« Home | Hollywood Reporter makes a big deal out of Rob Lie... » | Maya and Yehuda Dvir were right not to seek work a... » | News columnist says son of Superman's characteriza... » | A medical comic for educating about diseases » | Miniseries starring Nubia exploited for transgende... » | More fishy elements in Douglas Wolk's so-called Ma... » | Larry Hama continues to say he always wanted Snake... » | Perlmutter's "creative committee" for Marvel movie... » | Film critics in the UK have mixed reaction to the ... » | DC colorist quits over their abuse of Superman fra... » 

Tuesday, November 02, 2021 

A disturbing case of villain worship in Japan

I've spoken before of how fandom for villains can be very unhealthy. Now, as reported by Kyodo News, there's been a violent crime this week committed by a man who's gone insane in more ways than one over of comicdom's most notable supervillains:
A man arrested in a knife and arson attack that injured 17 people on a train in Tokyo on Halloween night has told investigators he adores Batman villain character the Joker, police said Monday.

Kyota Hattori, 24, who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder on Sunday night, was also quoted as saying that he "wanted to kill people and be given the death penalty" and that he had been "thinking from around June of being sentenced to death."

Photos and videos posted on social media by eyewitnesses showed a man at the scene wearing a green shirt and purple suit in what appeared to be a Joker costume.

About two hours before the incident, Hattori visited Tokyo's Shibuya district, a hot spot for costumed partygoers to celebrate Halloween, the police said.

Hattori told the police he chose a limited express train bound for the city center that makes few stops because it is generally crowded with passengers. He expressed regret at failing to kill anyone in the attack, the police said.
It's a miracle nobody was murdered, as happened when a maniac arsonist attacked an animation studio 2 years ago. But this is still a terrible case where you have the wrong kind of pop culture figures being worshiped by basket cases anywhere in the world, and we could honestly do without it. Also chilling is how the Japanese criminal in Tokyo wanted to martyr himself.

It may not be a fictional villain's fault for what a real life villain ends up doing. But if we don't teach our future generations why this kind of "fandom" is a poor example, society is bound to be ruined. What we need are more heroic examples emphasized, yet over the course of 2 decades, this is pretty much where we are (definitely in the western world), with desensitization to violence becoming a norm, and hardly any real emphasis on actual heroism. Film critic Michael Medved saw this coming years before, and hasn't done any good since, what with an increasing emphasis on the notion that men are "mansplaining" and poor examples for women are just as prevalent. That's practically why Hollywood is a place the sane person must distance themselves from for a change, and now, the mainstream comics industry's proving they too have to be kept away from.

This incident may never make headlines in the USA, but either way, it casts embarrassment on anything Batman-related, and could end up demonstrating how the franchise has been way overplayed, and needs to be downplayed.toned down for a change.

Labels: , , , ,

Trust me when I say this, this sadly ISN'T the first time that at least some person in Japan has worshipped villains. As I pointed out earlier, Hideo Kojima had a Joker T-shirt on him, and before that, he was shown to worship Che Guevara enough to actually have Big Boss and Miller sing praises towards that monster in the briefing files for Peace Walker, DESPITE his near attempt at causing World War III during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I even wrote a tumblr post explaining just how bad that was (and if you ask me, as bad as worshipping fictional villains is, worshipping real life villains is even WORSE.).

Speaking of Japan, though, didn't you mention doing a blog post involving more anime stuff, namely Masamitsu Hidaka and his more "cripple the bitch" moment to Misty from Pokemon that I had requested earlier? Hope that's going to happen soon. After all the Kojima (well, sort of, his worshipping Che Guevara was left out of that blog post), George Lucas, Matrix, and Maleficent stuff was made at my request.

I'm working on a post now, thanks for reminding me. I hope I can complete it soon.

Post a Comment

About me

  • I'm Avi Green
  • From Jerusalem, Israel
  • I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.
My profile

Archives

Links

  • avigreen2002@yahoo.com
  • Fansites I Created

  • Hawkfan
  • The Greatest Thing on Earth!
  • The Outer Observatory
  • Earth's Mightiest Heroines
  • The Co-Stars Primer
  • Realtime Website Traffic

    Comic book websites (open menu)

    Comic book weblogs (open menu)

    Writers and Artists (open menu)

    Video commentators (open menu)

    Miscellanous links (open menu)

  • W3 Counter stats
  • Bio Link page
  • blog directory Bloggeries Blog Directory View My Stats Blog Directory & Search engine eXTReMe Tracker Locations of visitors to this page   Flag Counter Free Hit Counters
    Free Web Counter

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

    make money online blogger templates

Older Posts Newer Posts

The Four Color Media Monitor is powered by Blogspot and Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
Join the Google Adsense program and learn how to make money online.