Broken Saints: Series Review
Sep. 4th, 2011 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labingiI just finished the Canadian "stop-motion comic," Broken Saints (2001-03). The years are significant, as much of the story is a response to America's response to 9/11. In fact, this is an admirably fierce critique of the American military-industrial empire. Even from Canada, it surprised me a little to see this so soon after 9/11. If it had been made in America, I suspect the response would have been rigorous media ostracism and death threats to all parties involved. In the main, I highly recommend this production on both a political and artistic level.
Partially Spoilery Summary
The story concerns four people whose strange and painful visions disrupt their lives and ultimately bring them together to tackle (in a somewhat mystical way) the evil American empire. The four represent different casualties of and/or responses to America:
* A Shinto (formerly Buddhist) priest, Kamimura, whose family died in the bombing in the bombing of Hiroshima when he was a child.
* An Iraqi freedom fighter/terrorist, Oran, combating the American (et al.) invasion.
* A cynical computer whiz, Raimi, who's a transplant from Montreal to San Diego and suffering from Fight Club-esque malaise and internal monologue.
* A white girl, Shandala, who was shipwrecked as a baby on the Fijian island of isolationism and noble savages, Lomalagi, and raised in "paradise" as the chief's daughter.
The Good
* The series' signal strength is its willingness to call America's faults as they're named. I'm not sure when exactly the series started airing; it was almost certainly conceived before 9/11, but it certainly did not allow 9/11 to soften its critique. Indeed, much of the story is clearly a response to America's invasion of Iraq, etc. Even in Canada, this takes courage. This is a story in which one of the most consistently morally upstanding characters is an Iraqi "terrorist," someone who is, indeed, guilty of violent actions against Americans. (I scare-quote "terrorist" because it is not clear if he ever attacked civilians in the name of intimidation.) The series' depiction of the sociopolitical stranglehold of the military-industrial complex is chilling and, sadly, correct (minus specific details about fantasy technology).
* The series offers a frightening and trenchant look at what happens to you if you fall afoul of the American military: i.e. they either kill you or strip you of human rights and throw you in a cell. And there is no conventional escape: no authority that will/can defend your rights, nowhere to hide, no real way out.
* The main characters are atypical and engaging. They make a motley crew, and each goes through his or her own profoundly transforming philosophical journey.
* The art is quite good if you can get past the basic medium of a graphic novel on your TV (dialogue bubbles and all).
The Less Good
* As the story progresses, it waxes more and more mystical and this undercuts the critique somewhat by creating a deus ex machina to solve the problem of the evil empire.
* The solution (virtually no spoilers) is unsatisfying. It boils down to "find a messiah." I will always remember that article I read about Dune, though sadly, I can't remember who wrote it, which said that if Dune is an environmentalist manual (as Herbert reportedly claimed), then its solution to our environmental problems is a green jihad. So, too, with Broken Saints. If it is a critique of American empire, its solution is a superperson with quasi-godlike powers to make everyone see the light. (Unfortunately, the thinking behind this solution has a lot in common with the problem.) This ending echoes The Day the Earth Stood Still, whose solution to war and human nastiness is that the powerful aliens will kill you if you don't shape up. The Watchmen, too, is a kindred tale, in which the ingenious behind-the-scenes dictator declares peace through manipulation. Of the aforementioned, only The Watchmen seems aware of the irony: that these solutions advertise the fundamental failure of democracy and the necessity of despotism.
* Some cultural missteps. I want to be gentle here because this story has its heart in the right place, and there's something of a no-win scenario involved in the triple bind that says 1) if you only write about your own privileged group, you're perpetuating privilege but 2) if you write about other groups incorrectly, you're perpetuating stereotypes/misinformation, yet 3) it is not possible write accurately about any group you don't know like you know your own. I know enough about Japan to know that a lot of the Japanese cultural bits felt off. I suspect the same is likely true of the Middle-Eastern parts, and Lomalagi is pure noble savagery (at least the island is made up). But since we cannot all be native experts in several different countries simultaneously, this is the price of creating a diverse cast that decenters the hegemony. It was a good attempt.
* The voice work sucks like a bad anime dub, with a few exceptions, most notable being the guy who plays Oran. He was the only one I could routinely forget was an actor.
* Almost total Bechdel failure. Not completely totally total. There are a couple of mother-daughter passes, but this is a story in which women make up about 20% of the world's population. And in the impressive list of quotations they throw in as epigraphs, maybe as many as 5% are by women (despite considerable diversity in time, medium, and country). On the up-side, women are not reduced to romantic objects, yay!
