Fushigi no Kuni no Bird - Vol. 11 Ch. 53 - Horobets/Shiraoi

[MangaDex]

 

[katajaton]

I was expecting to see IRL Bird calling the Ainu savages in the end in sheer contrast to the moe Manga Bird, and I was quite surprised in both ways. It's true that she did use such foul language of her time, but her description of the men is respectful and kind of sweet. I bet she could have been closer to the Manga Bird if the society she lived in was different.

 

[deezenautz]

"What virile-looking Ainu men."
Keep it in your pants, lady.

 

[erana1]

I was expecting to see IRL Bird calling the Ainu savages in the end in sheer contrast to the moe Manga Bird, and I was quite surprised in both ways. It's true that she did use such foul language of her time, but her description of the men is respectful and kind of sweet. I bet she could have been closer to the Manga Bird if the society she lived in was different.

You should remember that the meaning of the words, as well as their intent, changes over time. "Savage" means lterally "uncivilized", just like "barbarian" originally just meant "literally anyone not Greek-Roman", and while today both words have adquired huge connotations of being... the brute, despicable kind of uncivilized, they used not to have such added meaning. Any culture NOT highly civilized was, by definition, "savages". She was most definitely NOT being despective and calling them "ferocious brutes".

If she had wished to insult the Ainu, rest assured she would have used a different choice of words- just like the incredibly famous example of Mark Twain's usage of the word that in the 1880s was the neutral way of refering to a black person, but today is a deadly insult, while hilariously the word that then was considered an insulting way of refering to a black person today is considered neutral. Such is life. Be glad she didn't also mention how gay they were in their mirth, just to mention the single most famous case of changed meaning (I take you are familiar with how gay Tolkien elves canonically are) :-D

 

[toriaezu]

You should remember that the meaning of the words, as well as their intent, changes over time. "Savage" means lterally "uncivilized", just like "barbarian" originally just meant "literally anyone not Greek-Roman", and while today both words have adquired huge connotations of being... the brute, despicable kind of uncivilized, they used not to have such added meaning. Any culture NOT highly civilized was, by definition, "savages". She was most definitely NOT being despective and calling them "ferocious brutes".

If she had wished to insult the Ainu, rest assured she would have used a different choice of words- just like the incredibly famous example of Mark Twain's usage of the word that in the 1880s was the neutral way of refering to a black person, but today is a deadly insult, while hilariously the word that then was considered an insulting way of refering to a black person today is considered neutral. Such is life. Be glad she didn't also mention how gay they were in their mirth, just to mention the single most famous case of changed meaning (I take you are familiar with how gay Tolkien elves canonically are) :-D

Exactly. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy remarks that "every savage can dance.” My mother used to get mad at me when I said something sucked. I was just recently slightly horrified when the news said cardinals were "rawdogging" the papal conclave. Language drift happens at frankly astonishing speeds and what is considered normal (or rude) one day may become the opposite in a very short period of time.

 

[Panino]

Thanks, World-Three!

Even without the announcement it's clear that the mangá is ending.
Isabella reached her goal.

I was expecting to see IRL Bird calling the Ainu savages in the end in sheer contrast to the moe Manga Bird, and I was quite surprised in both ways. It's true that she did use such foul language of her time, but her description of the men is respectful and kind of sweet. I bet she could have been closer to the Manga Bird if the society she lived in was different.

That was just regular language back them, to those accursed british.

 

[toriaezu]

Thanks, World-Three!

Even without the announcement it's clear that the mangá is ending.
Isabella reached her goal.

Well, yes and no, I'm behind by like 10 chapters and there's still her journey back to Tokyo if Sasa-sensei wants to draw it out another two volumes

 

[Sparkletime]

Noel Paton has a bunch of Jesus paintings and they all look pretty similar to the Ainu drawn here. And his Jesus is very sad looking most of the time. One is titled Man of Sorrows. Though "Christ Crowned by Two Angels" looks very manga like (via National Galleries of Scotland's page)

 

[toriaezu]

Noel Paton has a bunch of Jesus paintings and they all look pretty similar to the Ainu drawn here. And his Jesus is very sad looking most of the time. One is titled Man of Sorrows. Though "Christ Crowned by Two Angels" looks very manga like (via National Galleries of Scotland's page)
l

I suspect that given her phrasing, Miss Bird was referring to an actual painting and not just a sketch, in which case I think the most likely candidate is "Christ, the Great Shepherd" which was on display in Glasgow in December 1878 and "the Replica of which important work was Her Majesty’s Contribution to the Paris Exhibition." I'm like 80% sure it's this painting here. But yeah the guy did far too many Jesus works to be completely sure which one in particular Miss Bird meant.

I'd also like to take this moment to complain to Sir Noel Paton about his absolutely ungoogleable painting names, do you know how many hits I get for "christ the good shepherd" you might as well not even bother.