Problematic Monoculture Reductivism in Literary Analysis
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In reading opinions of literary analysis, I sometimes come across large sweeping claims with little justification. Statements such as "Western stories focus on a singular power fantasy hero, while Eastern stories focus on unity to overcome threats." Usually they try to tie this in as a cultural analysis.

They'll point to examples like *John Wick* to demonstrate their idea of Western stories, then *Sailor Moon* for Eastern stories. This ends up painting the stories of both cultures as one singular idea. It over-simplifies to a point where the the nuances of the cultures are ignored for the sake of the author's thesis statement.

You could just as easily describe the opposite with different examples. Children stories in the West often have stories about how the heroes band together to overcome a greater foe. The the genre defining manga *Lone Wolf and Cub* came from the East, for which the lone hero trope is fully exemplified.

Or perhaps if we look much further back, *Don Quixote* is often considered to be the first modern novel. It features a lone hero, although to comic effect. Should we then claim Spanish stories are about comedic lone heroes? That stories of lone heroes are Spanish influence?

Of course not. All cultures contain stories of many kinds. Basic story conflicts or ideas are better attributed to human nature than any specific culture. Culture and events can shape writer's stories, but it's not an all-or-nothing limiting factor. Culture does not mean a binary state of this or that.

It's bad to over-simplify a demographic to such a degree. It's even worse when a singular author is used to represent all of a culture. Obscuring the nuances of a group leads to stereotyping and ignores the complicated reality of culture. We need to know the details if we're to make any real understanding about something. A warped world-view leads to warped ideas about that world.

This is mainly a reminder that there is always diversity in every culture. Be on the look out for over-simplifications. If you encounter someone reducing the entirety of a demographic to a single feature, then remember that they've no doubt overlooked important nuance.

There's no point in trying to tether literary ideas to a specific geographic location. Writers are simultaneously creating similar stories globally. If you mean that a specific work or writer was influential, or a certain genre was popular somewhere at the time, state it directly. Avoid the unneeded stereotyping.