Addressing Pedophilic
Concerns in Hetalia

A/N: I will not
post images, as I don’t wish to trigger people. It’s a very sensitive matter
that I’ve concluded would be better off not being shown. It would be
irresponsible if I were to just post them on display without any thought or
warning. However, links will be provided should you wish to see the primary
source material for yourself.

If you are sensitive to this kind of subject matter, PLEASE
DO NOT read this post.

Let me also just go on the record to say that I HATE
pedophiles. I applied for a student placement that would put me in
a department that specifically targets online predators. I’ve been targeted online before, so it’s something very personal to me. I don’t take the subject
lightly.

Main Arguments:

Hetalia didn’t promote pedophilia or sexual assault nor were
they glorified. Instead, shock humour, which intentionally recognizes the taboo
and moral inappropriateness of various tropes and employs them to provoke a
reaction out of the audience, were used.

The jokes were positioned in a way that made the perpetrator/aggressor
of perverted and unwelcomed behaviour as the antagonist. In other words, Hetalia
wasn’t pedophilic, but the jokes Himaruya made in the past did have pedophilic
undertones.

Over the years and as joke cultures changed, the shock
humour employed in Hetalia disappeared. A lot of this can be attributed to the
heightened consciousness of today’s society, where these egregious jokes aren’t
tolerated. This doesn’t mean that they’ve disappeared entirely, but it’s rare
to see them go unchallenged now.

It can also be
attributed to the fact that Himaruya recognized the harm in the tropes he was
depicting and learned from the mistakes he made in the past. Anyone who has read Hetalia in the last eight
years will know that this newer material cannot be compared to what it used to
be. The joke culture has since shifted and certain things don’t fly anymore.
For example, comparing the France from 2006-2010/2011 to the France now would be
like comparing an ant to a dragonfly; one remains at a lowly, deprived level
while the other soars and flourishes above its counterpart.

Now, I don’t intend to justify or excuse the shock humour
and the harmful depictions/ scenarios of the series’ past. What I do intend to
do is have a discussion about why they existed, why they don’t anymore, and how
Hetalia and its present characterizations can still be appreciated.

Shock Humour, What it
is, and Real-Life Examples:

Before I delve into Hetalia’s early years, I always find it
helpful to find similar scenarios where this also occurs and draw parallels.

The premise of shock humour is to use subjects that are
taboo and make jokes about them. The shock is how the audience reacts to the
abrasive humour. Overall, it deliberately attempts to employ gags that are
morally-offensive to snatch the attention of the audience.

A recent, more relevant example of this would be James Gunn’s
firing from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. In the past, he made several
offensive tweets joking about subjects such as sexual assault and pedophilia.

Does that mean that he advocates for sexual
assault and pedophilia? No.

Were the jokes made in poor taste? Yes, 100%.

So, why now? Why is it only now that these jokes are
resurfacing and provoking a negative reaction? Why weren’t they burned at the
media stake like they are today?

Context and timing are critical to understanding why.

As I’ve mentioned, society has grown more conscious of the
type of humour we employ and at whose expense it befalls onto. Newer social movements have made us rethink how our society is
constructed, which includes the meaning and similar construction behind our
words and how they can perpetuate and reproduce harmful assumptions.

In Gunn’s apology, he took full accountability for his old
tweets, admitting that the shocking humour he used came from a provocative
intent and that his sense of humour has since changed.

What I have always been critical of Outrage Culture for is
how it acts as an antithesis to discussion and growth. People are capable of
changing and learning from their past mistakes, so to hold them accountable and
drag them through the dirt for someone they used to be is just as harmful. You
see this in how the actors of the film argued against Gunn’s firing without
condoning the tweets. They were able to approach the situation with compassion
and intelligence, recognizing that while Gunn’s tweets were cringy and inappropriate,
they were unreflective of his present character.  

Shock humour is becoming increasingly contested. What was permissible
before isn’t now. What would before raise eyebrows now raises stakes and
pitchforks.

In my own lifetime, I’ve experienced a dramatic shift
in joke culture too. Common middle school humour included joking about getting “r**ped”
by a difficult test or that anyone who looked at you in a funny way had a “r**pe
face.”  

Something like that today would get crucified by the
internet, as we’ve seen with the James Gunn situation.

Hetalia + Fanon
Response:

It would be one thing if Hetalia supported pedophilia and
sexual assault.

It doesn’t. 

What it instead does is use shock humor and jokes with
pedophilic/unwelcomed sexual undertones to shock the audience into reacting,
reeling them to tune in to the taboo content.

