Enchanted Subcultures

Well, it’s been well over a year since I wrote ES, and it’s gotten more hits and more buzz than anything else I’ve ever written. This is pretty cool, I guess, but it has gotten a bit old. There’s something depressing about the fact that random guys on campus would walk up to me and say, “Dude, I read that paper you wrote,” and I’d get excited, and say “Oh really? The Derrida one? The Hegel one? Or that one about the Dreyfus Affair?” And, of course, it’s Enchanted Freakin’ Subcultures. It’s always ES.

I dream of a society where phenomenology can compete with internet phenomena.

I thought I should do a general post here to let everyone visiting know that I am by no means finished with this site. I recently learned that I will have a chance to present my paper at a research conference. I mean, of course, the paper that this site was based upon. The paper is a bit different from the site, uses much more formal language, and employs MLA-format citations rather than links, obviously. (And yes, it will continue to have such citations, as a good paper should ) I’m actually working on a follow-up portion of the paper discussing this site itself, and reactions to it, so I guess the paper is expanding itself. After I present it, if I feel up to it, I might reedit it and post the new material here.

There seems to have been a few misunderstandings about this site itself. I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails from people who seem to think the site was or is part of an assignment or project for a course. It is not and was not. I wrote the paper for a course. I did the research for a course. The website came after the paper was submitted, graded, and all that. I got an A on the paper, but also got some criticisms from the professor, who thought that my language was too informal and that I should have gone into more detail about some of the theories (like pantheistic solipsism).

This is just an update to respond to some of the comments and suggestions I’ve been getting.

I’ve received quite a few e-mails from people asking why I didn’t address directly the Western perception of Japan and the tendency of Westerners to view Japanese (and Indian, and Chinese, etc) culture as “exotic” and “esoteric.” A few people have suggested that I have a fairly simplistic view of globalism and that I’ve ignored the power dynamics between Japan and the west. I realize that this was I big blind spot on my part. I agree that orientalism is alive and well, and that I should probably address it when writing about Japan or risk being an orientalist. Ideally, I’d like to explore that potential aspect of these subcultures as well as globalism. What role does orientalism have in globalism? That’s the question, I guess.

I’ve also received responses from people who think that the “married to Sephiroth” folks paint soulbonding in an extremist light. I confess that I actually agree; people dating and mating with their bonds is probably the extreme end of the phenomenon. I really liked “Amanda,” though, and (this will sound odd) actually found her devotion to Sephiroth quite touching, and I guess I let that fondness get in the way.

ETA: I’ve looked into the legal and ethical issues surrounding the matter, and I see no reason to do anything more than remove usernames, so that is what I’ll do. Also, I have permission to use the statements mentioned that weren’t made publicly.

This site was officially launched on December 19, 2007 at 3:00 am. Obviously, though, there are still some things to be done. I hope to soon add a section of the site focusing entirely on otherkin, based upon a paper I wrote for a social impact of computer technologies class in 2005. I’m also hoping to get some feedback, both from people belonging to these subcultures and from other interested parties. Most of all, I’m currently trying to make my citations and list of links more comprehensive. This started out as an undergraduate term paper for an introductory class, and, as such, it can and will certainly improve as I improve my writing and research skills. If anyone would like to help, leave a comment.

Welcome! This site, Enchanted Subcultures explores the beliefs of, and perceptions about two online subcultures: otakukin and soulbonders. If you’ve never heard of either of these subcultures, this site will give you a pretty good overview of who they are and what they believe. If you already know about these, then hopefully, this site will provide a bit of societal context for these phenomena. A special focus is given to their relationship to Japan and capitalism. If you are a member of these subcultures, then, welcome, and please feel free to comment or contact me if you have something to add.

Most of the material on this site was originally a term paper I wrote for a course called Japanese Popular Culture, that I took at the small liberal arts college I currently attend. Since the topic of my paper was essentially these online subcultures, I realized that it actually worked much better a website than in print. It’s worth noting that much of this still reads like a term paper, and for optimum results, would be best read in sequence – from right to left on the menu above.

I’ve enabled commenting and look forward to your feedback. I realize that this site is fairly unique, in that it profiles these subcultures from the perspective of a non-member, and I anticipate responses from both soulbonders and otakukin, as well as their detractors. If anything, I plan for this website to grow, and to perhaps include other subcultures.

If, after reading this site, you’re still curious, be sure to check out the Links section, which features a complete list of all the sites to which I’ve linked , as well as other links that relate to the topic.

One More Thing…

Given the subject matter of this site, most of the proper names within (with the obvious exception of the published authors) have been replaced with aliases. If you were (un)fortunate enough to witness my presentation of the paper on December 4, 2007, you’ll notice that most of the names have been replaced, even the first names, because this is being presented to a much wider audience here. When an online handle could be used, it was.

Oh, and don’t ask me if I’m an otakukin or a soulbonder, because I’m not. I’m just a college student with a mostly ordinary, boring life that don’t merit the attention of an entire website. (Despite this, I do, in fact, have a blog: a lame, pink blog that mostly exists so that I can play with CSS/XHTML.)

While reading this, it should be pretty obvious that I’ve got nothing particularly against these people I’m writing about. If anything, I’m glad otakukin and soulbonders exist, because it gave me a good paper topic. Obviously, I’m not going to say that I affirm their beliefs, but, suffice to say, I’m not here to mock them. There are plenty of other people doing that, and, well, besides, it wouldn’t make for a very academic style.