ANIME//body positions\\mannerisms

EMBODIED COGNITION: 

a growing research program in cognitive science that emphasizes the formative role the environment plays in the development of cognitive processes.

that's the first response from google. 

Let's review the concept while lying comfy with a cherished ***anime***

        

Introduction to Embodied Cognition Through Media

         Death Note, a Japanese manga series that has gained popularity for its anime adaptation, follows a young boy who seeks to better the world (VIZ, 2014).  From manga to television set, audiences watch as the boy, Light Yagami, attempts to cleanse the social landscape of evil with the help of a death note, or supernatural notebook, that allows the holder to kill any known person whose name he or she transcribes. 

         From a rating pool of 530,473 who watch the Death Note anime, the show scores an 8.75 out of 10 (myanimelist.net).  The high rating lends to media success through synergistic media deals.  The stories and iconography of the anime echo those of the original manga edition, from author Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata.  What occupies the minds of forum fans, however, is not Ohba’s moral dilemmas, or Light’s questionable heroism; instead, they ask, why does L, another character, squat “when he can jolly well just sit?” (Minitokyo.net).

         Figure 1 shows a freeze frame of L in his characteristic stance.  He is crouched over with both feet flat on the armchair, facing a porcelain tea set.  Forum users suggest explanations for his behavior: he thinks he is so “special that he can’t do what normal people do”; “he probably sat like that as a child and it’s a habit he can’t get rid of”; “his intellect will drop by 40% if he sits normally.”  Later posts do in fact corroborate the statistic; Ohba’s manga notes that if L were to sit “normally,” with both feet flat on the ground, his concentration power would drop. 

         Authors and artists often create behavior specific to characters.  The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper dons comic t-shirts and a gawky stance; Orange Is The New Black’s Galina “Red” Reznikov maintains her hair a dyed bright red; Family Matters’ Steve Urkel stands wide-legged with pelvis forward and walks, as another character describes, “like you still have the hanger in your shirt” (phantomflapjack, 2009).  The behaviors are specific to the characters and play a role in defining their personas.  As a forum user writes of L, “it won’t be normal for a weird guy to sit properly” (Minitokyo.net).

         Media representations are planned and purposeful.  They form cameos that come to affect character relationships.  In the untelevised social word, social presentations can be just as specific to an individual as the “hanger” walk is to Urkel.  Likewise, psychological state can be as conditional on behavior as L’s mental prowess is on his squatting.

         Visual culture reflects everyday human understanding (Greysen & Chretien, 2010; Van Cleave, 2010).  Interpretation of one’s social world is ongoing, as is research in the field of social psychology.  By shifting study from the observable world to the body, social phenomena and issues can be understood differently.  Theories of “embodied cognition” postulate social thinking, influence, and relation as originating within the body and being maintained through bodily interpretation and action.   The emerging literature interprets social life as emanating from an organism, rather than from the surrounding world.