B-b-b BUGS??

[Naruzeldamaster]

I know bugs are a common phobia for just about everyone.
But whenever people write this phobia in anime (or anime games) the phobia is so....comically exaggerated. To the point where whatever joke was intended gets old the first scene it's introduced in.

I'm just curious as to why it's always super exaggerated, even in live action movies.
Sure I bet that some people do react that way (especially with spiders doubly so with snakes or rats) but I can't imagine every case of bug-phobia is that insane.

 

[pmmg]

Cause its comedy, and absurdity is comical.

I am phobic to some bugs, and generally don't like any of them. Some, I can smoosh up and get out of the house, some get the vacuum....others make me want to move out.

 

[Finchbearer]

Could be because:

• it’s generally a Japanese cultural thing
• increased urbanisation
• it’s seen as an endearing reaction, esp in females
• some insects in Japan are massive or poisonous

Maybe I should add that bugs don’t generally bother me. I find them quite fascinating. And we have a no kill policy in my house, little people get transported back outside.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Cause its comedy, and absurdity is comical.

I am phobic to some bugs, and generally don't like any of them. Some, I can smoosh up and get out of the house, some get the vacuum....others make me want to move out.

This is a fair point though in all honestly I do wish when guys were afraid of bugs (animes or otherwise) it was just as comical.
Usually you only see the absurd reactions on female characters, at least when I've seen it.

Could be because:

• it’s generally a Japanese cultural thing

100% A cultural thing, but I see it in western stuff too. Though not to the same extremes.

• increased urbanisation

Makes the most sense out of these.

• it’s seen as an endearing reaction, esp in females

Kind of curious how it could be seen as endearing.

• some insects in Japan are massive or poisonous

This one makes a lot more sense than the others.

 

[pmmg]

I think the exaggeration just sets up the hero/damsel situation for the two genders. Just the games people play, and in anime, exaggeration just amplifies it.

At my house, a bug has a much better chance of staying alive if it doesn't come in. Very few make it out alive. Since we have silver-fish and there is no way to get rid of them, they are pretty much kill on sight. Outside the rules change, but since we have Wasps that every year try to make nests near our door and on the deck, they have a low survival rate too. Bugs I am phobic too cannot be make a home near my doors. If they don't move on, they may get zapped. Since they are rare, I think this has only happened twice.

Wasps and Silverfish...though... There are probably some local legends in their circles about coming too near the dragon.

I don't know why a male character could not be afraid of bugs in a comical way. That should like an execution problem to me. While it wasn't bugs, Indiana Jones's fear of snakes had good comical effect.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I think the exaggeration just sets up the hero/damsel situation for the two genders. Just the games people play, and in anime, exaggeration just amplifies it.

At my house, a bug has a much better chance of staying alive if it doesn't come in. Very few make it out alive. Since we have silver-fish and there is no way to get rid of them, they are pretty much kill on sight. Outside the rules change, but since we have Wasps that every year try to make nests near our door and on the deck, they have a low survival rate too. Bugs I am phobic too cannot be make a home near my doors. If they don't move on, they may get zapped. Since they are rare, I think this has only happened twice.

Wasps and Silverfish...though... There are probably some local legends in their circles about coming too near the dragon.

I don't know why a male character could not be afraid of bugs in a comical way. That should like an execution problem to me. While it wasn't bugs, Indiana Jones's fear of snakes had good comical effect.

I feel like Heights could be a good one that could have a similar effect as Indie's snakes if executed right.
Imagine this big muscle bound protagonist that's phazed by almost nothing, brought to his knees at the thought of climbing a 3 story building.
Like, nothing else can stop him? Dragons? Nah, Trains? They stand no chance. But a few flights of stairs, STAIRS, nope!
I don't tend to mind the trope of female characters being afraid of bugs, or the exaggeration of it.
I think what bugs me is the extreme nature of the reactions. Sometimes the reactions make sense, others it seems a touch too extreme, even if for the sake of comedy. Maybe it's just me feeling like the trope is overplayed and a bit too on the nose most of the time.

 

[pmmg]

Well...it really did not start with Anime.

Women jumping on top of chairs to avoid mice is plenty old. I cant recall where I first saw it, but the Flintstones comes to mind, and some of those older B/W shoes, like I love Lucy, had it too I am sure. It was meant for comedy, and was always an exaggeration of women's frailties. I don't think many women will actually leap onto chairs when they see a mouse. Most women who ever lived, almost certainly saw them often on the farms they worked.

