Watch Out Europe, We're Going on TOUR; "Hetalia: Axis Powers"
âHetalia: Axis Powersâ is an⊠interesting piece of media commentary. For the most part, it centers on the events of World Wars One and Two, albeit through a rather unconventional lens. Consisting of satirical stereotypes of many of the worldâs nations, Hetalia seems to go out of its way to portray each country in the most unflattering light possible through the use of said stereotypes, while also skirting the very things that brought said stereotypes into existence in the first place.
Take Hetaliaâs portrayal of Germany: a blonde, blue-eyed, muscle-bound behemoth with a feverish dedication to authority, structure, and orderâthe very definition of an Aryan Ubermenschâand yet, Germanyâs moreâŠsensitive behaviors during WWII are all but glossed over, if not played for laughs. The same can be said of France, painted as a flamboyant Casanova-esque libertine who drapes himself along furniture, wine glass in hand while muttering to himself about former glories, only to be rebuked with commentary on how quick he is to âsurrender.â However, the worst offense, by far, is that of the animeâs portrayal of Italy.
Depicted as a sniveling wreck who clings to Germanyâs coat-tails, Italy is presented as if he is little else but a weakling who breaks down into sobbing fits and mewls to the heavens for his âbig brotherâ whenever faced with any issue at all, devoid of any ability to stand up for himself. This depiction reaches its most heinous when it comes time to examine the events of WWII. During this time period, Italy wages war on Greece, invades Ethiopia for the second time in fifty years, and under Mussolini, literally invents fascism, which ironically is what inspires Hitler to found the National Socialist party and carry out the atrocities that go on to plague Europe.
In the real world, Italy is the birthplace of the ideology that results in Germany attaining their reputation and/or stereotypes that are played up in Hetalia- iincluding the "Roman" salute, also invented under Mussolini- and by all rights, the animeâs depiction of them both should be on relatively level ground; however, Germany is presented in a seemingly sympathetic light, as a stalwart, practical force, while Italy, the birthplace of one of the greatest art movements in human history, the cradle of the Roman Empire, and the originator of fascist thought, is reduced to âPasta!!!â
Could you reasonably make the argument that Hetaliaâs treatment and/or portrayal of each nation is a carefully curated effort engineered to point out the irrationality of basing your understanding of a country on its stereotypes? Of courseâbut doing so would inadvertently run counter to the very idea of a national identity. Despite the fact that stereotyping is an illogical practice at best, one cannot refute the fact that a great deal of them are based in truth or have a foundation in national identity.
Hetaliaâs personification of France is a licentious philanderer who often fondles anyone in his line of sightâthis is obviously the integration of the stereotype that France is a nation of sensuality and closed-door depravity, which in itself is patently false; however, France does have a history of being relatively liberal in terms of sexuality. The French Revolution resulted in the decriminalization of homosexuality at the back end of the 18th century, and the feminine desire for intimacy, physical and domestic, was all but legitimized in the 19th century with the advent of the "mĂ©nage Ă trois," or âhousehold of three,â denoting a dwelling consisting of a man, a woman, and a lover to be enjoyed by one or the other, if not shared between the two.
Attempting to dismiss Hetaliaâs portrayal of national identities would require one to denounce the concept of unifying national characteristics as a whole, which in itself would be a demonstrably unintellectual act, so while I cannot say I support Hetalia as a work of commentary, it is nonetheless a phenomenal work of art that put a smile on my face more times than I expected.