Abstract
There is a Japanese wave in a
Malayalam children's magazine like Balarama. Manga, which refers to
Japanese comics and graphic novels, has gained popularity worldwide, including
in India. Manga is known for its unique art style and engaging storytelling,
making it appealing to readers of all ages. There is a manga series featured in
Balarama, it indicates that the magazine is embracing international influences
and introducing young readers to different cultures and art forms. This can be
a wonderful way to foster creativity and broaden their horizons. Manga often
covers a wide range of genres, including action, adventure, fantasy, romance,
and slice-of-life stories. The manga series Balarama has chosen to
feature is Anjamathe Aayudham (The Fifth Weapon). The magazine has
translated the dialogue and adapted the artwork to suit the regional audience's
preferences and cultural context. This Japanese wave in Balarama
demonstrates the global appeal of manga and its ability to transcend cultural
boundaries. It's an exciting development that encourages cross-cultural
understanding and introduces children to diverse forms of storytelling.
Keywords: Manga, Children's Literature, Balarama, Japanese Wave, Children's Magazine
Children's Literature
Outside academia, the term
'children's literature' has a largely unproblematic, everyday meaning. From
newspapers and other media to schools and in government documents, it is
understood to refer to the materials written to be read by children and young people,
published by children's publishers, and stocked and shelved in the children's
and/or young adult (YA) sections of libraries and bookshops. Occasionally,
questions are asked about whether something is suitable for a juvenile
audience, a question usually provoked by concern about content - is it too
sexually explicit? Too frightening? Too morally ambiguous? Sometimes questions
of suitability reflect concerns about style - will grammatically incorrect or
colloquial language or writing that includes swearing or abusive language or
experimental writing counteract lessons taught in school or instil bad habits?
More recently, as large numbers of adults have been reading books that were
originally published as children's literature (the Harry Potter
books, His Dark Materials, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-time, The Book Thief, Persepolis), there has been
some debate about whether such books are suitable for adults, and if this kind
of reading is a symptom of the dumbing down of culture. For the most part,
however, what children's literature is, is taken for granted.
For those who research and teach
children's literature, by contrast, the term is fraught with complications;
indeed, in one of the most controversial studies of children's literature of
the last century, Jacqueline Rose (1984) referred to the impossibility'
of children's literature. Rose was in fact referring to the nature of the
adult-child relationship in children's fiction, and her concerns, as well as
other of the more theoretical issues that complicate the study of children's
literature. In truth, there is no clearly identifiable body of children's
literature' any more than there is something that could be called 'adults'
literature, nor are the two areas of publishing as separate as these labels
suggest. Both reflect ideas about the purpose, nature, and modes of writing at
any given moment; they share a technology, a distribution system - often the
very producers of works for adults and children, and even some of the texts,
are the same.
Currently, everything from folk and
fairy tales, myths and legends, ballads and nursery rhymes - many of which date
back to preliterate epochs - to such embodiments of our transliterate age as
e-books, fan fiction, and computer games may come under the umbrella of
children's literature. Additionally, as an area of research and teaching,
children's literature encompasses all genres, formats, and media; all periods,
movements, and kinds of writing from any part of the world, and often related
ephemera and merchandise too. It addresses works that were specifically
directed at the young, those that came to be regarded as children's literature
by being appropriated by young readers, and those that were once read by
children but are now almost exclusively read by scholars.
Another point to bear in mind is that
until recently, histories of children's literature were almost exclusively
produced in and about those Western countries that had strong traditions of
publishing for children, and it tended to be scholars, collectors, librarians,
and enthusiasts from those countries who organized conferences, launched
journals, and developed terminology for discussing texts for children. This
legacy has shaped attempts to define children's literature, what has been
included in histories of the genre, and how it is valued and approached by
scholars, to such an extent that in many countries where children's literature
is studied, it is often works from Britain, other parts of Western Europe, and
the USA that tend to dominate. This obscures many other traditions and the
extent to which Western children's literature has been enriched by stories and
characters, writers and illustrators from many parts of the world.
