Pure ACG culture will disappear with commercialization

Compared with the three-dimensional world, the two-dimensional world just changed its posture.

Finding a spiritual paradise is difficult.

Shui Yifan, 20, has been in the industry for more than 10 years, but he is still very enthusiastic. In the bakery, he is introducing a new animation work to San Sheng, or "new show" in more professional terms, Digimon tri. His enthusiasm reminds people of a night half a month ago: around 9 o'clock, he did 320 push-ups for all the team members as a punishment for an activity organized by the school. His persistence in taking responsibility shocked everyone present.

Shui Yifan introduced this theatrical work that originated from the old show of the same name more than 10 years ago, trying to awaken his memory of chasing the show in the first place. Although many people are not satisfied with the way the new work portrays the characters in the original work, there are still loyal viewers who buy it. "No matter what style it is, I will always chase it (watch)." Shui Yifan told reporters. He first came into contact with anime from "Digimon".

Nothing can stop the second dimension

Those who like Japanese comics, light novels, games and animations are collectively referred to as the ACG group by the outside world. As the subculture environment that breeds this group of people, ACG culture has a very clear definition. First, it must be fictional; second, it is not the same concept as the ACGN (Animation, Comic, Game, Novel) cultural circle. In the narrow definition of ACG, people who are familiar with ACG even strictly classify light novels as 1.5D.

According to a data, there are now 92.8 million people in the country who are standard ACG fans, which is more than the total population of many European countries. They love Japanese anime, stay up late to watch them, and in order to break the dimension wall (the boundary between the ACG and the ACG), they make attempts that seem futile to the outside world: including going out for cosplay shooting in the cold autumn and winter, and spending a lot of time writing fan stories for anime and games that are different from the original works.

According to media reports, the main characteristics of this group of people are: they were widely influenced by animations from Europe, America and Japan during their childhood, as well as the video games that gradually emerged in the 1990s; their birth years span from 1984 to 1995. People who have been influenced by these two things will basically show similar and significant "two-dimensional cultural characteristics" as Shui Yifan and his companions.

Like all niche circles, its cultural influence is not large, but powerful enough. Wang Dashu in Beijing told reporters that "Digimon" was also his entry work, and it made him a member of the two-dimensional community. "It can be regarded as half a two-dimensional community," Wang Dashu added. But the influence of the two-dimensional community on him is obvious. Now he works in an animation company in Beijing, and his colleagues and predecessors have participated in the animation production of "Monster Hunt". Wang Dashu also admitted that the two-dimensional community "occupied a large proportion" in his decision to choose this career.

People will do something unexpected because of the halo effect, and the cultural imprint of the second dimension makes this obsession even more unique. Huang Xin, who is also a student and has a neat and clean appearance, divides the second dimension crowd into three categories: "otaku", "gay", and "fu". She believes that this is an indisputable conclusion: all the works of the second dimension are changing in these three directions, and these contents are changing its audience intentionally or unintentionally, just like the invention of computers 60 years ago completely freed mankind from expensive and impractical computing tools, and has since developed an unprecedented dependence on modern technology.

However, even the staunch supporters of the second dimension cannot avoid everything in the third dimension. Academic performance, promotion and salary increase, as well as the outside world's subjective evaluation of the second dimension people - "The second dimension is just stupid people with a lot of money." Huang Xin said self-deprecatingly. In order to pursue an experience similar to the second dimension in real life, people often spend hundreds or even thousands of yuan to buy figurines, pillows and other peripheral products. The second dimension life does not allow the third dimension to be absent.

The second dimension has penetrated every corner

For Shui Yifan, the ACG world is inseparable from his life. He has been a member of the ACG community since elementary school. Just like a worker ant, the life in the ACG world provides him with the premise of a worry-free life, and he draws nutrients and energy for growth from the huge nest created by the ACG world. In the Chinese education environment where the elders pay attention to grades and school performance, Shui Yifan, who became an art student in high school because of his academic performance, always persistently believes that the ACG world is the source of his comfort. "Since elementary school, I have been a lagging student. Animation can give me that kind of spiritual comfort."

Shui Yifan has been following anime for nearly 10 years, and he firmly believes that it is the magical power of comfort that helped him get through the years when no one paid attention to him. He gave us an example, "For example, if you watch Fairy Tail, you can see the growth process and adventurous spirit of the characters, and you can get comfort. When you face difficulties, you can watch it and forget a lot of things."

Shui Yifan is not an isolated case. This story about the growth of a magician has a Douban score of 8.2, and is a classic in the hearts of anime fans, just like "One Piece" and "Naruto". The passion, humor, and the stumbling but determined growth process of the protagonists are the iconic factors of this comic-adapted animation, which is in sharp contrast to the real world where Shui Yifan and others grew up, where success or failure is determined by grades.

