I think it's a subtle problem with their western framing of Japanese conventions.
"What Western Japdocs never do explicitly in the script is talk about the rebel splinter groups depicted (kogyaru, Gothic Lolitas, Visual-kei fans) as conformists, even when the visuals show them all dressed exactly the same as each other, performing group choreography (scroll forward to 4mins 30 in the clip above)."
They use the word "individuality" but they mean to use "tribes". These are tribes and gangs within larger tribes. These girls are readjusting the warpaint of their sub-tribe.
Japan very much have their own way of doing things and it's too often that we try to superimpose our values on them, but the tribal view cuts to the global quick. Skinhead gangs in the UK, rastafarianism, U.S. fraternities, etc. It's all matryoshkas of groupthink - there is such a thing as true individuality (and not necessarily always a positive thing, as you mentioned) - but nothing on display in those documentaries is an example of that.
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semantics
Date: 2009-11-18 11:33 am (UTC)"What Western Japdocs never do explicitly in the script is talk about the rebel splinter groups depicted (kogyaru, Gothic Lolitas, Visual-kei fans) as conformists, even when the visuals show them all dressed exactly the same as each other, performing group choreography (scroll forward to 4mins 30 in the clip above)."
They use the word "individuality" but they mean to use "tribes". These are tribes and gangs within larger tribes. These girls are readjusting the warpaint of their sub-tribe.
Japan very much have their own way of doing things and it's too often that we try to superimpose our values on them, but the tribal view cuts to the global quick. Skinhead gangs in the UK, rastafarianism, U.S. fraternities, etc. It's all matryoshkas of groupthink - there is such a thing as true individuality (and not necessarily always a positive thing, as you mentioned) - but nothing on display in those documentaries is an example of that.