Vox Artes is the first community built around the ideal of generating leftist discussion of anime and otaku subculture at large. As a website, it is born from a belief that, just like any of the other arts which typically receive political commentaryーliterature or filmーanime has its politics, which had up until now not been given the attention they deserve. The purpose of such an undertaking is dual: firstly, to improve the online discourse around anime; secondly, and most importantly, to push forward leftistーand specifically Marxistーviews on anime as well as culture at large in order to raise political consciousness as a whole (not simply of the fiction we consume). This is to say: think against capitalism. We mainly publish:
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Interventions: theoretical considerations on how a Marxist analysis can help us understand anime, awaken its political potentialities; reactions to opposing points of view…
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Commentaries: Marxist analyses of specific anime
As a community, our goal is to provide a space for the safe sharing of common interests among left-wing anime fans; but more importantly, to generate further discussion on the connection between anime and leftism, to explore why it is that we, as leftists, enjoy anime so much: primarily against those who claim that it is a fundamentally conservative media, or wish to weaponize it for projects antagonistic to ours. But going beyond this, our purpose is to unravel the politics behind our love of anime: against those who think that progressive criticism is about recognizing “problematic” elements, we wish to understand what is politically operative in what we like so much about the medium.
This is an essentially communal ideal in that this not achieved through publishing articles which impart some knowledge on how to enjoy anime, but rather carving a space so that everyone can themselves engage in such an approach: in so many words, Vox Artes is about helping people raise their own political consciousness. This also means that, although we will stick to an essentially Marxist commitment, not all our analyses will be class-based: as we have established a properly Marxist approach to anime has not yet been formulated: this means that we will have to discuss with myriad approaches and possibilities that just as many people bring in, if we hope to synthesize them in the most politically effective manner.
Finally, we believe that communities are essential to any politics, in establishing new forms of togetherness and collective consciousness: in other words, Vox Artes exists to bring together those leftist otaku who had been so disparate until now; it hopes to become an small center of class consciousness from which the fight against the infernal capitalist machine can spread out a little further.
To all those who feel like they belong here: welcome to the community! You can register on the forums or join the Discord (the invite to your right); or, of course, you can just read the articles on here, and maybe leave a comment (nice or otherwise). It’s all up to you now!
And before we end, a (very) brief staff introduction:
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daysofsummer: aka Ambre. French femby, currently trying to get an M.A. in Japanese Studies (researching Murata Sayaka). She’s the website’s founder, and its main writer as of now. Drowning in work, and always sleepy. You can read her unstructured ramblings on her personal blog.
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Karin: American trans girl trying her best to keep everything together behind the scenes. If she’s not doing that, she’s probably looking at yuri or something.
- Joe: the voice and words of Pause & Select. Canadian PhD student, researching video games and ideology. He edits daysofsummer’s articles starting with Class and Romance in “Kaguya-sama: Love Is War”