Poor grades, being reprimanded by superiors, or simply tired of the dullness of life - people who are disappointed find pure truth, goodness and beauty in the world of anime or novels, and form friendships that are more reliable than in the real world. There is no doubt that as long as they have a computer connected to the Internet, they can sit in front of Station A and Station B for a long enough time, and the newly released new animation can make them calm.

The empathy effect provides a reasonable explanation for the unique way of venting of the ACG crowd. As defined by Huang Xin, for a niche circle to function, it needs enough "house fans" to support it. And this culture, which is originally closely related to the young group, has once again found an equally young way of dissemination: the Internet. On the Internet, ACG people occupy the high ground and appear in every corner. "I am just a ACG troll." Huang Xin added. But they are also ordinary people with flesh and blood in the three-dimensional world, hoping to find happiness in the simple and beautiful ACG world: there is no blue or green long hair, no loli and shota, and everyone's face is so ordinary that it is inconspicuous in the crowd.

In the process of pursuing happiness, they usually sacrifice their own time. Huang Xin started to get in touch with Tieba and forums in junior high school, and then followed the updates of anime and watched friends discuss the plot and characters. At the craziest time, she stayed up late to follow the animation. Usually in the early morning, Japanese netizens on the other side of the ocean compressed and uploaded the animation that had been broadcast by the TV station. However, the subtitle group did not intervene in the translation process at this time, and the version that everyone could see was just "raw meat" (foreign video works without subtitles). But Huang Xin would still download it, and then watch it repeatedly two or three times. After making sure she understood the plot, she would download the "cooked meat" the next day. The biggest difference between the latter and "raw meat" is that subtitles are loaded.

Love that counts no cost is often unrewarding. Huang Xin at the time not only enjoyed it, but also extended this love to other areas of the two-dimensional world. "I am considered a fan writer," said Huang Xin, who is responsible for writing and typesetting sports articles for the campus media. This is another by-product of the two-dimensional world, which is full of the original fans' eager enthusiasm to explore new angles on the original plot and character settings. She told reporters that she had written fan fiction for Jian San (Swordsman Online III), Tian Dao (Moonlight Blade Online), and Qin Shi (Qin Shi Ming Yue). She also wrote a "Chinese comic "Stealing the Stars in September" that "seems quite childish now."

"Childish" is the word Huang Xin is used to using to describe some of the ACG works that she was once obsessed with. As for those that she still likes now, Shui Yifan and Wang Dashu chose to explain its significance from another perspective. In order to remove the label of "fast food culture" that has long been attached to the ACG culture, Wang Dashu told reporters, "I watched "Dream Eaters" (a story about the growth of a young cartoonist) before, which was quite influential and felt very positive. Then I watched "Brunhildr in the Dark" (a science fiction thriller) and "Attack on Titan" (a doomsday theme). This kind of animation is very realistic, and many kinds of values ​​will collide in it, which makes people grow."

But there are still many people who are puzzled by this lifestyle. As for how to destroy the life system of the second dimension, the outside world thinks that "low-quality peripherals can make huge profits" is enough. Due to the lack of supervision and a sound industrial mechanism, fan fiction (printed and sold by the author himself) that can sell thousands of copies by relying on the fame of the original, as well as figures and dolls of varying quality, are emerging in an endless stream. But Huang Xin said, "I will still buy what I like. Isn't the second dimension just about stupid people with a lot of money?"

Three-dimensional shadows are everywhere

The big net of the second dimension covers all young people aged 19 to 24 at this stage, but now, Huang Xin feels that it is no longer so attractive. She no longer stays up until midnight just to catch up with an episode of anime like before, but needs to worry about more current troubles, such as exams in the three-dimensional world. She has already started preparing for a make-up exam because she failed one exam; and the campus organization she is in is also delegating more tasks to her. This is the first semester of her sophomore year, and her future is full of many unknown factors, and all these factors point to a future that is undoubtedly unrelated to the unique "detachment from reality" of the second dimension.

"All those who have liked the two-dimensional world will slowly become xianchong (people with a fulfilling real life, usually understood as loving the three-dimensional world)." Huang Xin said, "It's just like reading Guo Jingming's books. Maybe people aged 13 or 14 at a certain time period will find it particularly attractive and well-written; but if you read it after that age, you will feel that it is not suitable for you and there is no point in reading it."

In fact, the door of the second dimension has never been closed to the third dimension. This summer, "The Return of the Great Sage" was released, followed by seminars and strong capital investment. The box office success of the former made everyone feel inexplicably excited. Many people are trying to make China the next subculture powerhouse that can be compared with Japan and the United States. At this time, the emergence of a wide range of second-dimensional concepts is enough to make a lot of capital extremely excited.

