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Why 'Supervan' helps me understand the Anime culture...


Watching Supervan the other night got me thinking: The seventies were freakin' weird. I mean, this was a time when full grown men and women were willing to build their entire lives around something so stupid. There was, indeed, an entire segment of the population whose lives were totally immersed in this van culture, a world characterized by total dorkdom.

Now, I am one of these people who abides by the old saying: "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." So, naturally, I spent the next few hours furiously thinking about how we could avoid another "van culture" incident, and what the modern cultural equivalent would be if it were to occur again.

Then I had a horrible epiphany: It's already here. Van culture has returned, and this time it's back with force.

"I don't see any gigantic GM vans with buff-@ss-naked-viking-chicks airbrushed on the sides," you note. No, that much is true. The outlet for dorkdom isn't so obvious nowadays. Dorks are becoming too sophisticated to be detected by the naked eye. Nowadays they hide behind their computer screens and furry conventions, blending in with the rest of society seamlessly.

Anime nerds.

That's right. Watching Supervan made me realize: The modern equivalent of the "Vanner" is the "Anime Nerd."

A bold claim, I know, but let's look at the similarities.

-=SIMILARITY ONE: CHRONOLOGY=-

For argument's sake, let's say the culmination of the sixties (the civil rights movement, feminism, free love, acid, etc.) peaked in 1969. Van culture peaked in 1977 (if the several van-themed movies made in 1977 are any indication), eight years later.

The Van Culture was a reaction by the younger brothers and sisters who weren't old enough to participate in the awesomeness of the sixties, but still wanted something that carried a similar spirit. Thus, vanculture emerged.

Flash forward.

1992- The year "grunge" smashed its way into pop culture. A reaction against the yuppie-infested eighties, the grunge movement could be considered the cynical cousin to the sixties. It was a cool time. Music was good, attitudes were sour, and clothing was shredded.

Flash forward.

2000- The year of the Anime Nerd. All through the mid-ninties, this horrible, ugly, pimply faced thing was building on internet message boards and chat rooms. It wasn't until 2000, though, that it really exploded, becoming something that was recognizeable by everyone.

2000 - 1992 = 8 years. 8 years later. Coincidence? I think not.

-=SIMILARITY TWO: PERSONALITY TYPES=-

Have you ever met an anime nerd? They are self-righteous. They will defend anime at any cost. They are totally immersed in their little world. If you are an anime nerd and you are reading this (though I have no idea what an anime nerd would be doing at the "Supervan" page) the first thing out of your keyboard won't be: "No, that's not true" or "I think you are mistaken, we just enjoy anime." No. It will be: "So what?" And therein lies the similarity. Anime Nerds love anime with an almost fetishlike fervor, secretly believing that they have somehow tapped into some kind of "cool" that the rest of society is too ignorant to recognize.

This mindset HAD to be the same as the Vanners. I mean, you don't spend thousands of dollars to airbrush stupid crap on the side of your car that everyone can see if you don't honestly believe it's the coolest God-damned-thing on the whole planet.

Same people. If you had a time machine that could only transport Vanners into the future, they would surely embrace anime.

-=SIMILARITY THREE: COMRADERY=-
So we all can admit that we know (or maybe even are friends with) an anime nerd. Have you ever seen it when two of them get together? It doesn't matter if they've never met before in their whole life, you would swear they had known each other since birth. They make friends easier than rabbits make babies. The reason for ths can be attributed to the previous similarity.

Vanners. Vanners are willing to break each other out of jail.

Point taken?

-=SIMILARITY FOUR: COMPLETE AND UTTER DORKDOM=-
Anime Nerds are the epitomy of dorkiness, ranking just under the nearly extinct Dungeons and Dragons crowd (which, coincidentally, ARE the Vanners).

Watch Supervan. Watch it and tell me that the Vanners aren't some of the ugliest, silliest, and downright dorkiest people on this entire planet. Go ask your mom. Go ask your dad. Go ask your uncles and aunts. "Who was dorkier than the Vanners, pop?" "Nobody, son. Nobody."

Case in point.

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Now, obviously this is not a comprehensive list of the many similarities between Van Culture and Anime Nerds. These are just a few that I noted right off the bat.

Thank you Supervan. You helped me understand my world a little better, and that is what cinema is all about.

-Fritz the Cat

www.vicecentral.com


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I understand your post, but totally disagree with it.

because the van culture didn't go away, it evolved into the minitruck culture that replaced it.... how many magazines have you seen on the news stand that cater to the minitruck culture.


the obvious contradiction here is that anime' geeks dont want to stand out from the rest of normal society(they want to fit in and be like the rest of us).....the very opposite is true of someone who spends large sums of money to make a van that stands out from anything else that poeple would consider as "normal". In other words the poeple who were part of the van culture wanted to stand out from everyone else. And thier airbrushed painting on the sides of thier vans was the means they used to stand out.

In the 1980's minivans forever wisked away the full size van. (the odds are that the last time you saw a full sized van, it had the logo on the painted side of it advertising the services of the drywaller, plumber or electrician who owns it....That appears to be the only purpose for the full size van in todays world.

In fact Ford Motor Company is the only company that still mass produces ful size vans. (true GMC also still makes one,but most GMC dealer dont even have one on thier car lot- and if you want one, you'll probably have to special order it)

However, the same guiding principles that drove young men in the 70's to drive those fancy vans, is still relivant in todays world(it has never gone away - it just cycles over to different types of vehicles). In the 1980s as full sized vans were produced in fewer numbers(replaced by the minivan)...teens and young men stopped tricking out vans and instead focussed thier attention to minitrucks. As the 80s progressed. fancy vans totally vanished, and the same culter where supervans thrived in the 70s was replaced by young men who lowered thier minitrucks to the ground, and filled the bed of the truck up with loud sub woofer speakers(with lots of bass). ........many of these mini trucks have the same type of wild graphics, flames, and airbrushed scenes that vans had in the 70s.... and the van culture evolved into the mini truck culture.

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I've got a lot of those '70s movies on video that can be considered nostalgic now. Lots of fun to go back and watch them on old grainy videotapes.

If I could only find SUNSET COVE (1978) . . .

Either way I've got lots of others. Fun.

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Are you talking about Al Adamson's Sunset Cove, or the other which is also known as Malibu Beach?

I collect dead pigeons then I press them between the pages of a book.

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Having actually been alive in the 70's I can say that people I knew and know that were 'vanners' would not embrace anime, totally different mindset.

I collect dead pigeons then I press them between the pages of a book.

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Dear smerd_70: HI. >>> Sorry I didn't get back to you.

The SUNSET COVE I was referring to back in '07 when I made that Post was indeed Al Adamson's 1978 movie.

*** I have since found 2 of them. One from Sweden on Walthers Video and the other from the UK on the Video Brokers label. ***

So now I don't have to go without SUNSET COVE ever again. :)

I've also recently received SIX-PACK ANNIE (1975) on ROADSHOW VIDEO from Australia! I was VERY pleased to get that in.

Regards, CARTER GORMAN

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[deleted]

I would say that the WOW (world of warcraft) community fits well. Many of the wizards and warlocks once painted on the side of Vans in the 1970s are now on computer screens in darkened basements.

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