Unread postby Psalm Of Fire » January 13th, 2012, 11:10 pm
What a great topic! Name's a bit sloppy, but whatever.
My wrists are a bit damaged, so I can't give this the reply I want. I will, however, say a few key elements I think played into the success of Team 8.
First, very strong themes of acceptance. Hinata has a need for it, Naruto has a need for it, and, in a less intense way, so does Shino. Almost everyone is impacted by that, feeling the desire of acceptance. In fact, that need dictates so many of our actions, is almost frightening. So this is a very deep, core part of the human experience. If you look at the age demographic of FF.N (fanfiction.net), it's even more true, when youth lacks the perspective experience offers, (and often the withdrawl and suppression adults have of this need).
The acceptance theme of Team 8 is very consistent from start to finish: characters is afraid, opens up to their team a bit, and closeness ensues. No one is rejected, and need for acceptance is met with acceptance within the team. This is in great contrast to real life, where people tend to have a lot more misunderstandings, ignorance, or self-centered motivations, and the need for acceptance is not properly communicated or met. In essence, Team 8 serves as the essential fantasy of one of humanity's greatest needs being met.
(Here you can see partly why Hinata has become the primary shipping: these themes of acceptance naturally arise from her character. These themes of acceptance is also why Naruto canon storyline resonated so well with audiences, what with Naruto and the Kyuubi. It's also why so many people were upset when the revelation to his teammates that he is, in fact, the Kyuubi container was handled so lamely/offhandedly.)
The second, and this tends to be more attractive to the early team demographic, is the simple "we're good they're bad" mentality. Hyuuga are almost all bad. Hokage is good. Village is bad. Kurenai is good. There's security in knowing who your enemies and allies are, and a certain comfort in being able to dismiss and (on some level) dehumanize your enemies.
For many reasons, I feel like Matt's handling of these themes are... fantastically (as in fantasy) simple. It's part of their charm, but it's also not a reflection of the real world, so in this sense I view this part of the story as a sort of candy: delightful, but not transcendent beyond the text. Don't get me wrong, Team 8 helped me get through a very hard point in my life, so I don't mean there is no real world benefit. But, still, most stories that really stick with me over the years are those that help answer life's hard questions, or help equip the reader to face some of life's problems. Part of Team 8's brilliance, and it's limitations, is that it doesn't do that.
(This is my experience, of course, I'd love to see contrary experiences or evidence for discussion.)
EDIT:
Now that it's later, I can add some more about Hinata specifically.
Western audiences love an underdog. And boy is she ever the underdog versus her cousin in the chuunin exams of canon. I think this was the first stage of audiences really "falling in love with her as a character". Before, she's not really that interesting, as all we know of her is that she was secretly supportive of Naruto (which, of course, earns our sympathy if we manage to remember her).
The chuunin exam storyline is amazing in so many ways, especially when looking at her character. It was amazing to see her fight to get up again. I remember that moment when she thinks "I won't give up anymore", and she stands back up with a spine of steel. As readers, we've all faced challenges we feared. Hinata was the perfect example of that struggle. We needed to see her fight, we needed to see it like we need reassurance we can fight our own battles. And for a moment, it looked like she could win.
Then, she couldn't. It was a surprise, for me at least. But then she just wouldn't give up. The bittersweet song of tragedy (through failure and possibly death) starts to pull at us. And even as she is getting crushed, in a way, she's winning, refusing to be put down. So that, even as she loses the external conflict, she is victorious over the internal conflict. She has beaten her own weakness. This resonates with us in so many ways.
Combine this with her woobie-ness (the sympathy she evokes, the strength of it, from the terrible situations she's been in), her conquering the dismissal and complete devaluing of her father (another theme very common for readers), and her ultimate failure to win, it just plays across our sympathies and makes a character you want to root for. Her support and appreciation of Naruto also connects us to her character.
She hasn't seen much spotlight since then -- yeah, she's appeared here and there and took a big action in the pain arc -- but it's still more of those themes. Conquering her fear to face Pain and declare her love to Naruto, and such.
Now, why do so many people ship them? I honestly think most of us are approaching the relationship from Hinata's perspective. We want them to be together based on just how much Naruto means to Hinata. Honestly, Hinata doesn't mean that much to Naruto, and there is little basis of a relationship from him to her. But on the flip side, Naruto is the reason she was able to conquer herself and become a person she doesn't despise. Whether or not her crush is healthy, the truth is, it's very easy to want to see her succeed there. Because she still is a broken person, and because of the chuunin exam arc we've become so sympathetic with her, we can't help but want to see her repaired. And Naruto's shown a history of helping people.
On a more Meta level, male readers tend to feel more connected or attracted to female characters with which there is a need that can be field -- i.e. if they were to have a relationship with the character, they would have a role they know they could perform that would be genuinely valued by the female in question. It gives them a place. Hinata has that.
Also, she's "safe". She's so socially desperate (in the sense that she really needs a friend), that she'll be very considerate of the other person. You know that, in a relationship with her, you'll be valued. It's said that the person with the least interest in a relationship has the power, and she's extremely interested in a relationship, and so the other party is safe.
And the last major reason she's so attractive to the audience goes back to how much we sympathize with her: you just want to give her a blanket and some warm soup, sooth away the fears, and tell her it's going to be alright. I could see those kinds of stories (well executed) many dozen times, and it would still connect with me.
So, to summarize:
1) We're so sympathetic with her that we want to see her powerful emotions toward Naruto fulfilled
2) She is attractive to much of the readership, and so we like to see her in romances.
I think those are the biggest reasons I know.
"That didn't make me cry. I'm just shedding manly tears over something completely unrelated and super masculine. Like an explosion. An exploding robot. An exploding robot that's on fire. DON'T LOOK AT ME!"
-Farmer10
) will grace us with an insight on the inspirational pairing of Team 8, his reasons and his overview of the situation.
Team 8 has something for everyone to love ^^.