But this group of adults who are well versed in the rules of capital operation do not seem to get the full support of the fans of the second dimension. Because rather than letting people see the dawn of hope for the second dimension, the behavior of capitalists reveals that they actually intend to use the former as a cash cow. When B Station, as a holy place for the second dimension, was invested by Tencent, one of the largest Internet companies in China, many fans of the second dimension culture were actually quite conflicted. "I always feel that this will make B Station deteriorate." A friend told reporters on the day the news was announced. Afterwards, B Station purchased the copyright of "The Return of the Great Sage" and started the paid model for the first time. This move was incomprehensible to many fans of the second dimension. Because B Station originally promised: to allow the majority of user groups to see the "latest" animation "for free" and "zero advertising".

Tencent finally revealed its ambition in a later report, in which it was established as the "Marvel" of China. On November 19, Tencent announced that it would make the two-dimensional world a mainstream culture, and it would "establish a 300 million yuan Juxing Fund, and work with animation authors to produce more excellent original works, incubate high-quality animation IP, and make it a peripheral derivative product in various forms such as games, film and television, and literature." However, the only difference from the Marvel and DC models is that the former transitioned from a comic book company to an IP giant, while the logic of Chinese businessmen is accustomed to using strong capital to quickly open up this unfamiliar battlefield and package and sell the two-dimensional world in an assembly line manner.

Although Huang Xin believes that "there is nothing wrong with commercialization," she also admits that a business model that demands input and return may mean that pure ACG culture will be gone forever. In addition to Bilibili, ACG fans may also have A station as a substitute. However, this problem does not seem to be solved by changing the website. As a sophomore majoring in animation design, Shui Yifan has to admit that the domestic ACG culture has long been too obviously commercialized and homogenized. "Without economic benefits, you can't do what you really want to do." He took an animation company as an example. This company already has the strength to produce as well as Japan. But because the market is not optimistic, even if the concept film of its work is quite amazing, it will eventually become one of the thousands of defective products.

In short, in order to adapt to the market's pursuit of maximum profits, the two-dimensional culture must face changes like remaking in order to become a wealth incubator and a wing of China's cultural soft power. Whether it is the so-called "violent plot" of "Attack on Titan" or the slightly "erotic" "Yuu no Sora", these animations cannot pass the censorship and cannot bring profits to the market: they must abandon these elements that are not accepted by the mainstream population, even if they are the most essential elements that promote the narrative.

Wang Dashu doesn't like this. He thinks that the second dimension doesn't need to cater to the mainstream, because the latter should obviously be "political things in the news broadcast." "If animation becomes mainstream culture, it will be difficult to keep itself pure. That's what I think. It's better to be a non-mainstream culture." Wang Dashu said.

Shui Yifan thinks the reason why the ACG culture cannot become mainstream is that he thinks it is "a bit out of touch with reality". "The ACG culture and power are virtual after all. You can't live on this culture in your twenties or thirties. Japan is a bit extreme now, like otaku marrying pillows and so on."

In addition, the only consequence of the lack of a regulatory mechanism for the niche ACG world is that the frequency of certain negative events is much higher than in the real world. In order to make a fortune, many online writers and illustrators are reshaping other people's works and packaging them as their own. Because there are too many plagiarism incidents and the lack of a protection mechanism, it is extremely difficult to defend rights. As an online writer, Huang Xin has gone from empathizing and forwarding Weibo to protect the rights of authors at the beginning, to now being too lazy to even look at the color palette (a table used for comparison when plagiarizing, with different colors used to mark similar text content). She said helplessly, "There is so much plagiarism in the ACG world. It feels like someone is caught plagiarizing every day."

However, even without external pressure, the ACG community is no longer a warm and harmonious place. Huang Xin and Shui Yifan both expressed dissatisfaction with a group, "pseudo ACG". These people often enter the circle not too early, and they only start to "follow the trend" after a certain work becomes popular. But they are the majority of this group, and they are often proud of it. "It seems that they always have a sense of superiority when watching works." Huang Xin said. This situation has happened to popular Japanese anime, and the trend has also spread to the domestic novel "Grave Robbers' Chronicles": the latter's description of the relationship between the two male protagonists has attracted a large number of non-original fans. "Now there are more rotten girls." Huang Xin added. Because the ACG and pseudo ACG often face huge differences in whether they "really love the ACG culture", the friction between the two has never stopped.

Today, nothing can stop more and more people from pouring into this trend. Wealthy capitalists, artists who have contributed to the ACG culture, and countless new entrants who are evolving from childhood to youth - the latter are the backbone of the ACG circle. This land of milk and honey that once belonged to Huang Xin, Shui Yifan and Wang Dashu is becoming unprecedentedly lively. But they chose to withdraw and slowly became what they call "live charging". "The ACG world cannot keep people forever." Huang Xin said, "It's just a stage of culture."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.