Week 5-6: Anime [Julie]

What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?

‘Shojo’ in Japanese, literally translates to ‘young girl’ and refers to a specific character archetype commonly seen in anime. The ‘shojo’ is a female character who is typically aged 18 and below. Napier (2005) suggested that the ‘shojo’ role is atypical in other media.

Depending on the target audience and type of story, the function of ‘shojo’ varies.

In the case of Princess Mononoke, it is clear that the main character is a ‘shojo’ character. Many of Ghibli’s works, especially those of Miyazaki’s, have a tendency to use ‘shojo’ archetype characters as the protagonist of the story. In Mononoke, San is portrayed as a feral, aggressive and persistent girl which is the polar opposite of stereotypical Asian girls who are seen as obedient, refined and feminine.


Although not a typical ‘shojo’ character, the film Princess Mononoke also used many female characters with aggressive personalities such as Lady Eboshi who is the manager of Tatara and Moro the wolf god who raised San. Napier (2005) also pointed out that these characters defy the traditional convention of having men as leaders and in fact are placed second to the females.

Often in anime, if the ‘shojo’ archetype is the protagonist, they are are often given very out-going, persevering and courageous personalities. This can be seen in animes such as Sailor Moon and like San in Princess Mononoke who defies the typical view on Asian women. Most of animes with these types of ‘shojo’ characters are often targeted towards female audiences, commonly known as ‘shojo anime’.


On the other hand, the opposite is ‘shonen anime’ which translates to ‘boy’s anime’. The ‘shojo’ characters in these kinds of animes often end up playing the male protagonist’s love interest takes a more subdued role and commonly more subdued personalities.

Reference:

Napier, S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Week 3 and 4- Fantasy

How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guin?

According to Le Guin science fiction is a branch of realism. She states that “Realism uses actuality and history, inserting invented characters in amongst real people and places” so

“In general, science fiction proceeds just as realistic fiction does, meeting conventional expectations of how people generally act, and either avoiding events that will strike the reader as improbable, or plausibly explaining them. Realism and science fiction both employ plausibility to win the reader's consent to the fiction” (Le Guin 2005)

Science fiction has a way of making things sound plausible. Its plausibility comes from it being written rationally.  The reader invests in a story that plausibly may have happened or could happen because of such things as the time, place, events, characters or scientific explanations used to ground the story in reality. Science fiction is mostly based in alternative worlds or futures and Le Guin puts this to the idea that the future is a “blank page”, anything can be written on it. Take a look at science fiction such as The Planet of the Apes films, Star Wars, Predator and books such as Neuromancer (William Gibson, 1984) or The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams, 1979); though of course they are made up there is a certain credibility to these stories because of the explanations behind them or the fact that aspects of real life are incorporated whether it be through the characters or setting.

In contrast Le Guin says that fantasy is much more direct in it fictionality. There is nothing really that binds the story to reality in fact with the readers knowledge “fantasy deliberately violates plausibility in the sense of congruence with the world outside the story” (Le Guin 2005). Of course there is some realism used on lesser detail to ground the story. For example Le Guin says that in fantasy there may be characters with human behaviour but they may not be human. Certainly one can say this with science fiction (for example aliens are not human) but generally this is rationally explained. She says that for the fantasy reader there “is no agreement to pretend that its story happened, might have happened, or might ever happen”.



Le Guinn. U.K. (2005). Plausibility revisited. Retrieved August 29, 2012, from       http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html

Anime as a high culture genre

According to Napier (2005), Anime is a high cultural genre and increasingly popular in Japan although it remains as a sub culture in America. Napier praises the genre as it reflects and furthers many Japanese traditional arts but also “…makes use of worldwide artistic traditions of twentieth century cinema and photography”. He also commends the issues addressed in the genre as they are recognizable to many readers of “high culture literature” and viewers of “contemporary art cinema”, yet, they are able to capture the attention of audiences worldwide. The world’s technology is ever evolving and developing, so in comparison to older art forms, Anime is a lot easier accessed by their approach to cinema and photography – thus their popularity grows and begins to larger the genre and bring with it some sub-genres too.

Week 5 And 6: Anime

Looking at Napier and Cavallaro (2006), discuss how anime is culturally ‘located’ – in the East or West, or somewhere else?

