erkin

“Manga Doesn't Fit Our Culture?” As a mangaka, I find this idea somewhat shocking, but I have heard people say things like this from time to time. “Our culture isn't suited to manga. I only want to read manga that reflects Japanese culture.” There are many reasons why this shocks me, but to be honest, I can understand it—at least a little. Until the early 1990s, many other Korean movie fans and I used to think something similar. “Korean movies are terrible. Hollywood is the best! I only want to watch Hollywood movies!” Of course, it was an incredibly foolish way of thinking. But at the time, I really did want to spend my life watching nothing but Star Wars, RoboCop, and the Die Hard series I loved the greatness I saw on the screen in Gone with the Wind and The Godfather Trilogy. So when the Korean government began supporting Korean pop culture, particularly the film industry, in 1994, I was extremely pessimistic. “Government support for the cultural industry? Isn't that just a waste of our tax?” “Wouldn't the government only get in the way of creativity?” “Do they really believe Korean movies can beat Hollywood? Besides, Hollywood movies are already good enough.” I wasn't the only person who thought this way. Many people did. Those ideas were not only incredibly foolish; they came from a lack of understanding of cinema and, more painfully, from a complete failure to imagine the future. Just four years later, in 1998, Korea produced its first internationally successful film, and from there, what we now call the Korean Wave began. And even before 1990, Korea had produced plenty of excellent films. Outside Hollywood, too, great filmmaking had been flourishing in many places around the world—Japan, France, Hong Kong, and many others. Cinema went on to achieve remarkable growth in South Korea. That is what cinema was capable of. Then Netflix came along, and the development of film and audiovisual industries around the world became a major strategic focus of global business. Back in the early 1990s, people like me—Koreans who had grown up captivated by Hollywood movies, sometimes proudly calling ourselves “Hollywood Kids”—simply didn't know enough. We couldn't see what was coming. And now we are watching history repeat itself in the manga industry. Fortunately, I have already lived through this once. So I understand. Yes, manga rooted in Japanese culture is wonderful. But there are already many wonderful works rooted in Chinese culture, and many wonderful works rooted in Korean culture. Great creators are already emerging in countries all around the world. And many foreign mangaka are already working in the Japanese manga industry. I am one of them. Hollywood movies were great in the past, they are still great today, and they will continue to be great in the future. In the same way, Japanese manga rooted in Japanese culture is wonderful, and it will continue to be wonderful. But the day will also come when manga rooted in Nigerian culture will be wonderful. Nigerian cinema and television are already remarkably strong. I believe Nigeria can do even better with manga. Manga is an extraordinarily inclusive art form. If you believe that manga can only embrace one or two cultures, you are underestimating the power and potential of this incredible art form that was born and developed in Japan. Yes, that very idea denies the truth that Japan created an art form valuable enough for the entire world to use. It also denies my own existence as a mangaka who has carried with me what I learned in South Korea and preserved it in the manga I have created. It denies the existence of Korean manhwa, Hong Kong comics, and the comics of many other cultures. And it denies the creators and aspiring manga artists emerging across North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and everywhere else. Manga can embrace an enormous range of cultures and ideas. In that sense, it is one of the most powerful forms of universal art and language in the world. It can flourish in developed countries, but it does not need to come from a developed country to flourish. It can be used not only for entertainment, but also for education, information, and advertising. It can carry everything from grand philosophical ideas to the most personal tastes and experiences. It can fit every country and every culture. Because manga is, at its core, a way of using a new 2 dimensional language—a method of directing, communicating, and expressing ideas through images. And what people love most is often manga that reflects their own culture and stories—manga that they can see themselves in and connect with. If you don't understand that yet, perhaps it is simply because you have not yet experienced how wonderful manga can be.