Shared knowledge & Anime?

 

One of the most common words used in my Theory of Knowledge class by my teacher is "shared knowledge". To clarify, shared knowledge is the knowledge acquired from others. For example, I learn about mathematics from my math teacher and math textbook. I'm getting this information from others and it is something that I have not discovered myself. Therefore it's considered shared knowledge. I know what it is, I understand it, it doesn't mean much to me. Well at least that's what I thought.  

I've started watching this type of  series called "Anime" recently. They are television series that are developed from manga. Manga are these special graphic novels originating from Japan. Anime has been around for decades now and it's just become really popular on an international scale due to social media. I started watching one and fell in love so much with it that I'm watching 3 shows right now! 

The past 2-3 weeks, I've noticed changes in my vocabulary. I have even started understanding Japanese a little bit. It hit me then that this was because I was exposed to a new culture and was a major eye-opener on how much input I had gained from an animated TV show.  What I started to do as a time pass actually taught me something. I had gained knowledge about Japan, their culture, their way of doing things, local slangs and even about their mythologies and spiritual beliefs! I still cannot believe that I was able to learn this much from watching anime. 

From this realisation, I have come to understand more ways that knowledge is shared between people. It just doesn't have to be in a conversation or in a book. It can be in the form of music, dance or any sort of communication method! We're able to connect this to the Core topic "Knowledge and Knower". In simple terms, the knowledge is the Japanese culture and the knower in question is me here. To know something is "being familiar and gaining information about someone/something in order to be able to learn and apply it in real life" in my own words and my experience here with shared knowledge here abides with the definition of knowledge I have created.