Outline (take 2)
Thesis: Otaku’s are acutely aware of the stereotypes that surround them, and this influences their
behavior in many ways(or settings)
Support one: Otakus in the wild (Everyday situations)
Support two: Otakus in their natural habitat (With each other)
Support three: Non typical otakus and how they follow the same rule (Jesse and Loraine)
Support four: What otakus believe the consequences of being “out” are
Conclusion:
We began our research with a common goal in mind; we wanted to prove that most
otakus are not the way that they are stereotypically believed to be. After all of our fieldwork, we
found ourselves unable to find the proof we were searching for. Most of the otakus we observed
were some combination of the stereotypical qualities: loud, immature, physically unfit, unkempt,
and weird. However, we discovered something interesting along with this observation; otakus
are aware that they have these qualities, and aware that people know. As one would expect, most
otakus are not happy with the fact that people think such negative things about them, and many
try to modify their behavior while around non otakus so that they are perceived as less
“weird.” Others are even ashamed of themselves because of these stereotypes, and try to hide
their hobby from strangers so that they will not be judged. This acute awareness of the
stereotypes that surround them often influences their behavior.
When otakus are not around one another, they tend to keep to themselves and stay very
quiet. We both witnessed the behavior of two anime club members outside the club on separate
occasions. Vannida noticed a boy she knew named Ted when we first did our site visit to the
anime club. She recalled that Ted didn’t talk much in class, and mainly kept to himself. Although
Ted might’ve been quiet outside the anime club, when we observed him in the club, he was one
of the members that was very loud and walked from one side of the room to the other socializing
with different members.
Miller noticed something similar, as his good friend’s roommate, Kyle, was in the
anime club. Miller had spent a decent amount of time around Kyle, even going on a 3 day trip to
Las Vegas with him at one point, but he had always come off very quiet and reserved. However,
when we saw Kyle in the anime club he was very loud and expressive. We believe that the
reason that Kyle and Ted behaved so differently in the two situations is because they wanted to
avoid coming across as stereotypical otakus when around people that they did not know as well,
so that they would not be judged as weird.
Since otakus are so familiar with the stereotypes that surround their subculture, it is only
natural that they sometimes see people that they believe embody these stereotypes. This
sometimes causes them to avoid these more “stereotypical” people, because they fear that
associating with them would cause people to see them as weird. Both of our interviewees
alluded to this in their interviews. Jesse told us flat out that he prefers to not associate with
anybody else who is into anime, and while Lorraine was not as harsh even she admitted that
there are some “immature” otakus that she would rather not to be around.