Kiri ☂ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
taotrooper) wrote2007-05-18 04:49 pm
taotrooper) wrote2007-05-18 04:49 pm
Entry tags:
Today everything is retarded, including me
- Exactly, LJ. Birthday reminders. Now THAT is an useful notification, not the stalkerish "ooh, let me know when a friend gets a v-gift!" kind. I mean, what the fuck is that for? Especially for Valentine's day, that would only make you very bitter or very nosey.
Thank you SO much for the birthday notifications, really. I needed those so badly.And about time, too *cough*June19th*cough*
- I'm not into josei, I'm not into Honey and Clover, but I'm really glad it got licensed in Spain because it made a lot of my friends happy ^^
- Yesterday or the day before, a discussion about the gender issues in Kino no Tabi took place at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
kinonotabi. For I was bored and stuff, I commented and suddenly it turned into a tl;dr character analysis without expecting it. Since I thought it was interesting, I'm copy-pasting what I was saying over there:
I thought Kino was a boy when I started watching, but I blame it on my other animanga fandoms for the amount of androgynous males and asexuals (hi CLAMP!)
Still, it didn't matter to me when Kino's past was revealed. Like all people above me said, it makes it just as cool or even more, and it doesn't really matter that much. After all, the canon give us examples of both male and female travelers.
And when I think hard about it, that's the thing. The only thing Kino wishes as a character, besides awareness of the world and humankind, is freedom. She wants a neutral freedom, and not only in a time-space frame: it includes gender and age in a psychological sense. I see the reasons from two contrasting sources: her parents (country) and her two mentor figures. Adult!Kino taught her that age was relative, and the concept she and her people had of it was a very extreme and dangerous approach. Her master taught her that gender is just a physical thing, you can be whatever and however you want to be, and you don't have to act like a delicate little flower just because you're a girl. Their influences probably clashed big time with what her parents expected of her. I think it's safe to say that her society was expecting her not only to leave childish things and work in the family business when she had the surgery, but also to act like a perfect lady, get married soon, and have babies. It's not just a rebellion, but Kino's wish to stand in a middle ground and become like the two persons who saved and changed her life. Adult!Kino was gentle and had fun, unlike any man in her country. Master was tough and smart, unlike any woman in her country. But also, they both were kind and open-minded.
I'm not surprised she adapted her personality to be unlike any gender. She probably wishes to become like both A!Kino and Master at the same time -without stop being her own individual- while diverging entirely from her country's clichés. My theory is that she talks like a boy not only for what happened in the first movie, but because probably in her hometown it was unthinkable for a girl to use male speech. To her, though, it doesn't matter anymore. She doesn't want to be either a girl or a boy, a child or an adult. She wants to be a traveler and to be free, period.
I talked too much, so back to my point. Sure, if a fanbrat was waiting for pretty guys with guns just because of the art -and probably Shizu/Kino yaoi-esque subtext based in some anime illustrations-, I would't be surprised it's not up to their expectations.
- Okay, if you're not going to come to uni to talk about the assignment we incidentally still haven't begun and it's due next Friday, and were planning to take the holiday bridge, you could've TOLD ME SO. I could've stayed home finishing the diagrams on my computer, you asshats!
I HATE HATE HATE group assignments.
Thank you SO much for the birthday notifications, really. I needed those so badly.
- I'm not into josei, I'm not into Honey and Clover, but I'm really glad it got licensed in Spain because it made a lot of my friends happy ^^
- Yesterday or the day before, a discussion about the gender issues in Kino no Tabi took place at
kinonotabi. For I was bored and stuff, I commented and suddenly it turned into a tl;dr character analysis without expecting it. Since I thought it was interesting, I'm copy-pasting what I was saying over there: I thought Kino was a boy when I started watching, but I blame it on my other animanga fandoms for the amount of androgynous males and asexuals (hi CLAMP!)
Still, it didn't matter to me when Kino's past was revealed. Like all people above me said, it makes it just as cool or even more, and it doesn't really matter that much. After all, the canon give us examples of both male and female travelers.
And when I think hard about it, that's the thing. The only thing Kino wishes as a character, besides awareness of the world and humankind, is freedom. She wants a neutral freedom, and not only in a time-space frame: it includes gender and age in a psychological sense. I see the reasons from two contrasting sources: her parents (country) and her two mentor figures. Adult!Kino taught her that age was relative, and the concept she and her people had of it was a very extreme and dangerous approach. Her master taught her that gender is just a physical thing, you can be whatever and however you want to be, and you don't have to act like a delicate little flower just because you're a girl. Their influences probably clashed big time with what her parents expected of her. I think it's safe to say that her society was expecting her not only to leave childish things and work in the family business when she had the surgery, but also to act like a perfect lady, get married soon, and have babies. It's not just a rebellion, but Kino's wish to stand in a middle ground and become like the two persons who saved and changed her life. Adult!Kino was gentle and had fun, unlike any man in her country. Master was tough and smart, unlike any woman in her country. But also, they both were kind and open-minded.
I'm not surprised she adapted her personality to be unlike any gender. She probably wishes to become like both A!Kino and Master at the same time -without stop being her own individual- while diverging entirely from her country's clichés. My theory is that she talks like a boy not only for what happened in the first movie, but because probably in her hometown it was unthinkable for a girl to use male speech. To her, though, it doesn't matter anymore. She doesn't want to be either a girl or a boy, a child or an adult. She wants to be a traveler and to be free, period.
I talked too much, so back to my point. Sure, if a fanbrat was waiting for pretty guys with guns just because of the art -and probably Shizu/Kino yaoi-esque subtext based in some anime illustrations-, I would't be surprised it's not up to their expectations.
- Okay, if you're not going to come to uni to talk about the assignment we incidentally still haven't begun and it's due next Friday, and were planning to take the holiday bridge, you could've TOLD ME SO. I could've stayed home finishing the diagrams on my computer, you asshats!
I HATE HATE HATE group assignments.