Globalization and use of the Internet have further skewed this trend in favour
of Anglophone publications. In fact, long before the current phase of
globalization, as a consequence of migration, colonization, missionary and
trade activities, or occupation, there was considerable commonality in what
children read in many parts of the world, so this broadly Anglo-American
history will have a family resemblance to histories of children's literature in
many countries.
The Cultural Value of Children's Literature
As children's literature is one of
the earliest ways in which the young encounter stories, it plays a powerful
role in shaping how we think about and understand the world. Stories are key
sources of the images, vocabularies, attitudes, structures, and explanations we
need to contemplate experience; because when directed to children they are
often bound up with education of one kind or another, they can be important
carriers of information about changes in culture, present and past. Indeed, its
long history and the fact that writing for children straddles the domestic and
institutional, official and unofficial, high and mass cultures, and often
includes visual elements, means that material written for children can be a
particularly valuable source of historical information about everything from
how children in the past looked and the environments they occupied, to shops,
servants, the treatment of disease, religion, wars, migration, scientific
development, exploration, and much more.
Children's literature's links to the
past work at multiple levels, too. Just as the children we once were continue
to exist inside and to affect us, so writing produced for children continues to
resonate over time and to be implicated in the way societies are conceived,
organized, and managed. This is not a straightforward process; traditional
ideas may be preserved in earlier texts, or deliberately promoted in
conservative contemporary works or unconsciously perpetuated in those that
uncritically hold up a mirror to current social trends. At the same time, many
stories given to children today are retellings of traditional stories in which
writers and illustrators set out to expose, critique, and adjust the schemata
by which we interpret the world. The dialogue they create between old and new
ways of thinking can be another way both to sow and to nurture the seeds of
social change, as seen in the way children's literature has contributed to
developments in the areas of equality and diversity. This capacity was of
particular interest to Walter Benjamin, who collected children's books and
valued the potential of writing for the young to radicalize rising generations,
encouraging them to resist established ways of thinking promoted through formal
schooling. Whether radical or conservative, meritorious or meretricious,
writing for children is a rich but for long undervalued source of information
about culture as well as a contribution to it.
Children’s literature, as a
category, is often relegated to the position of ‘minor’ literature in
the literary canon. The narratives and voices of children are conventionally
thought of as ‘immature’ or ‘innocent’. As an extension of this perspective,
the roles and motives of children’s magazines are also perceived in a very
reductive sense—that they are either for entertainment or for a didactic
purpose. Hence, most often, children’s literature serves the purpose of
constructing childhoods that are temporally and spatially desirable. Childhood
is often regarded as a homogenous category by mainstream children’s literature,
where the experience of every child is represented as being similar. Thus, by
homogenizing and universalizing the experiences of children across the world,
the dominant children’s narratives have erased the differences between
intersections of religion, caste, class, gender, race, etc.
Phillipe Aries
points out that the childhood that we experience and expect is historically
constructed and there is no universal idea of childhood. Most of the time
childhood is a tool to create and sustain certain political ideas and
ideologies. Representation of Palestinians in Israeli or
Hebrew children’s literature is one of the best examples of how a politically
mediated children’s literature represents minorities and their life
worlds.
Deepa
Sreenivas,
in her article titled “Telling Different Tales: Possible Childhood in Indian
Children’s Literature” discusses how children’s literature in India
addresses the urban, middle and upper caste child and the way it reflects his
or her economic resources, family relationships, food habits, school, language,
cultural experience, etc. She observes how children from other social
backgrounds struggle to find a place in such an ‘avant-garde’ culture. In order
to procure a place in mainstream culture, children from marginalized
backgrounds have to show some ‘extra power’ or ‘smartness’ that helps to
overcome their physical and social disability. This shows
the politics of construction of childhood mediated through children’s
literature. The experience of childhood is not unique and it depends on
different ideology, perception, etc.
