Originally posted by DrFrag@Apr 22 2005, 03:52 PM
Is there another version? (A summary, that is. Obviously this is more encompassing.)
Quoted from Adolph: The Half-Aryan (volume 3), and comes from the biographer Sakurai (I don't know the whole name).
"...sums up the basics of Tezuka's vision as follows: (1) a critique of the tendency to exclude that which is different (that is, discrimination), (2) a deep suspicion of faith in absolutes (that is, ideology), (3) a conception of existence as cycles of destruction and rebirth, and (4) an ecological view of the interdependence of all living things."
Then of course we have Tezuka's quote which you have said already. That this quote is deeper than might at first be guessed is spelled out more plainly here. Tezuka's themes are not 'peace on earth, joy to the world', as you know. I think he is an important humanitarian voice of the 20th century and it is interesting that his work comes through comics where he can use the medium to amplify his themes in ways impossible to traditional authors. There's one Tezuka page where they shows a picture book where a mother fox (I think it is a fox) kills a cute bunny or some such critter for her kit. The child fox is horrified, but this is pure Tezuka--you can see point 3 and 4 right there, perhaps even a bit of 2; especially when you acknowledge that the mother was once like the child, and has herself rejected a more idealistic view and herself become a killer (by necessity). I think a lot of children's lit in the 60's and 70's (if not even film) also moved toward more humanitarian themes in the west, but this was ultimately streamlined out (by the early 80's) and now to see how these deeper messages are retained in a lot of Japanese works seems quite strange (and refreshing).
Eh, anway, sorry to go on and on...
