Authoritarianism in US Political Culture

Dean, Zachary Michael Lewis. 2018. “Only a Chilling Elegy: An Examination of White Bodies, Colonialism, Fascism, Genocide, and Racism in Dragon Ball.” In Comic Studies Here and Now, Taylor & Francis.

Dean (2018) argues that Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has themes of:

•  
  • Colonialism;
  • Genocide;
  • White racial supremacy;
  • Class hierarchies and meritocracy

Would Frieza rank high on authoritarianism in the F-scale?

Frieza might rank high on the following:

• Convention: respect for convention; the status quo.
• Authority: the extent to which people are willing to submit to authority.
• Aggression: the extent to which people admired aggression.
• Destructiveness & Cynicism: high cynicism more likely to be an authoritarian.
• Body-image: body image is very important.
• Superstition: authoritarianism is associated with superstition.

Dean notes:

“The wearing of armor/military garb and Freeza’s use of advanced technology, for either transport, luxury, or oppression, also hearkens to the connection with colonial Westerners: he believes in strength by way of force and raw military might, with armies across the universe […] Planets are conquered for their natural resources, technologies, and—if the planetary residents are both lucky and physically powerful—“recruitment” into Freeza’s army. [In contrast] unlucky alien races that possess nothing of interest have their entire species wiped out in an act of genocidal cleansing, with the now-uninhabited planet sold to the highest bidder” (Dean, 271)

• Dean (2018) argues the character represents white colonialism and racism
• This is in sharp contrast to Goku, who likely ranks low on authoritarianism

Discussion:

Email your partners and discuss:

Question: Would Frieza rank high on authoritarianism (on a 1-6 scale, where 6 means high on authoritarianism)? How would Frieza think about other races?

Once you’ve sent your email, go to your “Group” (menu to your left, click in groups, and go to your assigned group), then describe what you did in your journal, if you’ve heard back from your partner(s) explained what they said.

This assignment is worth 10 points towards the final grade.