France is the biggest perpetrator of this. In many of the
early Holiday and Event Strips, the premise is that he acts as the perverted antagonist
who will go out of his way to strip, grope, touch, and make other nations
uncomfortable. The humour Himaruya employed knew very little boundaries.
Everyone was France’s target, including Sealand and Latvia who were minors [x]. Fans
too participated in these events, requesting that France “grope” and “m***st”
certain characters.

On the other hand, the end scheme of this crude comic gag
was that France always got his just deserts. He was punished, tied up, and once
even arrested for his lecherous behaviour [x] [x] [x]. The moral of the comics was always
that what he did was wrong and unacceptable. What was problematic is that shock
humour was the device used to push this narrative.

Ex: France himself even says that love shouldn’t be forced
onto anyone [x]

The humour isn’t only limited to France, but he was
definitely at the forefront of it. Some other aspects would include the Italy
brothers (as children and adults) having curls that represent erogenous zones, when any person
with basic child development knowledge knows that it’s impossible for children
to experience sexual pleasure.

One misconception that I always see is that Spain is a
pedophile that deliberately pulls on Romano’s curl, knowing the reaction it’ll elicit.
This is false. Spain is completely unaware of the curl’s purpose [x]. The shock
humour, then, would be provoking and pushing the line between what is
acceptable and what is not; Spain obliviously tugging on Romano’s erogenous
zone would be the unseemly taboo and inappropriate comic gag that would shock
the readers. Some other examples of these jokes would include Spain discussing
wanting to marry the Italy brothers when they were older and displaying a creepy
expression at the thought of all three of them living together [x] [x].

I emphasized context before because these tropes were not
only permitted but encouraged by fans. At the end of the day Himaruya is to be
held fully accountable for what he decided to create and post, but the differences
in joke culture are also something to acknowledge and be mindful of.

The Deleted Strip:

Just the mere thought of this strip brings dread upon any
Hetalia fan who knows what it is. It’s something that no one wants to discuss nor
remember; “Botticelli’s Erotic Paintings” [x] 

Well, it happened, deleted or not. This is an example of where
Himaruya took shock humour too far and made something completely unacceptable. 

What little humour there was in the shock before was now
non-existent: Spain and France go so far as to m**est Chibitalia. Himaruya,
having recognized how depraving and inexcusable this content was, later deleted
it from his blog in 2008. 

There’s no excusing that strip or even the inappropriate
humour that he continued to employ until roughly late 2010/2011. There’s still perverted innuendos, and you can argue that the damaged series where the nations are ‘magically’ stripped of clothes for the sake of fanservice is, in fact, stripping, but the context isn’t that of sexual assault and there are no aggressors [x]. The only qualm I have is Latvia’s inclusion. 

I believe that Himaruya has paid his dues in the
following eight years of content that he’s since put out into the world. They’ve
proven that he’s learned and evolved from his mistakes and no longer supports
this type of humour.

Interesting side
note:

When Himaruya first came to America, he was shocked by how
laxly regulated cartoons were. By this I mean that he was surprised by the
shock humour employed in them and what they were able to get away with. This
isn’t an inaccurate observation.

He cites South Park and Family Guy. While I
haven’t watched South Park, I know firsthand that Family Guy has pulled off some pretty dark
and raunchy jokes, ranging from subjects and persons such as Hitler and
pedophilia (the perverted neighbor old man trope). Something I’ve always
wondered is if this may have played a part in influencing the tropes
that we saw emerge in Hetalia’s early years [x]. 

What Now? +
Suggestions on How to Approach Recent Characterizations:

In the past, I’ve mentioned that not acknowledging older characterizations
and pretending that they didn’t happen is just as harmful as holding onto and
approaching them as if they’re still relevant. The old and new characterizations
for most characters are so dramatically different that they’re incomparable.

The rule of thumb that I’ve used in navigating through this
messy labyrinth of discretion is simple: Take both characterizations (old and
new) and pick out which aspects of the personality have remained true to the
character.

Ex:

Does France still grope and terrorize other nations with unwanted
touching? No.

Does he still like his muscles? Yes. [x]

Larger post on the evolution of France’s characterization
here: [x].

I would be lying if I said that if I had come into the
fandom when this type of humour was still being employed that I wouldn’t have
left it. In fact, I had read the volumes first before reading web-exclusive
content. Nonetheless, I’m still able to recognize that the series has come full
circle in cleaning up its characterizations.

The only thing I find disappointing is that Himaruya hasn’t
addressed but rather deleted some of
this content. It doesn’t even have to do with the use of the shock humour.
Fine, he learned from it and tailored his content accordingly; I get and respect that. What
I don’t respect and have a difficult time accepting is how quiet he’s been on
the whole situation.