Odd experience the other day, except that thinking about it, maybe it's not so odd. Surfing around, exploring YouTube, with the particular goal in mind of seeing whether any of my favorite yaoi had generated some anime series, and ran across a clip from the anime Ikoku Irokoi Romantan, which I posted about on Sunday. And now I'm completely possessed by it. Thinking about it, I come to appreciate even more what a good composer can do for a film. In this instance, it's a hypnotic song, full of repetition that builds intensity, played off against images of two very attractive men in the process of falling in love. (And in that whole vein, I'm thinking of doing a survey review of some of the yaoi I've been reading. Don't know when I'll get it published, but I'll try to remember to let you know. I have some thoughts on that, too [big surprise].)
At any rate, given that we're such a visual species, and that we also rely on our hearing to a much greater extent than most people realize, I think (I can't stand to walk around plugged into an iPod or something like that, because I can't hear clearly what's around me, and I start getting really nervous), I suppose it's no surprise that the impact of vivid images and music together is so strong.
Yeah, I know it's a cartoon, but I've not forgotten what an impact cartoons and comic books have had on my life, particularly when I was younger (and where was yaoi when I needed it?). Of course, I'm notorious for treating popular culture and vernacular media just as I do "high art." Comes from the same place, boys and girls, and I don't buy into the idea that pop culture is somehow lesser. The impulses are just as pure, and there's a lot more immediacy to it. It occurs to me that high culture struggles to achieve the kind of impact that pop culture assumes as a given.
Take another look at that video and see what you think.
(Cross-posted at Booklag.)
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