Monsters wearing people skin: the effectiveness of abuse in Banana Fish
For fans of Banana Fish, Ash being the victim of brutal, horrific sexual abuse from the time he was just a little boy is like a shadow that lingers over the fandom.
It hangs there, over all events, dulling even the most gentle, or mundane moments around the edges like a cloudy sky that threatens a storm. This abuse darkens the landscape not only of Ash’s past, and his present—but his entire personality. It is that tint of gloom that spills over and blackens whatever fleeting brightness Ash finds himself stepping into for the shortest of times. It is the shadow pinned to his bones, it is the anchor chained to his soul.
And yet—it’s never truly talked about by Ash to others. He never really does open up to anyone about this, never seriously confides in another person about what has occurred. Not to Eiji, (or father-figure Max, or best-friend Shorter—or even Blanca, who is one of very few know that know the full extent of what his protégé has been through). And of the aforementioned, it’s the first three who mostly hear of these things through the grapevine of situation, or blown around the edges of conversations like smoke—and honestly, I can’t fault Ash for not opening up more, though he desperately needs to talk to someone.
I mean, how does one go about talking about such things?
How does one speak of being graphically, painfully, systematically raped, over and over and over from the age of seven? How does one speak with others about having their body not only violated in the years of a would-be (and heartbreakingly, should be), innocent childhood, by grown men, and some women? How does one speak about having many of these foul instances recorded—the rooms, the motions, the sounds, the filthy intent—not only watched, but distributed, and used to sexually gratify (again without consent), those with revolting, pedophile interest in such things?
Can you imagine that? Having these sorts of videos being circulated among the underground network of those who make a business of bartering innocent children like living commodities into sexual trafficking? For the pleasure of adults? Without any consent, without any say in these matters that shouldn’t have ever occurred in the first place? A child living, breathing, growing-up in seedy brothels, the dark corners of certain bars; being traded and tossed from lowly pimps to high-ranking mafia bosses—as if they were some sort of rag doll devoid of all feeling. Existing only to loan their time, their body, their very soul—to people who only see them as objects of passing pleasure? A small, easily controlled vessel in which one can dispose of their cruel, carnal nature?
Can you imagine that?
And then, as if this were not enough, but to actually live with the burden of these acts not only imprinted physically, but mentally upon their entire being, like some indelible stamp, some terrible mark of Cain?
Day in, day out.
Week in, week out.
Year in, year out.
Because if we, the outsiders, those lucky enough not to experience such things, feel so uncomfortable just being told, or at the very least, given hints about what Ash suffered at the hands of his tormentors—than how much more do Ash (and those other, forgotten children) feel, having those things done directly to them from such a tender age? Having this sort of living be the only type of life they know?
I think what makes this information, this backstory, so disturbing, and horrible, and powerful not only to me, but others as well—is that it is something that is not contained, nor restricted to the world of fiction. It is not some monster under the bed that the author drags out with the nib of their pen to ink their audience’s imagination in the darkest of thoughts. It is not a gathering of lascivious adjectives scattered between the pages of books that can be closed, and shelved, and put away—
—this is the living, breathing, horrific entity that exists side by side with us in the real world.
Every state. Every country. Every continent.
Every hour, every minute, every day.
Banana Fish leaves such a mark on its viewers because what it talks about, and what it shows—are real. It leaves a mark burned into the mind because the information it drags up and thrusts right up into the viewer’s lives, are disturbing collections of tangible, living, breathing issues that exist right outside their window. Things that are raw, and painful, and frightening—terrible landscapes which can be reached far, far more easily than any fantasy world can be. And that’s exactly what makes it so efficacious.
Even if Banana Fish uses the medium of fiction to talk about such things as child prostitution, child pornography, and survival sex for minors among other such things; even if it uses fictional characters, and a fictional drug, and fictional events to pen its story—it’s still grounded in reality. It still sprouted from digging into the dirt of the nasty, harsh truths of real events that contaminate our world, and still take place over thirty years hence from the fictional timeline. Of actual events occurring even as I type this out.
Of events happening even as you read what I’ve written.
We talk of horror.
Of ghosts, and aliens, and evil creatures from other worlds. Fictional monsters written to scare our imagination.
The thing is, we don’t need those beasts to scare us. We don’t need to invent sinister monsters that roam the shadows of dystopian worlds. Not when we can find the most despicable sort of monsters that live, and breathe, and walk among us every day. Wearing the same clothes, donning the same faces. Indulging in the same sordid affairs. A cloak of people skin, to conceal the beasts within.
They are the monsters we should be frightened of. They are the monsters that should be hunted. They are the monsters that should be slayed.
It is, I think, why, over thirty years later, Banana Fish remains so powerful, so effective; so easily able to revolt, and distress, and hurt its audience—
—because the monsters that exist in its world, are the very same that exist in ours.
“Most of the victimized children who face prostitution are vulnerable children who are exploited. Many predators target runaways, sexual assault victims, and children who have been harshly neglected by their biological parents. Not only have they faced traumatic violence that affects their physical being, but become intertwined into the violent life of prostitution.” – U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole.
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![Eiji's letter to Ash [Background Piano] (DIY)](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_pl7vm9Efso1xgbxxyo1_1547293906_cover.png)
