So as a reminder, people were talking about the importance/role of dependence on the formation of "self"... for lack of better word. Whether it be school, or parents, or even social structure, to what degree they are influential.
Here are some other links that I think you guys might find interesting, concerning the pros and cons of what is being called "helicopter parenting" by U.S. experts.
Interesting quote from "Anatomy of Dependence" by Takeo Doi, a Japanese psychologist.
遠慮：enryo
"Enryo is restraint or holding back, with the idea that a person must not presume too much on another's good will. in a parent-child relationship, there is no enryo. In other relationships, enryo decreases proportionately with intimacy and increases with distance. "
遠慮：enryo
"Enryo is restraint or holding back, with the idea that a person must not presume too much on another's good will. in a parent-child relationship, there is no enryo. In other relationships, enryo decreases proportionately with intimacy and increases with distance. "
I just wanted to comment that this concept of the "narrowing system," where there is one path to success, is becoming a global thing, mainly in capitalist nations. Even though we read Nation of Wimps, many of you know that this is not just an American thing - scholars in Japan have been talking about it for years. This has been attributed to some very general cultural reasons are: emphasis on efficiency, and the necessity of conformity for harmony.
Some links from the NYTimes:
The hikikomori trend (people withdrawing from society). This will be more important once we get to Spirited Away - keep in mind the baby, and Chihiro's own struggles.
This one is a defense of helicopter parents:
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/in-defense-of-helicopter-parents/?scp=7&sq=japan%20parent%20hikikomori&st=cseThis week we're starting Porco Rosso, so I don't think we'll have more questions for Kiki...
And sorry I failed on posting last Wednesday!!
This week we'll have some Porco Rosso resources up early for you guys to check out after our discussion and we can discuss it more indepth then.
7 comments:
Here is an interesting link for Hikikomori, translated posts from the popular futaba (2chan) image boards. Ignore the rest of the posts after the numbered responses.
http://4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=965262&x=The+life+of+a+hikikomori+
I guess hikikomori are an example of "bad" parenting and societal pressure when combined with a less than strong-willed person. The opposite of what Miyazaki would have liked from what we've seen in Kiki. I only know so much about the Japanese education system as i learned in my previous classes, but it seems more "narrow" than ours in the sense that most students have to do well from the beginning to get into the right high school which will lead them to the right university, and then the right life time job. The pressure or expectations to succeed can be seen in the high rates of literacy and high school attendance (94% attend, 85%+ graduate, america has 70~% graduation rate) despite high school not being mandatory (none of them are free either!). Some people can feel that if they fail at one step up that ladder, they've failed at life. Like a more extreme version of not getting into the perfect college here or something, there's no other way out other than to hide. Obv there are many other factors that make this a culture-centric problem though, I think it very interesting in comparison to Kiki. Where Kiki is given free reign of what to do at the age of 13, and while that is unheard of and in this era, it's interesting that it would be more plausible in japan due to lower crime rates, but is not practiced much because of the need to succeed and maintain order, the very order that creates such a stable enviroment.
There gap between normalized and stunted social growth seem to be deepening severely, and no one really knows how to fix it. The Japanese economic bubble bursting in 89 and stock recession in 1997, and current world market do not help, most parents would not loosen up on their children at a time like this, what else is there to do?
I read the article on hikkomori and was extremely interested in the entire concept. I suppose it is an extreme example of the negatives of overparenting in an overly uniform societal setting.
Besides that, I feel that the need for being "different", for having variety in all aspects of life (interests, goals, occupations, hobbies, etc.) is an extremely necessary aspect to a booming society. When everything is uniform, everything stays the same and follows the same path. When things become like this--stagnant--it is when cultures and societies start to "die off" or decline. It is the dynamic aspect of change that allows for life to continue living in abundance.
This idea can even go back to the idea of Darwinism--it is the things that change in organisms (ie: adapting to a changing environment, evolving) that allow them to flourish in the world.
Having read the articles about the hikkomori, I am actually surprised because I didn't know such circumstances existed. At the same time, I find it difficult to understand how a person can lock himself up for an extended period of time without the parents making a serious effort to get him out of the room. I believe that the parents are partly to blame for these kinds of behaviors.
Coupled with an extremely stressful environment, especially in regards to school work and excelling, it is easy for individuals to falter. Tying things back to the movie, Kiki, at one point or another, could've been another hikkomori after she realized she was losing her powers. It is at the instance where an individual, especially a growing child, questions his or her significance that they become weak in the mind. Nonethelss, Kiki was a portrayal of an example where a little time and friendship helped her get out of her funk. Still, it was a collective effort on her part and the people around her that helped in the end. The same may be said for people such as the hikkomori.
One of the reasons I think that it becomes harder and harder for the hikikomori's to leave their rooms is that it's all in their head. When the problems are that close to one's self, it becomes hard to distinguish the problem clearly and see it objectively.
The other side of it can be seen as a kind of institutionalization akin to what convicts experience after being in prison for decades. In their rooms they are someone, but out there in the world, they are no one. In fact, so much time has passed that they no longer remember how to function in the real world, the only know how to function in their own world.
This kind of self-imprisonment is really insidious. Once it begins, it's tremendously difficult to stop after it gains momentum.
I think that this isolating behavior has a lot to do with being frozen by fears, lacking zeal in life, and missing a strong support mechanism when in moments of crises. The articles reminded me of some friends of mine who came forward about some similiar struggles.
The stuggle to stay on top of schoolwork, housing, and social issues led them to crash at a point that made it hard for them to want to go outside. It is so alarming to find that I find more and more of my friends experiencing hardship in this way, and I find the statistics of depression personally relevant as this has started to affect people I know to the first degree.
Lillian Guo
These articles are actually quite frightening. It's interesting how the Hikikomori pattern and the Nation of Wimps topic are similar despite the difference in culture. There's that obvious assimilation versus individuality subject, but on both sides, the need to accomplish no matter what consequence results in devastating results. The Nation of Wimps article about helicopter parents reminded me of several childhood friends and their parents who gave their time and effort and then some to their children, and expected the best. Many of the posters have already stated that (and implied in some of the articles) that the reason for these social problems are because of the parents and societal pressure. So then I wonder, how are those people doing? I can't really say I've experienced any of the effects outright from people I've met in my adult life (well, partially, but not outright). However the effect is pretty scary. Although the articles delve deeply into the problems, they never talk about a possible solution.
The hikikomori article was very interesting. I guess it can be an example of over-parenting because the parents have such high expectations for their children and sometimes the children just can't follow those expectations. Thus, they feel guilty that they can't live up to their parents expectations and thus confine themselves to a room. I think that one reason why this isn't as common in the west is because the parents can't support their child. The article mentioned that most Japanese parents could probably support their child for a lifetime. Another thing mentioned in the article is that the Japanese parents seem to be afraid to kick their child out because they think that their child will not succeed. On the other hand, I think that American parents are more likely to kick their kid out. Also, if a person in America fails to live up to his parents expectations, he/she has other outlets. He/she may turn to drugs, alcohol and other things like that rather than just stay in his/her room. I think in Japan, these outlets are not a accessible (sp?) as they are in America. Thus, that would lead Japanese kids to become confined to their rooms.
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