Comments on: Black Jack, Volume 1 — Medical Annotations (part one) http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2103 a blog of medicine, comics, television, science and other fun stuff Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:16:32 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: anon. http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2103/comment-page-1#comment-637947 anon. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:53:22 +0000 http://politedissent.com/?p=2103#comment-637947 You know, a lot of people have tried to justify BJ's sexist remarks in Confluence, but it occured to me recently that maybe it's not supposed to be justified. Maybe it's supposed to be just Black Jack talking here & not Tezuka. Tezuka was a very progressive sort of guy who really should have known better, but Black Jack is meant to be an ambiguous character & this story demonstrates it perfectly. I think the crux of the story lies in the juxtaposition of the way he treats Megumi as a patient with the things he says to her about her ability to "be a woman". Black Jack is exactly the sort of person who could treat his patient so progressively while saying something so backward. He probably didn't even mean it. Just another of those things he says because he likes cultivating a public persona as a jerk. Which makes the fact she took it to heart all the more tragic. You know, a lot of people have tried to justify BJ’s sexist remarks in Confluence, but it occured to me recently that maybe it’s not supposed to be justified.

Maybe it’s supposed to be just Black Jack talking here & not Tezuka. Tezuka was a very progressive sort of guy who really should have known better, but Black Jack is meant to be an ambiguous character & this story demonstrates it perfectly.

I think the crux of the story lies in the juxtaposition of the way he treats Megumi as a patient with the things he says to her about her ability to “be a woman”. Black Jack is exactly the sort of person who could treat his patient so progressively while saying something so backward.

He probably didn’t even mean it. Just another of those things he says because he likes cultivating a public persona as a jerk. Which makes the fact she took it to heart all the more tragic.

]]> By: Karla Marx http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2103/comment-page-1#comment-497692 Karla Marx Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:10:36 +0000 http://politedissent.com/?p=2103#comment-497692 The 'quit being a woman' comment is something I'd expect from a Japanese doctor today still! eg. from a psychiatrist: if you got a boyfriend you wouldn't be depressed! "unless your definition of woman is based solely upon reproductive ability" -- 30 years ago Japan, hits the nail on the head. The ‘quit being a woman’ comment is something I’d expect from a Japanese doctor today still!
eg. from a psychiatrist: if you got a boyfriend you wouldn’t be depressed!
“unless your definition of woman is based solely upon reproductive ability” — 30 years ago Japan, hits the nail on the head.

]]> By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Tezuka and Taniguchi online; more on Yen http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2103/comment-page-1#comment-432344 MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Tezuka and Taniguchi online; more on Yen Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:21:49 +0000 http://politedissent.com/?p=2103#comment-432344 [...] Scott, an actual doctor, provides medical notes for vol. 1 of Black Jack at Polite Dissent. [...] [...] Scott, an actual doctor, provides medical notes for vol. 1 of Black Jack at Polite Dissent. [...]