Children's
Magazines in Malayalam
The State of Kerala, which has achieved
near total literacy, has a strong tradition in oral literature in Malayalam. Bilathi
Visesham by K.P. Kesava Menon is one of the earliest travelogues
written for children. Most of the children's literature in Malayalam is based
on translations from other languages either Indian or foreign. Adaptations and
abridgements have been done extensively to enrich children's literature. In
1948, the first magazine for children Balan, a weekly, edited by Mathew
M. Kuzhiveli was published. M. M. Kuziveli, V. Madhavan Nair and
Sumangala are some of the famous writers. Kerala has a government
organization, State Institute of Children's Literature at Trivandrum.
In Kerala there are many children’s
magazines published by different newspapers and organisations. Earlier attempts
to publish Malayalam periodicals for children had been failures in Kerala.
However, it was the comic magazine Poompatta that
established successful readership figures for the first time. Poompatta was
started in 1964 by Achutha Variyar. Later, Pai and Pai Company
took over its publishing. N.M. Mohan was the editor of Poompatta then.
But, later he left the magazine and joined Balarama as
its editor-in-chief. Now, Poompatta is published from Thrissur
by Sooryaprabha Publications, Thrissur.
Balarama is
a Malayalam comic magazine published by M.M. Publications of the
Malayala Manorama Group located in Kottayam district of Kerala. Having
started out as a monthly in 1972, it turned into a fortnightly in 1984, before
becoming a weekly in 1999. Balarama is one of the most
widely circulated children’s magazines in Kerala. A breakthrough for the
magazine was when it began syndicating American magazines, followed by the
inclusion of graphic strips such as ‘Spiderman’, ‘Phantom’, ‘Alice in
Wonderland’, etc. Abridged versions of translated literary classics
like Dracula, Jungle Book, Les Miserables,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame etc. were serialised in Balarama.
Balarama is also known for its decade-long partnership with Amar
Chitra Katha as well. Amar Chitra Katha is well-known
as a project that aimed at introducing children to ‘Indian’ values.
Nandini Chandra
observes that Amar Chitra Katha constructed Hindu superheroes
who fought against foreign oppression, where the ‘foreigner’ was the
asura (Indian version of a mythical demon), Muslim or British, and the
superhero fought on behalf of Hindus or those under the protective net of Hindu
rulers. She explores the way Amar
Chitra Katha naturally organizes its images, narratives and myths to
make the transition from the Hindu to the national.
Deepa
Sreenivas
in her study about Amar Chitra Katha discusses how the
magazine narrates the ‘glorious’ past of India through the Hindu mythological
lens. And this narration about the past suggests a certain movement to the
present. Amar Chitra Katha misrepresents or neglects minority
characters in the construction of the past. Balarama's association
with Amar Chitra Katha effectively patronizes this
construction of nationalist childhoods.
Balarama and other popular children’s
magazines try to create a fantasy-oriented and mythological childhood. We see
several stories and narratives from Hindu mythology in Balarama.
Different organisations and groups use childhood and its articulations as a
powerful tool to shape young minds of future generation. And these
different narrations and articulations co-exist within the same period and
space.
Presently, the influence of popular
culture and globalisation led Balarama in introducing Manga series. There
is a manga series featured in Balarama, it indicates that the magazine
is embracing international influences and introducing young readers to
different cultures and art forms. This can be a wonderful way to foster
creativity and broaden their horizons. Manga often covers a wide range of
genres, including action, adventure, fantasy, romance, and slice-of-life
stories. The manga series Balarama has chosen to feature is Anjamathe
Aayudham (Fifth Weapon) for Malayalam readers. The magazine has
translated the dialogue and adapted the artwork to suit the regional audience's
preferences and cultural context.
What is a Manga?
Manga is a Japanese term that
generally means "comics" or "cartoon", literally
"whimsical sketches." Manga refers to a style of Japanese comic books
and graphic novels and has gained immense popularity worldwide. Manga is known
for its distinctive art style, often characterized by its large, expressive
eyes, exaggerated features, and dynamic action sequences.
