Author:

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Tanya Kole.

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Abstract:

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This paper studies instances of discrimination based on methods of linguistic and behavioural self-expression in several anime series, subsequently drawing a parallel with linguistic communalism prevalent in contemporary India. The shows Seishun Buta Yarō wa Bunny Girl senpai no Yume o Minai, Sakura-sō no Petto na Kanojo and Himōto! Umaru-chan introduce characters who experience a severe sense of inferiority to their urbanite peers because of their rural roots or for speaking a rustic dialect. All the three characters indulge in remoulding their styles of speaking to match the Tokyo-based ‘standard Japanese’ and transforming their personality to fit into urban society. In Umi ga Kikoeru, the situation is transposed, albeit with a similar outcome. Our character moves from a metropolis to the countryside, where she deems anyone with a rural dialect subservient to her Tokyo-bred self, even proclaiming that the mere thought of involvement with a country boy makes her ‘sick’. Koe no Katachi avails of an altered perspective, wherein a disabled girl faces merciless bullying solely because of her inability to conform to conventional techniques of self-expression. These fictional cases provide an exemplary reflection of our present-day Indian society, where linguistic intolerance has pervaded our lives with an astounding aura of normalcy. Prejudice against people unable to speak a region’s indigenous tongue is ubiquitous. Urban migrants dawning from rural or suburban regions sustain an inferiority complex simply for being who they are, and are often disfavoured just for maintaining their individuality. People tend to fabricate pre-conceived norms to create a sense of inclusion; consequently, those who fail to fit this mould are alienated.

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This paper was originally presented at the 43rd Annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, 2021.