Commentary: ‘Chainsaw Man’ Highlights Culture Perspective
by Frank Martin
It’s interesting how cultural norms can affect a story. What’s considered commonplace in one area of the world might be taboo in another. There’s also historical context to take into consideration, also laws, customs, language … the list is pretty much endless. And as more stories are being exported to viewers all around the world, it’s interesting to see what regional perspectives people may have. Anime is a great example of this as it is very Japanese and yet popular in other parts of the world, and specifically, there are aspects of Chainsaw Man that viewers in America might have unique thoughts on.
The series takes place in Japan, where a group of malevolent beings called devils try to influence humanity using their unique specialty. The story follows a boy named Denji (Kikunosuke Toya) who fuses with a chainsaw devil and becomes a hybrid being who hunts down other devils. Of these evil entities, the Gun Devil is the worst and most notorious. There’s a sequence in the show when average citizens in Japan take out guns seemingly from random and start shooting at people all because of the Gun Devil’s influence.
Guns are obviously a very touchy subject. They are used in brief yet terrifying moments to cause extreme pain and harm, especially during public shootings. But Japan has a much different relationship with the phenomenon of mass shootings than America. Japan’s gun laws are extremely strict and the vast majority of the citizens do not carry weapons, so depicting a scene of people pulling out guns and shooting is fantasy. But for an American audience, this scene can hit dangerously close to home. America does have a serious gun problem, and it doesn’t seem that out there for people to start shooting at random. So the cultural context of the story is much different. A quirk only possible as stories enter the American market.
Chainsaw Man is now streaming on Hulu
