More insights into the mind of wota, or something like that. I had posted a similar conversation to this not too long ago, and hastily deleted it after I realized that everything in that one was explained more adequately here...so if you're wondering why that post disappeared, here's your reason.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
ZacCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I'm not gonna lieCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
sometimes I think that reality TV stars here have more depth than idols.CatchFiveBats:
Well, they're normal people just doing what they want to do.CatchFiveBats:
People have depth, that makes sense. XDCatchFiveBats:
But I think some idols have a lot of depth to them, really.CatchFiveBats:
Especially ones that have gone on to other things.CatchFiveBats:
Aya and Miki being the obvious examples. XDCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I guess. I dunno, I just hear the canned responses. CatchFiveBats:
That's just Japanese culture though.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Yeah, but it doesn't really change that it seems flat.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Like, where do you see that Aya and Miki are interesting?CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
And I'm not asking to bust your ballsCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I'm seriously askingCatchFiveBats:
Honestly, I couldn't tell you.CatchFiveBats:
Not specifically.CatchFiveBats:
But I know, from how much time I've spent watching them on TV shows, and in concerts, and at promo events, and in DVD magazines, and in everything I've watched (including recent TV appearances where they weren't parading around as idols, but as musicians, and real people) that there's depth to them.CatchFiveBats:
On the surface, it doesn't seem that way.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Yeah, but how do you know they're not just canning the same "I wanna make people happy, lucky lucky I wanna give dreams" responses in those shows?CatchFiveBats:
Cause they're not just saying that stuff.CatchFiveBats:
Not Aya and Miki, anyway.CatchFiveBats:
Not recently.CatchFiveBats:
But as you get involved with the idol 'thing' and get to know the girls, you see the depth to it.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
mmm....CatchFiveBats:
It's the difference between a casual observer and a hardcore fan. XDCatchFiveBats:
There's depth to everything if you spend enough time with it. :PCatchFiveBats:
And those who argue against that just haven't been involved with it like the fans have, to risk sounding like an elitist dick.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I suppose...I just don't know if companies capitalize on their personalities or if they mold them into idols.CatchFiveBats:
I think it's a little bit of both.CatchFiveBats:
Like, they really direct the girls as they start out.CatchFiveBats:
But as the girls get more confident and develop into better idols, they're given more freedom to act on their own.CatchFiveBats:
They wouldn't stay idols if they weren't doing what they wanted to.CatchFiveBats:
There are members who have left cause they couldn't handle the idol life.CatchFiveBats:
Maiha in Berryz, for example.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
aaah....CatchFiveBats:
It seems very manufactured at first, but I think all the manufactured stuff is just the big picture...what you see from the outside looking in.CatchFiveBats:
The details, the idols themselves, are for the most part real, from what I've seen.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
aaah...and that's where understanding Japanese comes in, I suppose.CatchFiveBats:
Obviously it's not a perfect argument, but you could say the same about the members of a band here in the US.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Yeah, you could.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
But a band doesn't really market itself as an IDOL.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
They market themselves as musicians.CatchFiveBats:
Well, yes.CatchFiveBats:
But that's because musicians and idols serve different purposes.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
mmm...idols are images and examples.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
And as such they have to uphold that throughout their career.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I mean, examples for people to follow.CatchFiveBats:
They're there to inspire and be an object of affection, on top of just entertainment.CatchFiveBats:
So of course there will be some awkward or seemingly manufactured parts.CatchFiveBats:
The purpose requires it.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
mmm....seemingly? CatchFiveBats:
Seemingly and not-so-seemingly, both.CatchFiveBats:
It just depends on the situation.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
aaahCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
It feels like the times you can see a real idol for what they are is when they're on game shows and stuff.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Or so it seems to me.CatchFiveBats:
Exactly.CatchFiveBats:
Or situations where they're put on the spot, or kind of tortured a little, like the stuff the hosts pull on Utaban.CatchFiveBats:
And, from what I've seen, they still act mostly the same.CatchFiveBats:
Either they're very well-trained, or the people who manage idols know how to play off an already-existing personality.CatchFiveBats:
I'd be more inclined to the second option.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Unless those situations are written, but I doubt that. CatchFiveBats:
There's no way.CatchFiveBats:
Part of the fun of idols and TV personalities in Japan is that they're not acting.CatchFiveBats:
It's kind of like reality TV in that respect.CatchFiveBats:
