This is probably only of interest to me, but what the hell.
Comics critic Derik A. Badman recently posted a favorable review of Yukiko’s Spinach, a “nouvelle manga” by Frederic Boilet and published by Fanfare/Ponent Mon.
The story tells of Boilet, (the character/author stand-in, I am not sure how much of this is autobiography) who lives in Japan working as a manga-ka, and his brief affair with a young woman named Yukiko. We see a number of their meetings over the course of 7 weeks from their first acquaintance to their last rendezvous, all through the eyes and pen of Boilet.
In the comments section, however, Cold Heat artist and Storyville author Frank Santoro takes the book to rather savage task:
I’ve never had such an adverse reaction to a comic. I wanted to rip it up in my hands and throw it across the store. It’s all about the white man’s gaze and ownership of the “other.”
It’s also a form of colonialism that I find disturbing. And despite it’s formal inventiveness I think the reliance on photographs undermines any real “sight” or insight by the author.
Their back and forth afterward is interesting, especially considering that Santoro says he originally was going to do a review of the book for Comics Comics magazine, but having vented online, doesn’t see the need. Glad you got it out of your system Frank.
Personally I enjoyed the book, but I remember thinking while I was reading that you could write an interesting feminist critique of the book based on the whole notion of the “male gaze.” I don’t think Boilet is as unaware of the issues of colonialism and sexism as Santoro seems to imply however.
At any rate, it’s a lively discussion about comics and worth pointing out for that reason.
via Comics Comics
May 31st, 2007 at 11:49 am
I see the point of Santoro’s critique, but by the same token – if Boilet is going to do a comic from a first person perspective, and the narrator is basically him, and Boilet is a white European male… isn’t it almost inevitable that it’s going to be all about a white man’s gaze?
Presumably, as an artist Boilet is allowed to share his view of the world… unless members of his privileged group are not allowed to be artists for awhile as some form of reparations.
Note also that if he tried to pull this formal stunt using a narrator less like himself, he would almost inevitably be accused of getting the other race/sex/religion/orientation all wrong, and appropriating another group’s identity for the purposes of his own story. Look at all the trouble Gail Simone’s had with regard to her writing for Ryan Choi.
I also noticed that Santoro says later on in the comments thread that it might not bother him as much if the woman in the story were also French, as opposed to Japanese and supposedly representing the exotic other. There’s a disturbing subtext there; it almost seems like he’s attacking the legitimacy not only of the artistic choice, but (assuming the story to be at least somewhat autobiographical) the relationship itself. I can’t see what basis there would be for that, other than a general sense that all interracial relationships are okay *except* for those between European men and women of other races.