fabricatedlunatic wrote:
I didn't mention that (or Tenma's transformation into Jesus, ha) because I only read about half the series, and I don't remember too much of the plot. What you wrote doesn't invalidate the point I was making, which was that Urasawa often isn't subtle. If anything, it reinforces that point.
The sometimes OTT nature of Urasawa's storytelling doesn't bother me as much as those forced moments like the portrayal of the surgeons and their contrast with Tenma, and the racism against the Turkish community. At times in Monster I felt Urasawa got preachy, but he's less so in Pluto and much less so in 20th Century Boys.
Urasawa is dramatic where he needs to be and subtle where he needs to be. The point is that he's 99% nuanced. For instance, when Monster begins, he needs to make a contrast between doctors who are careerist and doctors who start from a point of principle, and I have a feeling too much subtlety would have stalled the plot at birth. As the plot moves from its premise, its threads become ever more complex and the individual roles in the mystery become a lot less obvious. Eva Heinemann is one of the golden nuggets of the plot for that reason - I adore how **** up she is and yet also sympathetic, and how she develops from straightforward spoiled bitch into a multifaceted human being with some green shoots of confidence. I agree with the criticism of Tenma, by the way, although it makes sense that he is the troubled Jesus Christ figure because he needs to be a contrast to the sympathetic Satanic Johann.
Finally, racism against the Turkish community is a big issue in Germany, especially in the 1990s. It's slightly analgous to the situation of Latin Americans in the US - massive minority population and growing and pretty much the only reason the demography is remaining stable. Getting highly integrated through time but still some extreme right-wing parts of the German population worried about an 'invasion'. We learned just yesterday in class about arson attacks on Turkish communities during the 1990s. Here is some wikipedia info on discrimination against the Turkish in Germany:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turks_in_GermanyQuote:
For Turks in German society, patterns of discrimination maintain disadvantages of low economic and social status, whilst also restraining social advancement. Despite their long-term residency, Turks continue to face hostility, which has intensified since the mid 1970s. In Germany today, there is an undercurrent of xenophobia in public opinion and an open emphasis on xenophobia in right-wing and neo-Nazi organisations. The wave of xenophobic violence that saw offences treble between 1991 and 1993, claimed several Turkish lives and revealed how excluded and vulnerable non-Germans have remained in German society.[95]
The number of violent acts by right-wing extremists in Germany increased dramatically between 1990 and 1992.[96] On November 25, 1992, three Turkish residents were killed in a firebombing in Mölln (Western Germany).[97] The attack prompted even further perplexity since the victims were neither refugees nor lived in a hostel.[98] The same was true for the incident in a Westphalian town on May 29, 1993; where another arson attack took place in Solingen on a Turkish family that had resided in Germany for twenty-three years, five of whom were burnt to death.[99] Several neighbours heard someone shout Heil Hitler! before dousing the front porch and door with gasoline and setting the fire to the home.[100] However, most Germans condemned these attacks on foreigners and many marched in candlelight processions.[101]
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