For children of my generation, anime was an escape from Japan's loser complex following World War II. Anime wasn't foreign. It was our own.
Interpretation
The quote highlights how anime served as a cultural refuge for a generation of Japanese children post-World War II, reclaiming their identity.
Takashi Murakami reflects on the impact of anime on his generation, emphasizing how it allowed them to escape the societal shame associated with Japan's post-war identity. Rather than seeing anime as an external influence, he views it as an integral part of their own cultural expression, showcasing the power of art in shaping and redefining national identity.
In practice
This quote is perfect for a panel discussion on the impact of pop culture in post-war societies.
We want to see the newest things. That is because we want to see the future, even if only momentarily. It is the moment in which, even if we don't completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it. This is what we have come to call art.
The perfection of art is to conceal art.
I was trained to be an actor, not a star.
Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting.
If I would be born in New Zealand, maybe, I would never write the Polish Requiem or pieces which were connected with the history of war. But this was my childhood. War was the main subject, and also in our family.
There is no must in art because art is free.
And then there came the pounding of another drum, as if another giant were coming yards behind him, and each giant, intent on his own drum, gave no notice to the rhythm of the other. The sound grew louder and louder until it seemed to fill not just my hearing but all my senses, to be throbbing in my lips and fingers, in the flesh of my temples, in my veins.
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