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マンガの文法
メディアにはそれを楽しむための文法がある。
米国のコミックスのそれはゆっくり味わうこと。
日本のマンガのそれは流し読みすること・・・。
The grammar of manga
Every popular medium has its own grammar. Or rather, no medium can become truly popular until it has established a distinctive grammar.
People need to know how to "read" a work in order to really enjoy it effortlessly and naturally. The grammar of cinema was defined in the first half of the 20th century through such films as "The Birth of a Nation" and "Citizen Kane," and makes it possible for people around the globe to "get" a Hollywood movie today.
I have been thinking recently about why manga seem to have finally taken hold in America, and it occurred to me that it may be because a certain critical mass of American readers have caught on to the grammar of manga and can now enjoy them as they were meant to be. Manga are descended directly from American newspaper comics of a hundred years ago, yet the evolution of manga has taken a very different course, making manga something of a "sub-species" of comics.
The basic grammar of American comics was more or less set in stone in the early years of the 20th century, when cinema was still a rather primitive novelty, and before the dawn of radio broadcasting. Early newspaper comics were designed to be enjoyed slowly and thoroughly. They were designed to grab and hold the eye of the viewer, who would lap up every visual detail and pause over every line. Comic books inherited that grammar, which remains much the same today, in an age in which we are deluged with more information than we could ever hope to process from dozens of different media.
Manga, however, are designed not to hold the eye. Instead they are designed to rush the eye along at a dizzying pace. This is probably because postwar manga developed in magazines that were then competing fiercely with the new medium of television. The weekly format became the norm, and the grammar of manga had to be retooled so that they could be produced quickly and read quickly. Information in manga must be conveyed efficiently and absorbed instantly.
One byproduct of this grammar is that it makes it easier for readers to "suspend disbelief," and become emotionally involved in the stories and identify with characters, even though the characters are so stylized and "unrealistic." (The same can be said of Hollywood movies.)
For me, who has loved and enjoyed both manga and American-style comics for years, switching between the two styles is no more difficult than switching between driving on the left in Japan and driving on the right in America. For many others, though, the difference in style can be jarring and puzzling. Though it took a decade and a half, it seems that Americans have finally "got" the grammar of manga, and, rather than trying to read them as comic books with bug-eyed characters, they are enjoying them for what they are.
Shukan ST: April 15, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
- medium
- メディア
- distinctive
- 明確な
- work
- 作品
- was defined
- 明確なものになった
- "The Birth of a Nation"
- 『国民の創生』
- "Citizen Kane"
- 『市民ケン』
- get
- 理解する
- have finally taken hold in 〜
- やっと〜に根を下ろした
- it occurred to me that 〜
- 〜だと気付いた
- certain critical mass of American readers
- 変化を起こすのに十分な数の米国の読者
- have caught on to 〜
- 〜をつかんだ
- as they were meant to be
- その意図どおりに
- are descended directly from 〜
- 〜から直接生まれた
- evolution
- 進化
- sub-species
- 亜種
- (was)set in stone
- 決まった
- more or less
- 多かれ少なかれ
- primitive
- 未発達の
- novelty
- 珍しいもの
- dawn
- 登場
- grab
- とらえる
- viewer
- 読者
- lap up
- 楽しむ
- visual detail
- 絵の細かいところ
- pause
- 目を留める
- inherited
- 受け継いだ
- are deluged with 〜
- 〜に圧倒されている
- process
- 消化する
- rush
- 走らせる
- dizzying
- めまいがするような
- (were)competing fiercely with 〜
- 〜とし烈な戦いを繰り広げた
- weekly format
- 週に一度の進み方
- norm
- 標準
- be retooled
- 一新される
- be conveyed efficiently and absorbed instantly
- 効率的に伝えられ、瞬時に理解される
- byproduct
- 副産物
- suspend disbelief
- 信じがたいことを受け入れる
- identify with 〜
- 〜に感情移入する
- stylized
- 型にはまった
- 〜 is no more difficult than 〜
- 〜は〜と同じくらい容易なことだ
- jarring
- 神経に障る
- decade and a half
- 15年
- bug-eyed characters
- 目の大きい異質なキャラクター
- for what they are
- ありのままに