Gender and Murakami’s Otaku Sensibilities

Murakami Takashi’s art, in as much as he draws from Warhol in blurring the boundaries between consumer culture and art, questions the role of gender in Japanese pop-culture, particularly through manga and anime. With his My Lonely Cowboy, Miss ko², and S.M.P.ko² works, Murakami explores the implications of bringing representations of eroticism and fantasy into the real world. Visions of a consumer society—layers of socio-economic structures melded into one superflat surface—are brought to stark reality in the form of life-size figures that force viewers to consider at once the absurdity and avert sexuality of images so often seen in mass media.

My Lonely Cowboy immediately, in the confidence it exudes, integrates the youth and strength of male characters in otaku culture, especially highlighting, in contrast to the melancholic/stoic expressions of the female characters, a sense of dominance and power in sexuality. The ko² pieces, on the other hand, offer little in terms of displays of empowerment, instead focusing on the exploitation of female sexuality in the context of such male-centric entertainment forms. I was especially interested by the transformations of S.M.P. ko², and its reflections on the vulnerability of the female form, as well as objectification associated with its mechanical parts and purely militaristic function.

These selections from Murakami’s works, while if analyzed from the perspective of social commentary can be seen as meaningful, one can very easily equate the pieces to a degradation of real art, bringing into question the essence and meaning of art itself. It begs us to ask questions such as how is a life-size anime figure any more art than a ¼ scale figure from a famous series. Murakami treads this line consciously, aware of such implications and challenges the critique to grapple with these questions, while simultaneously criticizing himself the state of Japanese society in its rampant capitalism and indifference.