Transformers Case Study

The popular 1980s children's TV show had massive commercial success in England and the US with the tie-in Bandai action figures. What may be surprising, however, is this was not a western cartoon but an anime that brought across many of the fundamental aspects of anime violence.

In the opening of the film that opened the tv series we see 2 "Autobots" attacked by "Decepticons" and shot at multiple times by energy weapons. Despite the primarily cartoon effect brought about by giant robots and laser weapons, there is clearly a sense of violence that exceeds the level most people would feel appropriate for a child. This becomes more obvious as the film progresses with massive fights where robots are ripped apart before leading to the introduction of humans. Humans are seen as frail and are often lifted, thrown and beaten around the screen on multiple occassions by "Decepticons". This violence is unprovoked and could easily seen by many as a bad influence.

On the reverse side of this, we see the principles of anime coming in whereby there is always a hero or group of heroes ready to protect the good. "Autobots" are primarily peaceful, illustrated by the appearance of ambulances and fire trucks as opposed to fighter jets. We side with the Autobots as they protect humans and the majority of the film is taken from their perspective. When the leader, Optimus Prime, is nearly killed, we hope for his survival and clearly the audience is hoping for his success. The laying down of one's life with no distinct sense of success is a motif of anime used to show that the good guy will not always win and sometimes will have to die.

Ultimately, during this first film, Optimus Prime does win, but by the time of the second film, we see a much bigger change to the view of violence. Optimus Prime is killed within the first few scenes along with many other Autobots whom have been watched multiple times in the past. Still aimed at children, this was a strong message and overtly more adult then other shows such as Spongebob Squarepants in the present day. The second film depicts mutiple scenes of huge violence with robots appearing more human as oil replaces blood as they have limbs torn form their bodies and froth leaks from their mouths as they die. This was however not viewed as inappropriate due to the robotic nature of the main characters. It can easily be argued, however, that due to the robots being presented as human with definite feelings and characteristics of a human, that such things are inappropriate for a child. Due to the animation factor, however, it is allowed to be seen by many children and it presents a much different form of entertainment then the average kids show which deals with much lighter tones.

Robot violence often is ignored in Western culture with shows like Transformers and Gundam Wing but other films such as Evangelion whereby the "EVA" is represented as animal, you find the violence is too great and imposings are put into place. Within the Japanese culture, both forms are viewed as violence and are taken as violence and not just as a cartoon form due to the difference in belief that animation in Japan is another film whereas in the US it is primarily aimed at children. This difference has often lead to censorship issues on anime but furthermore, in the case of transformers, it allowed large levels of violence to be viewed by children.

Robot violence is very different to conventional violence in the sense that there is no violence against humans. The lack of death and blood creates a very different feel in that you do not feel sympathy for those being acted upon. Despite this, the violence is shown in an almost identical manner to that of the human violence with robotic components replacing human life. The violence is exagerated and high action with multiple fight scenes where the robots will damage each other. In opposition to human, this means the robots should be fine to be damaged but anime presents robots as having some form of link to humans. Either the robots are humanoid (Transformers), have human pilots hurt by the damage (Gundam/Evangelion) or pilots die when the robots are damaged beyond repair (Escaflowne). The differing psychological links change how the violence will affect the viewer whether they fear for the human or the robot themself.

Violence with robots comes in two forms. Either they use futuristic laser swords or laser weapons and thus the violence becomes slightly surreal and unlinked to human life. Often it is glamorised by high action music (I.e. You've Got the touch in Transformers: The Movie) and characters making brave or daring exagerative moves. Thus, the violence becomes glorified and the characters committing it actually become heroes as opposed to villains. The audience can become numb to the constant use of violence and as such, violence becomes just another part of a film.