Narcissistic characters in Japanese and American animation

Abstract

Japanese animated films are known all over the world and gain more and more recognition each year. Deep and thoughtful storylines, along with simple, yet eye-catching, character designs, engage the viewers, and this engagement allows Japanese people to spread their culture even further. What differs Japanese animated characters from the characters found in Western animation is that they are not locked between being either good and brave or being cruel and evil. Japanese animated characters often resemble people living in actual present societies, similar to the Japanese one, but at the same time they also depict their complete contradictions. Among Japanese people, who generally tend to be rather respectful and appreciate cohesion, we find artists who create characters that choose to concentrate fully on themselves and who, moreover, lack simple empathy and consideration for others, i.e., show narcissistic traits. American, or Western Animation, is a source of inspiration for lots of artists and animators, who dream to work in those very famous studios someday. The stories told by Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks and others, as well as the characters became a safe place for many people, including myself. American animation industry often focuses on messages that can be easily delivered for both kids and adults. Usually these messages are conveyed through the fight between obvious good and sometimes not so obvious bad. In contrast to good characters, evil characters are often presented, but recently, the boundaries of bad in cartoons are greatly erased. In my paper I am going to present a whole series of animated characters in Japanese and in American animation who seem to fit perfectly into this category. My hypothesis is that this type of character can be easily found in both Japanese and American animated productions. I will try to prove that these fictional personalities are in fact narcissistic in one way or another. To do this, I will first discuss the notion of narcissism. I will present the origin of the concept as well as its modifications and evolution over the course of history. Additionally, I will also present the modern-day understanding of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder as conceptualized by contemporary experts in the field of psychology and psychiatry (DSM-V). In the second chapter, I will discuss characters from the following anime series: Death Note, My Hero Academia, Black Clover. In my discussion, I will try to show in what way they can be qualified as exhibiting narcissistic characteristics or even outright narcissistic personalities. In the third chapter, I will carry out the same task as in the second one, but this time taking a closer look at certain American animations in which we find narcissistic characters. In the last chapter, I will present an overview of the themes discussed, trying to draw substantial conclusions as well as presenting a comparison of the type of characters I am discussing in my paper.