"Jiyuu e Michidzure" theme song to "Ataru" drama

[ShadyNook]

i dont know about her being cute. she looks like she needs a slap on the face, just to see if she is capable of making a facial expression.

[deadgrandma]

She's got about the same amount of expression shown on Koufukuron (ignoring the performance bits) video... so it fits the oldskool-Ringo mystique enough :-p

[Tokyo Jihad]

Originally Posted by ShadyNook

i dont know about her being cute. she looks like she needs a slap on the face, just to see if she is capable of making a facial expression.

Shiina Ringo did not reach the heights of her fame by being an emotive, visceral stage presence

[TurtleFu]

Wait, what?
I mean, not in her PVs, but any of her good concerts...

[Entry№1]

Someone mentioned the word "autism" and this video instantly became about freeing oneself from their mental boundaries to me... not to say that an individual can overcome autism or anything, but maybe this music video is about the will to overcome mental obstacles? I can only catch snatches of vocabulary I know so this is complete conjecture on my part. Hence the haziness of the projector, the hair cutting, the fire-setting, the tearing of the screen, the victory fireworks...

[matan-san]

it really makes sense the video has something to do with autism since the Ataru drama seems to deal with autism too

[TurtleFu]

The Ataru drama is an exploitative peice of shit as one of the very worst ways to portray someone who is differently abled. The actor (who's a male idol) is terrible and this is one of the worst-acted portrayals since "The Other Sister".

[Glathannus]

Originally Posted by TurtleFu

one of the very worst ways to portray someone who is differently abled.
...
this is one of the worst-acted portrayals since "The Other Sister".

I haven't watched Ataru yet, so I'm not going to attack or defend it. But I do have to ask..
Who are you, to authenticate what different-ableness looks like?

If a loose demographic has enough variety, then it always contains at least one exact match of whatever the demographic happens to be portrayed like, even if it's not what the actor or the production were aiming for - or what you wanted them to be aiming for.

There is always at least one differently-abled person (attempting to function in the world) who matches the performance put on by an actor. They coincidentally achieve the same performance by each failing in their own way. The actor's exhibition of a trait is more-or-less pronounced, while differently-abled people (throughout a wide spectrum) more-or-less succeed in hiding or marginalizing their traits.

[Tokyo Jihad]

it's a good thing TurtleFu here is an expert at both acting and in the fields of physical and cognitive impairments, as well as the myriad of other subjects he authoritatively judges.

[TurtleFu]

One of my jobs is to work with Autistic youths, which is why I am extremely sensitive to how people talk about and portray differently abled peoples. So I may not be an expert on the Autistic spectrum, but I feel like I have actually gotten to know a lot of people who some parts of society seem perfectly fine with ignoring or misrepresenting.

And Glath, honestly, I'm sure you can find a single person who seems to represent any given stereotype, but that doesn't make a stereotype any less offensive. And even then, it is less about stereotypes and more about poor acting (see: The Other Sister). Ultimately, it's pointless to discuss the "truthfulness" of a stereotype because that is not what they are about. Stereotypes are about how groups of people are viewed and treated by society, so you have to look at context with these sort of things.

So, here, I may be wrong. I don't know anything about the state of mental health in Japan. But if this show was in the US (and I imagine the US and Japan aren't so different when it comes to this), the context would be very unfortunate.

Jihad, I know I can be an ass sometimes, but this is honestly different.

Just remember:
1) Disability is not a superpower
2) When most of the characters on the show are 3-dimensional/nuanced, and the differently abled character, despite being the protagonist, doesn't go beyond being 1-dimensional, something is wrong
3) It's rarely okay for someone's disability to be the source of comic relief

And so I can appease Jihad

The ABOVE IS A PERSONAL OPINON WARNING PERSONAL OPINION