For many readers perhaps the word manga (or Japanese comic) does not make much sense. But the impact in Chile of this type of Japanese cultural manifestation is increasingly visible: the sale of manga has risen by 600% in our country. It is an editorial phenomenon that is aligned with the birth of many new bookstores specialized in this area. It is a cultural explosion that has children, young people and adults reading, which is always good news. However, there is a legitimate question: why doesn’t the same thing happen with the books of Chilean authors? Why don’t domestic book sales go up by 600%?
Let’s take another example: online queues to buy tickets for recitals by foreign artists. I remember that a few months ago the person who was able to buy a ticket to see Daddy Yankee in Chile was a privileged person, someone who literally took out the lottery. Many were left out, thousands and thousands of buyers. But is it the same with the recitals of the talented national artists? Are there those eternal online queues for your cultural consumption?
I mention another example. When South Korean director Boon Jooh-Woo won the Oscar for his terrific film Parasite (which won six Oscars in total), the press and fans waited for him as a rockstar at Seoul airport. Crowds gathered to welcome the filmmaker to his prime. Now, how many people went to receive the Chilean Oscar winners for A Fantastic Woman at the airport? Much less than expected. This kind of reaction seems to be commonplace within our cultural industries. That is, if it is time to invest for the consumption of a Chilean book, album, concert or film, we frown and look to the side. Isn’t it really worth reading great Chileans like Benjamin Labatut (read A Terrible Greenery, I Beg You), elected within the best of 2021 by former President Barack Obama? Do we really find it hard to believe that Pablo Larraín’s Spencer can be more convening and even better than any Marvel movie?
We can analyze the causes and problems we have when it comes to educating audiences, when it comes to understanding how cultural structures work and how they could improve the work of the State and entrepreneurs so that the Chilean creative industries reach the excellence of South Korea, for example, with its cinema, series and music industry and the enormous contribution to the GDP of that country.
To be sure, there is much to be done. But the first step is to lower the mental barrier that we have internalized about our own culture. Chileans should be the first to value the pieces and titles and contents of national authors. Works that often triumph first outside our borders. And that, without a doubt, with adequate policies, with the indicated commitment, could become books, movies, music of a high demand in our own territory. Let’s dream, why not?: with as much demand as a manga, Daddy Yankee or a Korean film like Parasite.
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The content expressed in this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