Course, the big joke is that Elephants do the same.

Anime seems to like to play with gender stuff as one of their underlying flirtations. Exaggerating it, and painting it big only feeds the fan base. So, I would not be surprised to see it there. I could not speak to why it does not work with the male characters. I think a character like Goku being deathly afraid of mice would be comical. I'm gonna say....execution.

I dont jump at bugs, unless one is buzzing into my head, but I really dont like them. I will usually give them a wide circle if I can. If I have to...I will brave them.


EDIT: In fact, thinking on it, this was pretty much the whole idea of many Tom and Jerry, and Loonytunes cartoons. Probably old disney too with their mouse characters. See mouse, woman up a chair, tom cat has to deal with it.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I've seen quite a lot of anime, and while it is (unfortunately way too often for my tastes) greatly exaggerated there, certain genres handle it in different ways. Different settings take into account the types of characters who'd react to it too. For example in a sci fi environment your average earth cockroach isn't going to spook your lady mech pilot, not when there's giant man-like ones that are the size of her mech roaming about the place. Of course, as long as she's inside her safe mech with all the incendiary tools of mass roach extermination, she's perfectly fine. lol There's also that scene from Men in Black, where Will Smith is stomping earth cockroaches to piss off the big scary version that can swallow him whole.

I think the 'oldest' thing I've seen about women freaking out about bugs/mice is some of the oldest tom and jerry cartoons, where Tom's owner saw Jerry.
Potentially I've seen something older, I'd have to have a think about the first thing I've seen with the bit.

 

[Jackarandajam]

Little fast erratic things give lots of people the heeby-jeebys. My aunt bolts inside, huddles in a corner and mumbles to herself if she sees a snake in the yard. My mom might die of a heart attack one day because she thought about a spider, she can barely say the word.

In her defense we have a spider here called, seriously, the rabid wolf spider. Harmless and smaller in diameter than a beer can, but if spooked the thing does backflips and darts any and everywhere at Mach 5. I have no fear of spiders and they are not my favorite.

it’s seen as an endearing reaction, esp in females

Hadn't thought about it, but 100% agree with this. Men sort of collectively grunt their assent at this very comfortable, microcosmic exchange: woman distressed by creature, creature removed by man, woman saved and grateful, man feel brave, look for more creature to remove.

 

[skip.knox]

Anime is just one tiny corner of storytelling. Plenty of other examples where bugs are just bugs. The reactions you're describing appear to be a trope peculiar to the genre.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Anime is just one tiny corner of storytelling. Plenty of other examples where bugs are just bugs. The reactions you're describing appear to be a trope peculiar to the genre.

I've seen the trope in plenty of other mediums, but it's entirely possible anime gets the worst of it. (partially due to anime being the king of physical/slapstick comedy. if you've never watched an anime, there's a ton of physical comedy even without this trope. Way more than you'd see in western animation.) I watch plenty of other stuff besides anime (mostly movies) and it happens somewhat less frequently there.

Girls being afraid of ghosts also seems to be a common one in pretty much every medium. I guess that comes from the common scene of the guy taking his girl to scary movie, girl gets scared and jumps in his lap, guy gets free hug to protect her from bad thing.

I think the cave man like exchange of the bug killer is fine, but I do kind of wish there'd be a new spin on it.

 

[Finchbearer]

An elderly in law of mine informed me that when she was growing up, when she was already married she went back to stay at her childhood home - an old Victorian terraced / row house - where she and her husband stayed downstairs because there was no extra room upstairs. She could hear scuttling all night long. It was cockroaches that were crawling all over the ground floor of the building. It was very common in old houses or buildings to have this problem.

 

[Finchbearer]

Japan by my knowledge is still a highly patriarchal country, where women and girls are still expected be be submissive, and other qualities like shyness, quiet and demure in the presence of males are seen as positive and endearing. This might be in line with the females expected to have that reaction of being frightened of bugs. Of course I expect in reality many women aren’t disproportionately afraid of bugs, but then when we talk about the intense urbanisation in Japan, you have a much lessened rural community. Both men and women are going to be detached from the natural world, and a massive hornet flying around in your apartment in Tokyo is probably ‘not normal’. For men whether we like it or not it’s probably seen as a more masculine trait to not be scared of them. Of course, anyone can either be scared or not scared of bugs anywhere in the world.