No art this round, but something i just want to put out there.
My opinion on creatives who say that our Malaysian art scene is being polluted by foreign culture.
Well I just think that to embrace or reject change each has severely different consequences. None are perfect conclusions that satisfy everyone, but this is the case in Malaysia now, isn’t it? ‘Traditionalists’ criticise that our local talent is being influenced by manga and can no longer retain any cultural originality of ‘Malaysian’ comics. It is still to me a very hypocritical statement as we are a melting pot of various cultures and it is that which makes the essence of Malaysia. So then, what, we cannot accept anything remotely not Chinese, Indian or Malay?
In terms of a Malaysian comic style, they tout Lat for it, similarly such artists like Reggie Lee and Kee following Lat’s footsteps, yet we have to remember that is only ONE facet of comic drawing. And is it truly authentic? No, not really, its Malaysian-ness lies in its content, which focuses on Malaysian life. Its basic structure is in fact similar to a mix of TuWen and LianHuanHua, Chinese methods of comic drawing found in various other cultures. In my personal opinion, in order for our comic scene to truly evolve, we need to break out of Lat.
So then, if I drew a manga-styled comic about Malaysian life, does that make it any less Malaysian? If I drew a graphic novel-style comic about Chinese life, does that make it any less Chinese? I think what we need is an Osamu Tezuka; someone who can take the best aspects of a foreign entity and then mould it to create something unique to our culture and country. Following this train of thought; every comic style is inspired from another, so it has bits of everything, even manga which was inspired by American comics.
The root of it is the reason why comics are drawn; to tell a story. What does it matter what form it is in, so long as it achieves it purpose whether for the creator or the reader? When we look beyond styles and culture, we will see this pure reason that really, people just want to tell their stories through their favourite or only way they know how and if they happen to use manga style to do so, why should we stop them? To protect cultural identity? By stemming ideas and creativity, we are destroying culture already.
Culture is communication, communication is culture. Art is communication. Art is culture. Art comes from people; people are culture; art is culture; stories are people and stories form our culture. What is happening in Malaysia is a vicious cycle, caused by artists who are insecure in their own style that they criticise new trends for fear their self-labelled ‘Malaysian’ style will be buried under the new wave, one which does not only consist of manga but also manhua, graphic novels and underground, independant comics, etc.
Is it assimilation/acceptance or infected/invaded? It’s all a matter of perspective.