Speed Racer R Us

2008.05.25   prev     next

I’ve heard so many comments over the years about how strange Speed Racer, and the whole subsequent “anime” phenomenon, looks. Particularly common are comments that “they don’t look Japanese.”

That’s right, they don’t. Speed Racer is a Japanese caricature of what we (Americans, or more specifically western Europeans) look like.

When we draw cartoon caricatures of non-specific Japanese people, we draw them with small, squinty, slanty eyes, big, flat noses, and short, stocky bodies.

When they draw cartoon caricatures of us, they draw us with huge, round, staring eyes, tiny, pointed noses, and overly tall, willowy bodies.

Anime is a caricature of Americans.

Update 2008.08.22 — “generally” changed to “specifically”

Update 2009.10.27 — body shape added