Anime is more culturally revered in Japan than it is in most Western countries such as the USA. As mentioned by Napier (2006) "unlike cartoons in the West, anime in Japan truly is a mainstream pop cultural phenomenon." Princess Mononoke still remains to this day as Japan's highest grossing Japan made film ever. The highest grossing film animated film in Hollywood right now is Toy Story 3 according to figures from Box Office Mojo (2012).  Although this is a respectable achievement, it lags behind at 11th place. Some of the other films that surpass it include two Star Wars films and in the top spot remains James Cameron's Avatar. In terms of real Anime, Pokemon: The First Movie burst into American screens in 1999 for a total USA gross of "$85,744,662" (Wright, 2008). This is a respectable amount of money earned at the Box Office but this number pales in comparison to Toy Story 3's USA of over $400 million.

Hayao Miyazaki remains as Japan's most popular directors as his films are critically and commercially acclaimed to the Japanese audience. "Miyazaki is as popular as Steven Spielberg and J.K Rowling are in the West, his name has not quite yet entered every Western household." (Cavallaro, 2006). One of the reasons why Miyazaki's films are so popular is because his film's challenge the normal morals and stereotypes that are often seen in other movies.

In Princess Mononoke for example, the story challenges the morality of all of the characters and there is no clear cut "good" or "bad" person in the movie for the audience to distinguish. Environmentalists might easily label Lady Eboshi as the "bad guy" because she tears down the forest in search for more iron to use for her town. On the flipside of this, she's not entirely bad because she uses the iron to help run her town. Without the town, the girls would have to go back to the city to work as hookers while the lepers would just be left to die. The same can be said about the Animal Gods and Princess Mononoke. Others may think they should let the humans dig for iron, while others think it's wrong to kill and destroy the forest. It's for these reason I feel Princess Mononoke was so successful in Japan because the story wasn't as simple as Western animated cartoons. It has a story that can appeal to anyone from any age.

That's not to say that anime isn't popular in Western countries, although it hasn't reached the mainstream popularity that it has over in Japan. It wasn't until the late '90s did America and other Western countries experience an Anime boom. Pokemon toys were even given at KFC restaurants "(a product tie-in with the extremely popular children's animated television show)" (Napier, 2006). Although one could still say that Anime still remains a niche market in Western countries and doesn't penetrate the same amount of buzz that other franchises to like a Harry Potter or Lord of the Ring etc. Westerners still "regard animation as a second-rate art form and - when Judging specifically Japanese animation - to dismiss it as violent, superficial, cliched and technically cold." (Carvallaro, 2006). If you look at the Academy Awards, only two animated movies have been nominated in the Best Picture category. These two movies are Toy Story 3 and Beauty and the Beast. Other animated movies are just nominated in its own category and never get nominated for other categories such as best script etc.

References:



All Time Box Office. (2012).   Retrieved August 21st, 2012, from http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic.htm

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.5-13). London: McFarland & Company

Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.3-14). Hampshire: Palgrave/ Macmillan


Wright, W. (2008). Highest Grossing Anime Movies of All-Time.   Retrieved 21st August, 2012, from http://voices.yahoo.com/highest-grossing-anime-movies-all-time-808949.html?cat=40

 

Week 6 - Che Crawford - Anime

What is the ‘shôjo’ and how does it often function in anime?

‘For most Japanese below the age of fifty, such categories as shôjo ("girls") manga and shônen ("boys'") manga require no definition or clarification.’ (Thorn, M).

Shôjo is a japanese word that literally translates into ‘little female’. In Japanese kanji, these refer specially to women between 7-18 years old.

A shôjo story often centers around romance and love and is closely tied to the Romance and Drama genres. But strictly speaking, shôjo manga is not defined by specific style or genre, but rather its target audience. Shôjo primarily targets girls. But lately there has been a disassociation with the term because just as often males also enjoy reading it, and no one wants to drive away new readers.

Shôjo is the opposite of shonen - boys manga. The first boys’ weekly magazine, Shonen Magazine, was published in 1959, and the first girls’ weekly magazine, Shôjo Friend, was published in 1963. The demand for more ‘ladies comics’ quickly grew, and shôjo began to serve the function of reflecting readers growth from girls to women. While "getting the boy" was still a central concern in shôjo manga, more important now was the psychological growth of the heroine. "Finding oneself" is now often a theme, and it was not only the fictional protagonists but their real-life readers who "found themselves" in the pages of shôjo manga.

For a while, shôjo stories had a stigma attached to them because they were often viewed as ‘ladies soap operas on paper,’ (Thorn, M). So in the 1990s sophisticated and intellectually stimulating manga for women began to really get a foothold in the manga industry in Japan. These are a sort of sub-genre of shôjo, known as josei-muke ("woman-oriented") or josei ("women's") manga.