]]> By: Philip Eckert http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2103/comment-page-1#comment-430502 Philip Eckert Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:25:31 +0000 http://politedissent.com/?p=2103#comment-430502 I always enjoy your medical annotations and I hope I can look forward to reading many more for <b>Black Jack</b>. A few things strike me about <i>Confluence</i>. One is that medicine and biology are used more like literary devices than scientific ones. Black Jack's declaration that removing Megumi's uterus and ovaries means that she will "quit being a woman" doesn't seem like science, but more like the storytelling logic that exposing Superman to gold kryptonite will remove his powers permanently. A second point is that the story is meant to establish Black Jack as a romantic hero, a brooding scarred figure in a black cape who can't be with the love of his life. In the end, he's the focus of the story, and the point of the story is that it ends with him sitting in his car on the pier while the woman he loves sails off into the distance, beyond his reach. From this point of view it's only a question of how she ends up beyond his reach, and the whole "unfeminizing" surgical menopause angle is just a means to that end. A third point is that I get the impression (particulary from Internet sources such as http://tezukainenglish.com) that Tezuka was very sensitive to the feelings of those who experienced the medical conditions portrayed over the course of the comic. So I wonder if he changed the order in which the stories are reprinted so that there are plenty of examples of "weird medicine" up front, as a way of informing the audience that "it's only a comic book." I gather that Pinoko's introduction has been moved up from story #12 tO #3, while Kei/Megumi's introduction is moved up from #50 to #6. In this context, maybe Tezuka intended Kei/Megumi's masculine transformation to appear just as "realistic" as Pinoko's transformation from a collection of partially differentiated tissue into a giggling, pissing, jealous doll. (And maybe I'm just a sap... but I find I can't just dismiss Pinoko as a juvenile kid sidekick, and that's largely because of how she's presented in this first volume. If it weren't for Black Jack, she'd be waste tissue, something only to be disposed of [that is, a teratoma; a tumor; a disease]. Instead, to Black Jack, she's "a piece of flesh that never got to be human. I'll put you together and make a human out of you." Can any surgeon get more godlike than this? And I read her lisp as a speech impediment from someone who may not even have had a tongue, rather than a cute affectation. Someone who lives freely only because of Black Jack; a combination of cute and tragic.) But I freely admit I'm a total Tezuka fanboy, so I might well be stretching for the most positive interpretation here. I gather that Kei/Megumi will show up at least twice more over the course of the series, so maybe there's more to this story. And all that being said, after the surgery Megumi/Kei grows some awesome sideburns! I always enjoy your medical annotations and I hope I can look forward to reading many more for Black Jack.
A few things strike me about Confluence. One is that medicine and biology are used more like literary devices than scientific ones. Black Jack’s declaration that removing Megumi’s uterus and ovaries means that she will “quit being a woman” doesn’t seem like science, but more like the storytelling logic that exposing Superman to gold kryptonite will remove his powers permanently.
A second point is that the story is meant to establish Black Jack as a romantic hero, a brooding scarred figure in a black cape who can’t be with the love of his life. In the end, he’s the focus of the story, and the point of the story is that it ends with him sitting in his car on the pier while the woman he loves sails off into the distance, beyond his reach. From this point of view it’s only a question of how she ends up beyond his reach, and the whole “unfeminizing” surgical menopause angle is just a means to that end.
A third point is that I get the impression (particulary from Internet sources such as http://tezukainenglish.com) that Tezuka was very sensitive to the feelings of those who experienced the medical conditions portrayed over the course of the comic. So I wonder if he changed the order in which the stories are reprinted so that there are plenty of examples of “weird medicine” up front, as a way of informing the audience that “it’s only a comic book.” I gather that Pinoko’s introduction has been moved up from story #12 tO #3, while Kei/Megumi’s introduction is moved up from #50 to #6. In this context, maybe Tezuka intended Kei/Megumi’s masculine transformation to appear just as “realistic” as Pinoko’s transformation from a collection of partially differentiated tissue into a giggling, pissing, jealous doll.
(And maybe I’m just a sap… but I find I can’t just dismiss Pinoko as a juvenile kid sidekick, and that’s largely because of how she’s presented in this first volume. If it weren’t for Black Jack, she’d be waste tissue, something only to be disposed of [that is, a teratoma; a tumor; a disease]. Instead, to Black Jack, she’s “a piece of flesh that never got to be human. I’ll put you together and make a human out of you.” Can any surgeon get more godlike than this? And I read her lisp as a speech impediment from someone who may not even have had a tongue, rather than a cute affectation. Someone who lives freely only because of Black Jack; a combination of cute and tragic.)
But I freely admit I’m a total Tezuka fanboy, so I might well be stretching for the most positive interpretation here.
I gather that Kei/Megumi will show up at least twice more over the course of the series, so maybe there’s more to this story.
And all that being said, after the surgery Megumi/Kei grows some awesome sideburns!

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