anime culture tropes: fear of thunderstorms?

[timepiececlock]

I sometimes wonder if fear of thunder, lightning, or storms is a common phobia among Japanese children. I've seen several anime with characters ranging from 8 to 19, mostly female, who have an unreasonable, almost debilitating fear of thunderstorms. Typically the storms are used as a cheap plot device that ends with the frightened character hiding in a closet or hiding in someone's arms.

I understand this for very young children, but I can't think I've ever in my life met someone in their teen years or older who is so afraid of storms they're driven to hide away, literally unable to act because of fear. I can only imagine an older teen or adult behaving that way if the fear is wrapped up in a deeper mental condition, since storms, unlike sharks or heights or fires, don't present an immediate threat to one's life such that the fear is so strong as to make you irrational.

I wonder why this gimmick, this use of storms as a common phobia, is so popular in anime shows. I somehow doubt it reflects cultural reality, since I'd be just as surprised to see a 16 year old Japanese girl hiding in the closet because of storms as I would be for a 16 year old American girl. But that's where I come from, I guess. I sort of see how they want to pick a phobia to give to the female lead to make her vulnerable and in need of the hero's "protection", and thunder storms are easy because they're showy and loud but don't normally pose a threat unless you live in a riverside village. But I would think you could give the character a more realistic fear and still fulfill the story devices and cliches of a vulnerability scene.

examples off the cuff: Ouran Host Club, Saiunkoku Mongotari, possibly Sailor Moon, and more.

Comments

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

It shows up in their video games as well. Rikku has a terrible fear of thunder and lightning in FFX.

[clodia-risa.livejournal.com]

I had a debilitating fear for bees for many years to the point that I could not move when I saw one. I'm mostly over it now. I've had a fear of thunder(storms), but it was not to the point where I couldn't move or had to hide in a closet. It makes me nervous and a bit jittery - but I'm mostly getting over it. During bad ones, I still prefer to be around people, especially my husband, who I would clutch at times. But it was never as debilitating as Haruhi (who is the only example I've seen).

[loveroftheflame.livejournal.com]

It's funny you said that because in our AU RP at Hidden Strength oddly enough, Azula has an irrational fear of storms since Ozai locked her in a pitch black basement during a monster storm as punishment for bringing home a B on her report card. She was 8 at the time. We made it so that only during a storm like that one, when the lights go out, would she have a phobic reaction. We've only used it a few times.

I do agree with you though about this.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I can understand the wanting to be around people part, and being nervous, and holding someone's hand-- all that seems like a normal range of reactions to me. It's the extremity of the way its often portrayed in anime that puzzles me.

When, in a timeline of your life, would you say you began to grow out of your bee phobia, to conquer it such taht it didn't completely control you like that?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I can see Ozai doing something like that, but I can't see lightning-bending Azula being scared of her own element. But if it's an AU, then she's probably not a bender so I can see why she might have a reaction that strong with that kind of history.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Thundraphobia

It's such a ridiculous plot device, especially since it's only ever women and girls who are affected.

[loveroftheflame.livejournal.com]

Yes, she isn't a bender so it works. And our Ozai is a real bastard who thought something like that was "character building".

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I as intrigued to read the link about lightning in the middle of the entry. I never knew people got electrocuted through phones.

[loveroftheflame.livejournal.com]

Heh heh... we once did a genderbender of our soap rp and Azulon/Azula was just as phobic about storms. He hid it better though. lol!

[loveroftheflame.livejournal.com]

That's why I love Mythbusters... they did a show on it. lol!

[oyster-district.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's probably because Japan actually has a monsoon season with real, debilitating storms. (Although flooding and wind and power loss are the real causes for fear, there.) That said, where are the people with fears of earthquakes?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

You know, I dunno. I live in Earthquake Land, and I have a healthy respect, not a phobia. I mean, I don't stand under chandeliers, you know? Or park under overpasses. But you can't really do anything to express fear of earthquakes, because they're so random and so short. There's no time to hide from one, or have a good cry. It's like having a phobia that you might stop breathing or something: once it happens, what can you do?

I think if people are phobic about earthquakes they'd move to safe place, I guess. Never thought of it before.

[hang-nga-79.livejournal.com]

I think that the Japanese may just find this phobia more 'acceptable' than Americans -but don't believe that there are 'few' Americans with a phobia of thunderstorms -that's quite untrue. Actually, brontophobia is a common phobia -I've interviewed two Caucasian adult patients (one was a male) with this phobia during one of my psychiatry electives. Yes, it is more common amongst children (many phobias are in fact since children are 'permitted' to have these fears versus 'sensible adults') but there are many adults that still have a phobia about thunderstorms (to the point of obsessively checking the weather, hiding, seeking out others, etc...)

Just google 'Brontophobia' and 'common' and I'm sure it'll pop up on all sorts of 'top ten phobia' lists. (of course, good 'ole spiders will usually top the list of phobias every time, and that's one that Americans don't mind exploiting -usually as a 'female phobia' too)

[crzysheelf.livejournal.com]

I have always wondered the same thing

[clodia-risa.livejournal.com]

It was debilitating from a very very young age. I started to grow out of it in high school. My first action I remember taking that broke the paradigm was in band camp: all of the flutes and clarinets were freaking out because of a bee, and it was disrupting practice. I was first chair flute, and was really really annoyed with all of them, so I grabbed my empty water bottle and hit the bee like a baseball. After that, bees stopped seeming quite so bad.

I still duck and weave when I see them, and my heart still races, and I refuse to see anything about them on television. It took a couple of years for me to work on getting to the point of not being immobilized, even after the band camp incident. I was probably about to turn 16 at the time, and I'm 23 now.