This is the last column for now on changing the world, otaku style. Sorry it was so long in coming, but life kind of hit my with a couple of conventions, way too much homework, no internet, and well, general life stuff. Enjoy!
Navigating Corporate Interests
Communicating with companies comes with its own set of headaches. Unlike conventions, it's not quite as easy to get involved yourself, though future career plans can come out of a desire to bring a change to the industry. Most of the time, the way to enact change is to write a lot of letters, gather together people who feel the same way, and simply make a polite pest of yourself. There's a fine line between being effective and being obnoxious, and you'll have to do your best to walk it.
The first place to start is with a good plan of what you want to accomplish. I've been having some good PM discussions with a member of theOtaku about bringing anime movies to local movie theaters, so let's use that as an example. The problem is that the local/small town theaters aren't getting movies like Howl's Moving Castle, even though they're being distributed to some bigger theaters. So first step is to contact the local theaters and express an interest in them putting on a viewing of the movie, even if it's only a limited engagement of a week or a night. Since this is a local issue, it's probably more effective to go to the theater and talk to the manager than to write a letter. It's much harder to say no to or ignore a person face to face than with a letter.
From talking with a manager or owner, we can then decide where the problem lies. Is the movie theater owned by a corporation or is it completely local? How do they get their movies? Most movie theaters are owned by a larger corporation, even if they may not appear to be. When this is the case, just talking to the manager isn't going to be enough. The local manager may very well not be getting the choice to show the movies to begin with. That's why you need to start writing to the company in charge and ask for them to give your local theater or area the choice to view these movies. This step will take patience, and the more people you can get involved, the better. Remember that your local anime clubs and conventions can be a great way to meet like-minded people. You can even meet others who might have done a similar campaign in their hometown. The internet likewise serves as a place to meet others and find out how they've changed things. Since many companies are national, you might find someone else who dealt with the same company in a different part of the country.
The above example also holds true for most contact with a store, TV channel, etc. Many of the places you interact with in your daily life are owned by a larger corporation or have their distribution determined by someone else. Still, the local people do have some say, and making your opinion known to them is crucial, because they're interacting with the parent companies as well.
As soon as you make a difference, get that anime viewing at the local theater or convince the cable company to carry a new channel, make sure you throw your own promotion efforts into it as well. Tell all your friends, all the local high schools and colleges, and make sure that everyone who might be interested shows up. The more money you can make for that company, the more interested they will be in bringing more of the same kind of thing into the area.
By Bee
Starting a revolution can involve a lot of time on the phone.
Promote Your Interests Throughout Your Daily Life
Finally, you never know when your interests are going to make a difference. Not only do you want to get the corporations to take note, but you also want to let those around you know there's something cool they're missing out on. The more vocal you are about your interests, the more likely you are to give other people something new to try or to find out that the cheerleader in the corner is also totally addicted to Shojo Beat. Allies are always helpful in getting your point across.
On a smaller scale, you might not even be that interested in changing what the corporations do or what events your local anime convention hosts. Instead, you might just want manga recognized as a literary form at your school. I've always been very vocal about my interests in anime and shifted many a school project towards an anime focus. I've had teachers who thought anime and manga were the lowest forms of media, down there with soap operas, and others who appreciated a different cultural look on pop culture. Experiment and try to bring your interests out where you can in life. It's useful to not only change the opinions of big corporations, but to also change how the rest of America sees anime. The more mainstream it gets (I know, some people want to see it stay a sub-culture geek thing… but…), the more companies are going to give us options in our viewing and merchandise. In Japan, manga and anime are such broad terms that it's like saying "I like TV, I like books," and the more mainstream it gets over here, the more new companies are going to give us choices in what we see. Even with all the fansubbers and scanlators out there, we only see a fraction of the choices.
Hopefully over the last month's articles I've helped you learn a bit about the current industry, how to go about affecting change within conventions and corporations, and how to give effective criticism. I know everyone won't agree about fansubs or the correct method for becoming involved, but that's because there are no easy answers. My goal is to open your eyes to the other side, give my readers a starting point for their own journeys.
Next I plan to talk about cosplay. Feel free to ask questions now or as next month goes on, and I will try to cover those questions. As always, archives of my columns are up on my website .
