I’ve mentioned the shoujo manga show at Chico State a couple of times, and it seems to be generating some interesting articles. Art professor Masami Toku, who is definitely enjoying her 15 minutes of fame, provides some interesting historical perspective for the Chico News and Review. Fun manga fact: the word “manga” was coined by the Japanese printmaker Hokkusai. And here’s Toku’s description of how manga evolved, and the influence of circumstances on style:
After the war, there were no toys, nothing. No entertainment for kids. After World War II, we were so decimated. No reading, no movies. Modern manga was developed to entertain the kids.
Most pages [in manga books] were black-and-white, on cheap paper. Maybe only the cover and the first two pages were in color. Artists had to develop a style with limitations. The “black-out” of hair signified Asian people; the “white-out” hair meant Western people. The “huge eye” of modern manga came about because they had no color [to use] and the artists had to enlarge the eye to depict beauty. Kids learned to read these visual images.
It’s often interesting to see how the limitations of a medium shape its content. In this case, the style has lingered even though the technology has improved.