Sharon Kinsella,
the booming post- war Japanese publishing industry helped create a
consumer-oriented society in which publishing giants like Kodansha could
shape popular taste. Takayumi Tatsumi sees a special role for a
transpacific economic and cultural transnationalism that created a postmodern
and shared international youth culture of cartooning, film, television, music,
and related popular arts, which was, for Tatsumi the crucible in which modern
manga have developed.
Manga consist of comics and print
cartoons (sometimes also called komikku), in the Japanese language and
conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, In their
modern form, manga date from shortly after World War II, but they have a long,
complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art.
Modern manga originates in the
Occupation (1945-1952) and post-Occupation years (1952-early 1960s), when a
previously militaristic and ultranationalist Japan was rebuilding its political
and economic infrastructure. Although U.S. Occupation censorship policies
specifically prohibited art and writing that glorified war and Japanese
militarism," those policies did not prevent the publication of other kinds
of material, including manga.
In Japan people of all ages read
manga. The genre includes a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance,
sports and games, historical drama. comedy, science fiction and fantasy,
mystery, horror, sexuality, and business/ commerce, among others. Since the
1950s, manga have steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing
industry, representing a 406 billion Yen market in Japan in 2007 (approximately
$3.6 billion). Manga have also become increasingly popular worldwide. In 2008,
the U.S. and Canadian manga market was $175 million. Manga are typically
printed in black- and-white, although some full-colour manga exist. In Japan,
manga are usually serialized in telephone book-size manga magazines, often
containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in
the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished
in paperback books called Tankobon. A manga artist (mangaka in
Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is
associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company."
manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run,
although sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action
or animated films (e.g. Star Wars).
"Manga" as a term used
outside Japan refers specifically to comics originally published in Japan,
However, manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in other parts of
the world, particularly in Taiwan ("man- hua"), South Korea
("manhwa"), and the People's Republic of China, notably Hong Kong
("manhua"), In France, "la nouvelle manga" has developed as
a form of bande dessinée (literally drawn strip) drawn in styles influenced by
Japanese manga. In the United States, people refer to manga- like comics as
Amerimanga, world manga, or original English-language manga (OEL manga). In
India too, the introduction of Manga series in Children's magazines will make a
revolution.
Historians and writers on manga
history have described two broad and complementary processes shaping modern
manga. Their views differ in the relative importance they attribute to the role
of cultural and historical events following World War II versus the role of
pre-War, Meiji, and pre-Meiji Japanese culture and art. Other writers such as Frederik
L. Schodt, Kinko Ito, and Adam L. Kern stress continuity of Japanese
cultural and aesthetic traditions as central to the history of manga.
Manga covers a wide range of genres, like
Shonen - Aimed at young male readers, Shojo - Targeted at young female readers, Seinen
- Geared towards adult male readers, Josei - Similar to seinen, josei manga targets adult
female readers and explores more mature and realistic themes, Kodomomuke
- Designed for young children, kodomomuke manga features simple and
lighthearted stories suitable for a young audience. Examples include "Doraemon,"
"Pokemon Adventures," and "Yokai Watch." And Isekai
- This genre revolves around the concept of a protagonist being transported or
reincarnated into a different world. It often involves fantasy or gaming
elements.
These are just a few examples of the
many genres and subgenres within manga. Manga has had a significant influence
on pop culture, not only in Japan but also globally, with many popular manga
being adapted into anime, movies, and even live-action adaptations. These manga offer engaging stories, relatable
characters, and age-appropriate themes for children.
Manga is a powerful vehicle of
influence in the youth subculture, and serves as significant cultural
entertainment. Thus, the introduction of Manga series in children's magazines
like Balarama will make a great impact in the younger generation just like the impact
of Korean waves in Kerala. This Japanese wave in Balarama demonstrates the
global appeal of manga and its ability to transcend cultural boundaries. It's
an exciting development that encourages cross-cultural understanding and
introduces children to diverse forms of storytelling.
******
Article 1st published in the Diotima's: A Journal of New Readings in 2022
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