are obligated to adhere to limitations contained in their licensing contracts and the sometimes restrictive wishes of Japanese master licensors that are concerned about the scope and impact of American exposure.

In recent years Hollywood has turned out a variety of productions that appear to have thematic similarities to Japanese shoujo manga. There’s little evidence to suggest that these American productions have been directly inspired by shoujo manga, or that they’re a deliberate effort to lure American shoujo fans away from manga to domestic products. Since Hollywood has demonstrated the existence of a young female audience hungry for girl-oriented entertainment, America’s anime industry could, theoretically, attempt to woo that audience, but I’m not convinced that the domestic industry has the resources or resolve to do so. I’m also not convinced that there’s a compelling reason to do so. The American female market may not be as big or as profitable as it seems. 4Kids has moved back toward licensing programming for boys. Warner has just contracted Japan’s Studio 4°C to produce a ThunderCats revival. Bandai & FUNimation’s co-productions thus far have been targeted at male viewers. And the majority of the best selling manga titles in America are shounen, not shoujo.