Essays: Hero/ine as Idol

I've been browsing through Contemporary Japan and Popular Culture, a lovely anthology edited by John Whittier Treat, and something has caught my attention. I thought I'd run it by you.

Several of the essays in this collection deal with the figure of the idol, in Japan. Some young man or woman who looks good and can sing on key is picked out by producers. Songs are written for them by a professional songwriter, a choreographer charts out fairly simple moves for each song which are repeated quite precisely. Same for the stage outfits. Same for the stage persona, which is designated by the producers. For a year or three or five, this young man or woman is in the spotlight, fantastically popular. Then they vanish into oblivion and it's time for the next batch.

I was aware of this production machine. What I wasn't aware of until these essays pointed it out is the extent to which the idol is chosen out of those with no particular talent precisely because they have no particular talent. That's a significant part of their value--that they are just like the audience members.

It's a fascinating dynamic. Here I am up in the lights and glitz, the idol says, Look how different I am from you; but you can feel that you're up here with me, far from your boring life that's so unlike mine, because I'm just like you.

Now. Think of the leading characters of some of the more smashingly popular anime shows. Usagi of Sailor Moon. Taichi, Daisuke and Takato of Digimon. Miaka of Fushigi Yuugi. These characters are uniformly average. Average intelligence and below average grades; athletic in the boys' cases, but always shown up by someone better; clumsy in the girls' cases; frequently gluttonous; totally undistinguished by any especial talent.

Yet, these characters are the leaders, the central figure around which all the others, often conspicuously talented others, revolve. The thing that makes this so seems to be the single qualification of a good heart. These characters are the openhearted, generous, trusting ones. This is what draws their companions to them and inclines their companions to be led by them.

I suspect that these figures are even more powerful cultural ciphers than the idols themselves, because the circumstances that place these ordinary characters in extraordinary adventures are completely arbitrary. On top of that, they're still shown going about everyday lives, going to school, over to friends' houses, etc. The dynamic is certainly the same, though.

You're here too, because I'm just like you.