And there's a blogger who has said that he approached idols like reality TV when he was into them.CatchFiveBats:
The taboo-ness of it.CatchFiveBats:
And how ridiculous it is that something like idols actually exists.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
mmmmCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I mean, I don't think it's a taboo.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
It's just something for...very open minds.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
You'd have to be open-minded to even entertain the idea of getting attached to something on a screen.CatchFiveBats:
Oh, of course.CatchFiveBats:
But closed minds are what bring taboos about in the first place. XDCatchFiveBats:
You kind of defined what a taboo is. XDCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
YeahCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
A sort of hive-mind creates societal taboos.CatchFiveBats:
mhmmCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Kind of everyone thinking the same way just cause someone in power thinks one thing.CatchFiveBats:
Yeah.CatchFiveBats:
One person thinks it, then everyone jumps on the bandwagon.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
One person of power, mind you.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I'd imagine most of the very hopelessly hardcore would agree with Aya if she suddenly decided killing jews was a good idea.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
And from there, it'd build off.CatchFiveBats:
hahaCatchFiveBats:
I suppose...but from what I've heard from a guy who actually went to Japan and saw Momusu in concert, and another idol group, most wotas aren't these pitiful lemmings who live for their idols.CatchFiveBats:
A lot of them just do it as a hobby.CatchFiveBats:
It's not a lifestyle like I've tried to make it. >.>CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
aaaahCatchFiveBats:
And I'm coming to terms with that, too.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I see...CatchFiveBats:
As much as I love all these girls I'm into, it's unrealistic to live just for that.CatchFiveBats:
When I'm at home, I live for the idols I love.CatchFiveBats:
When I'm at school or work, I live for that.CatchFiveBats:
But it's not like I can't enjoy school or work.CatchFiveBats:
Or that I'm distracted from it because I can't stop thinking of Miki. XDCatchFiveBats:
I'm perfectly capable of functioning (not that I need to make that point...).CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Oh no XDCatchFiveBats:
It's not a crippling thing...CatchFiveBats:
Just an eccentricity.CatchFiveBats:
No matter what I'm into, I'll be into it as much as I'm into idols right now.CatchFiveBats:
Idols just happen to be an entertainment form that pull you in a little further than most things.CatchFiveBats:
There are days where I just feel like sitting around and swooning over Miki all day. XDCatchFiveBats:
And, if the opportunity arises, I'll do that every now and then.CatchFiveBats:
Cause I enjoy that.CatchFiveBats:
It's what I do for fun.CatchFiveBats:
But it's not like I live just for that.CatchFiveBats:
Even if it feels like I do sometimes.CatchFiveBats:
I mean, I still do my job and enjoy myself and work hard and everything else, and often have just as good of a time as I do watching H!P concerts or looking at photobooks or whatever.CatchFiveBats:
I've always viewed myself as a being fairly versatile in what I'm able to enjoy...as in, I can enjoy just about anything if I set my mind to it.CatchFiveBats:
I don't have any idea where I'm going with this. XDCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
XD it's okay lolCatchFiveBats:
I suppose you get the point. :PCatchFiveBats:
You haven't seen this happen, but I'm even more defensive with Miki than I was with Berryz. >.<CatchFiveBats:
I've just stormed out of wotachat a couple times because someone started making sex jokes about Miki.CatchFiveBats:
I just don't want to hear it.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I haven't really noticed it! I think it's just cause we (he's referring to my group of friends here) don't do that much anymore.CatchFiveBats:
Yeah.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
The joke kinda wore itself out.
CatchFiveBats:
hahaCatchFiveBats:
Yeah.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
Unless something severely witty comes along.CatchFiveBats:
mhmmCatchFiveBats:
Anyway, that makes me feel as though I'm hopelessly lost in this whole wota thing.CatchFiveBats:
But then I go out and do 'normal' stuff, and I have no trouble at all.CatchFiveBats:
It's confusing, honestly. XDCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
XD it's just what you enjoy.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
It bugs me when Jack Thompson or any other mother mouths off about games.CatchFiveBats:
hahaCatchFiveBats:
I guess it just shows that I really enjoy my hobbies.CatchFiveBats:
It's nice that I'm able to fall that far into them and still maintain a fairly normal life, I guess.CatchFiveBats:
I see lots of kids at conventions who can't do that very well. :PCatchFiveBats:
And I've explained the whole pissed-at-Miki-jokes thing as being similar to someone making sex jokes about my girlfriend or something.CatchFiveBats:
The relationship isn't the same at all, of course.CatchFiveBats:
I know that.CatchFiveBats:
But the emotions are similar.CatchFiveBats:
If the wrong person develops that, they could end up completely hopeless. XDCatchFiveBats:
But I guess I'm somehow not that kind of person.CatchFiveBats:
Even with all the insane stuff that I think sometimes...CatchFiveBats:
Think and/or do.CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
YeahCantSpellShotaWithoutHOT:
I'll be back in a bitCatchFiveBats:
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