I've done a lot of griping here, but my main feeling about this series remains emphatically positive. It is highly atypical in its subject matter, perspective, and artistic style, definitely worth watching if you're up for some straight talk about what is wrong with the latter day American empire or just want to see an unlikely team of people find their better selves.
Partially Spoilery Summary
The story concerns four people whose strange and painful visions disrupt their lives and ultimately bring them together to tackle (in a somewhat mystical way) the evil American empire. The four represent different casualties of and/or responses to America:
* A Shinto (formerly Buddhist) priest, Kamimura, whose family died in the bombing in the bombing of Hiroshima when he was a child.
* An Iraqi freedom fighter/terrorist, Oran, combating the American (et al.) invasion.
* A cynical computer whiz, Raimi, who's a transplant from Montreal to San Diego and suffering from Fight Club-esque malaise and internal monologue.
* A white girl, Shandala, who was shipwrecked as a baby on the Fijian island of isolationism and noble savages, Lomalagi, and raised in "paradise" as the chief's daughter.
The Good
* The series' signal strength is its willingness to call America's faults as they're named. I'm not sure when exactly the series started airing; it was almost certainly conceived before 9/11, but it certainly did not allow 9/11 to soften its critique. Indeed, much of the story is clearly a response to America's invasion of Iraq, etc. Even in Canada, this takes courage. This is a story in which one of the most consistently morally upstanding characters is an Iraqi "terrorist," someone who is, indeed, guilty of violent actions against Americans. (I scare-quote "terrorist" because it is not clear if he ever attacked civilians in the name of intimidation.) The series' depiction of the sociopolitical stranglehold of the military-industrial complex is chilling and, sadly, correct (minus specific details about fantasy technology).
* The series offers a frightening and trenchant look at what happens to you if you fall afoul of the American military: i.e. they either kill you or strip you of human rights and throw you in a cell. And there is no conventional escape: no authority that will/can defend your rights, nowhere to hide, no real way out.
* The main characters are atypical and engaging. They make a motley crew, and each goes through his or her own profoundly transforming philosophical journey.
* The art is quite good if you can get past the basic medium of a graphic novel on your TV (dialogue bubbles and all).
The Less Good
* As the story progresses, it waxes more and more mystical and this undercuts the critique somewhat by creating a deus ex machina to solve the problem of the evil empire.
* The solution (virtually no spoilers) is unsatisfying. It boils down to "find a messiah." I will always remember that article I read about Dune, though sadly, I can't remember who wrote it, which said that if Dune is an environmentalist manual (as Herbert reportedly claimed), then its solution to our environmental problems is a green jihad. So, too, with Broken Saints. If it is a critique of American empire, its solution is a superperson with quasi-godlike powers to make everyone see the light. (Unfortunately, the thinking behind this solution has a lot in common with the problem.) This ending echoes The Day the Earth Stood Still, whose solution to war and human nastiness is that the powerful aliens will kill you if you don't shape up. The Watchmen, too, is a kindred tale, in which the ingenious behind-the-scenes dictator declares peace through manipulation. Of the aforementioned, only The Watchmen seems aware of the irony: that these solutions advertise the fundamental failure of democracy and the necessity of despotism.
* Some cultural missteps. I want to be gentle here because this story has its heart in the right place, and there's something of a no-win scenario involved in the triple bind that says 1) if you only write about your own privileged group, you're perpetuating privilege but 2) if you write about other groups incorrectly, you're perpetuating stereotypes/misinformation, yet 3) it is not possible write accurately about any group you don't know like you know your own. I know enough about Japan to know that a lot of the Japanese cultural bits felt off. I suspect the same is likely true of the Middle-Eastern parts, and Lomalagi is pure noble savagery (at least the island is made up). But since we cannot all be native experts in several different countries simultaneously, this is the price of creating a diverse cast that decenters the hegemony. It was a good attempt.
* The voice work sucks like a bad anime dub, with a few exceptions, most notable being the guy who plays Oran. He was the only one I could routinely forget was an actor.
* Almost total Bechdel failure. Not completely totally total. There are a couple of mother-daughter passes, but this is a story in which women make up about 20% of the world's population. And in the impressive list of quotations they throw in as epigraphs, maybe as many as 5% are by women (despite considerable diversity in time, medium, and country). On the up-side, women are not reduced to romantic objects, yay!
I've done a lot of griping here, but my main feeling about this series remains emphatically positive. It is highly atypical in its subject matter, perspective, and artistic style, definitely worth watching if you're up for some straight talk about what is wrong with the latter day American empire or just want to see an unlikely team of people find their better selves.