‘What fascinates the Japanese is that the shôjo nestle in a shallow lacuna between adulthood and childhood, power and powerlessness, awareness and innocence as well as masculinity and femininity.’ (Prindle 1998, p.35)

As a teenager, I was an avid anime/manga fan. I always found recent shôjo manga/anime to be uplifting, and inspiring, especially the Studio Ghibli films, such as Princess Mononoke. Shôjo touched on issues I was going through as a young woman, and made me believe that I could want great things, and if I worked hard enough, achieve them. Shôjo helped me to aim high. This is the appeal to its audiences, and so this is the function that shôjo often serves in anime.



References

One Manga. Showing: Shoujo manga. Retrieved August 21, 2012, from http://www.onemanga.com/directory/shoujo/

Thorn, M. (2001). Shôjo manga—Something for the girls. Retrieved August 21, 2012, from http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/japan_quarterly/index.php

Thorn, M. (n.d.). What shôjo manga are and are not. Retrieved August 21, 2012, from http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/whatisandisnt.php

Toku, M. (2005). Shojo manga: Girl power! Retrieved August 21, 2012, from http://www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs/spring_06/feature_03.html

https://autonline.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/institution/Papers/166104/Publish/Reader_Weeks%205%20and%206.pdf

Isaac's Week 6 Post, Anime

What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?

Shojo, or Shoujo, is a sub-genre of anime, which generally features magical and dream-like worlds and stories.
'Shoujo' literally translates to 'little female', and refers to pre-pubescent girls (ages 12-13). It's a combination of the innocence of a young girl, and the coming-of-age sexuality of a young woman.

Shoujo not only caters to the typical expected audience of young girls, but also, surprisingly, attracts a lot of male readers. Susan J. Napier points out, shoujo characters "embody the potential for unfettered change and excitement that is far less available to Japanese males, who are caught in the network of demanding workforce responsibilities" (Napier, 2001, p. 119). So as a function in anime, shoujo works as an escape for readers, and even a tool for expanding the market.

Furthermore, one could argue that shoujo functions as a tool to create deeper female characters, as appose to characters built upon physical attractiveness alone. Shoujo characters are often given characteristics that would usually seem beyond their years, in an attempt to move away from creating a Lolita-type complex/attraction that most would see as seedy. For example, in Princess Mononoke, San has character traits (independent, aggressive, intelligent, resourceful) that would not often be associated with the cute-type young girl character (instead having innocent, naive, unsure-of-herself type characteristics.)

Week 6: Anime

Is it a high or low cultural genre, according to Napier (2005)? What are some of its subgenres?

As Napier (2005) mentions in his book "Why anime?", as time goes on, anime will increasingly be thought of as high culture rather than low culture. He states that this is especially evident in Japan as there is much intellectual discussion around the medium. Napier discusses how "anime is a popular cultural form that clearly builds on previous high cultural traditions" (p. 4). The background of woodblock print, Kabuki, cinema, and photography all add to the theory that anime should be considered high culture.

Animes like Death Note have been praised for their compelling stories and detailed, deep characters. Tsugumi Ohba's character, Light, is a young man who hates evil, but uses evil methods to make the world better. He kills criminals to keep them off the streets. As Light's dad is the head of police in Japan, Death Note is an interesting look at the moral ambiguity present when discussing issues of justice.

Miyazaki also brings to life some fantastically complex characters. Lady Eboshi in particular is fascinating as a portrayal of a woman who is not simply good or bad. She kills the kind Shishigami, but she also cares deeply for her women workers and lepers. She is neither evil nor good. These themes and characters show the genre of anime to have incredible depth, and should therefore be considered worthy of the 'high culture' nomenclature.

Themes like justice, man vs nature, right and wrong, life, love, and death are all explored by animes such as Princess Mononoke, Death Note, Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, and Grave of the Fireflies. Napier (2005) mentions that while "Anime texts entertain audiences around the world on the most basic level,... they also move and provoke viewers on other levels as well, stimulating audiences to work through certain contemporary issues in ways that older art forms cannot". He goes on to say how anime is a "cultural phenomenon worthy of being taken seriously, both sociologically and aesthetically" (p. 4).

Anime, although a style of film all to itself, has many subgenres. Some of the genres include kids' cartoons like Pokemon and Dragonball Z, post-doomsday fantasies like Akira and Evangelion, sex and crime like Ichi the killer, and sci-fi like Satsohi Kon's Paprika (Napier, 2005). The breadth of sub-genres within the wider genre of anime means all kinds of themes are explored by many different directors and artists, Miyazaki just being one of them. Thus some animes should definitely be considered high culture, but perhaps cartoons like Pokemon may not be quite appropriate for that moniker.

References   Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In anime: From Akira to Howl's Moving Castle (pp. 3-14). Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillan.