Manga, Manga, Manga, Part IV

The more time I spend exploring the world of manga, the more interesting the subject becomes in terms of potential implications.

I took some time today to visit two large bookchains in a nearby town. In each case, I talked to employees about manga. It was clear that either they didn't know a lot or were fearful of providing too much information.

Aside: I live in north Texas. A clerk named Jesus Castillo working at Keith's Comics in Dallas was arrested in 1999 for selling a sexually explicit adult manga-style comic to an adult undercover cop. Castillo was charged with two counts of selling sexually explicit materials. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) stepped in to defend Castillo. One count was dropped, but the D.A. pursued the second charge all the way to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case in 2000. The CBLDF (and fund-raising efforts) paid Castillo's $4,000 fine, and the clerk did not have to serve any time in jail (his 180-day sentence was converted to unsupervised probation).

Still, in today's conservative climate not far from where the Castillo arrest occurred, I can understand the clerks' hesitancy to speak to me. I have to admit that, if I were a clerk in a bookstore in Texas, I'd be careful about discussing sexually explicit manga with a stranger. Of course, in one case, I think the clerk knew less than I did about manga.

Manga and other graphic novels live under the constant threat of legal action in some states. Part of the reason is that Japan does not set the bar for cultural taboos involving child porn as high as we do in the United States. Japanese manga, with its depictions of teenage girls in sexualized situations with older boys, walks a fine line legally.

Back on January 20-22, I did a three-day series of posts entitled "Alberto, Google and the Right to Privacy." In those posts, I explained the history of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) and how that act had consequences for Google's recent battle with the Attorney General over online privacy.

COPA was not Congress' only attempt to battle child porn. There was another law--the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) of 1996--which had huge implications for graphic novels. According to CNN, "The law had banned a range of techniques -- including computer-generated images and the use of youthful-looking adults -- which were designed to convey the impression of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct."

The Act was was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2002 in a case called Ashcroft v. The Free Speech Coalition. A MSNBC story quoted Frederick Lane, III, an attorney: "The court said the reason that a computer-generated or animated image is not prosecutable under the Constitution is that there is no harm to an individual.” The Court pointed out that artistic expression included many portrayals of teenage sex (Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" leaps to mind), and that this law was overbroad and infringed on First Amendment protections of artistic material.

While in one bookstore today, I did talk to two young adult women (21-year-olds who have been reading manga since they were 13). They were very helpful in pointing out the different series and ratings for graphic novels. I'm gradually beginning to learn my way around the genre and was pleased that I understood most of what my young friends told me.

One thing is clear. Most baby boomer parents who grew up with comic books are tolerant of manga--either not knowing or not caring that many of these graphic novels are not the stuff of their own childhoods. The range of material is enormously broad from sweet cartoons for small children to blatantly sexual content that makes me wince.

I'm gradually building a glossary of Japanese terms. I have over a hundred by now.

We'll talk more about this subject again.