The problematic portrayal of minority characters in the FMA manga and Brotherhood: an explanation.
I’ve been in this fandom for a very long time, and fans of the manga, and more recently Brotherhood, are often perplexed by the assertion that these versions have any problems in their portrayal of non-white minority characters. So, for the sake of clarification, I’ve written an explanation as to what I feel these problems are, and why I find them so upsetting.
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If I may - the discussion in reblogs of this post are kind of cringey, because the best we can do with this actual narrative that happened is try to spin it in such a way that it doesn’t come across “As Bad” as it could be. But like……it’s bad.
I think that people who try to spin this another way are also kind of failing to see that there is worth in this badness, though. I don’t believe all media and all stories should have all their issues Nicely Solved and Nonproblematic. The issue is not always so much the presence of racism and imperial, genocidal militarism - the issue is going to be how the narrative treats it. And I totally agree with OP’s point that the narrative treating Miles’s methods as Superior is where the problem lies.
Not to be the divisive asshole who starts a game of compare-and-contrast, but I think it’s worth noting that #1 FMA03 didn’t have a Miles character, which I always thought was a shame because I do actually really like his character, and it’s an interesting dynamic which FMA03 lacked but also #2 FMA03 lacked a Miles character for a reason. And that reason is that there is none of this sort of “let’s reform the military from the inside out” idealistic optimism where really, we can make everythgin better if we work together!!! Like, Roy does ostensibly want to become Fuhrer in 03 but the most we see about his intentions as Fuhrer is the humorous miniskirts line. I have personally always thought that this was a false goal of sorts, something to talk about when it wasn’t the office he wanted at all, it was rather a shot at redemption.
Which I think is my point: redemption in FMA03 couldn’t come through the system, because the system was corrupt. Although I like mangahood, a lot, the focus was a lot more on personal responsibility than the institutional corruption. (Think of how mangahood focuses on Envy’s one shot which started the Ishvalan War, whereas in FMA03 it’s very clear the military deliberated sowed seeds of chaos to make the entire region erupt in conflict, and then used that as an excuse to exterminate the population.)
Anyway, I think that’s largely where the problems with Scar and Miles originate, and why there wasn’t a Miles analogue in FMA03, because I think that series wanted to be very clear: this system is bad. It can’t be reformed. It needs to be abolished.
I really love this post, and I really like that addition too.
Though I will admit, I’m no buff when it comes to Mangahood and my knowledge of the subtle details is sketchy, I think what I’ve come to really dislike about Brotherhood (I’m especially going to point fingers at Brotherhood in this case, since it tends to water down a looot of issues) is how ideal they try to portray everything, even the heavy issues. In the end, everything is all nice and happy, all the loose ends tied up, Winry bakes apple pie for the boys, hooray!
I’m a shameless 03 fan to my core and I try not to let my bitterness pervade every “look-how-amazing-Brotherhood-is-compared-to-03″ post I see (though this clearly is not one of them, but my bitterness is worth mentioning, since I’ll be doting on 03 throughout this one). But Brotherhood does a lot of stuff that, to me, are big no-nos, and it frustrates me that Brohood fans simply sidestep those no-nos and tout it as the “Best Anime Ever.”
Anyway, back to my main points (if I can actually make them clear, given my usually rambling narrative when it comes to FMA).
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Got nothing of note to add beyond “I agree! “ especially towards combustiblegarbage and screamymeemies . So I just wanted to say I love that this discussion just keeps going on and hope it continues to do so as new fans watch/read Mangahood and don’t quite feel at ease with some of it’s portrayals especially if they watch FMA ‘03 (which they should!).
