Anime

Hayao Miyazaki was born in 1941 Japan. He is a manga artist, film director and animator. He co-founded Studio Ghibli where he made Princess Mononoke which became the highest-grossing film in Japan. In 2001 Miyazaki wrote and directed Spirited Away which topped Princess Mononoke and won awards at both the Japanese Academy Awards and the American Academy Award.

Miyazaki’s films both familiarize and defamiliarize traditional Japanese mythology, history and culture. Miyazaki’s films have traditional Japanese Shinto, which is an ancient Japanese religion that continues to be practised today. The faith worships Kami which are Gods for example God of the forest, animal Gods etc. According to Wright (2005) ‘Miyazaki is cinematically practicing the ancient form of Shinto’. Miyazaki based Princess Mononoke in the time period of Muromachi which was between 1392 and 1573, in Japan. However his story does not fully depict history. Miyazaki defamiliarizes women in Japanese culture as he has strong female characters and during this time in history women were quite submissive.

Miyazaki has spiritual themes in all his films. The film Princess Mononoke is set in a time of great change; forests are being destroyed to get to the iron in the mountains that is to be mined. The Gods of the forest and animal spirits are fighting back against the human’s industrialisation, as humans turn their back, on nature and religion in favour of industrialisation and technology.

In Princess Mononoke Miyazaki has strong feminist themes, Lady Eboshi, is the leader of Irontown and she is at the forefront of industrialisation, leading the charge against the Gods. She boasts that she shot the Boar God, creating his hatred of humans and the eventual demonising of him. In the story Lady Eboshi empowers women; she takes women from brothels and gives them a better life in her town, paying them well for their services. The women run the town and use the men for their strength, for protection. Women are the ones who work to make the bullets and gunpowder. Women are also able to use the weaponry.

Comic Books

Do you think comics are a children’s or adult genre/media?

 

I have a bit of a comic collection and just looking at the ones I have, most would be suitable for all ages such as Superman, Thor and Wonder Woman. However there are a few such as The Punisher which would be adult only with the amount of violence and sex in them.

The Punisher would be one of my favourites as he doesn’t have the good guy morality of believing that people can change, he kills his enemies, which are various criminals from drug-dealers up the very highest of crime bosses. Moss (2009) states that adult comic’s ‘contain strong themes that graphically depict stories involving violence, death rape and sex’.

Tintin is very suitable for all ages, as opposed to The Punisher which is mature audiences only, and can be seen as a children’s comic. It is interesting to note however that comic books don’t come with a rating as visual media does. Children’s comics according to Moss ‘typically contain stories with a moral ending, as well as cheeky stories to help recruit new readers.’ Tintin has a moral ethos of treating people equally. Tintin has an ageless quality with the author saying it is aimed at “all young people ages from seven to seventy-seven”. Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are classic examples of this, both of them loving the stories from childhood and now directing and producing the movie.

Comic’s, like all mediums and genres, have age diversity from children to young adults to adult only. It’s only a matter of finding that comic that is right for the particular reader.

Children can read Tintin and find hope and courage in him as he appears to be quite young and eager to help his friends and those in need. The Punisher on the other hand is not suitable for children.   

Reference

Farr, M.  (1991). Tintin: The Complete Companion. London: John Murray.

Moss, S. (2009). the Entertain Industry . Cambridge: Cambridge university Press.

Isaac Week 2

Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media?

I think they are both. Though generally looked upon as children's entertainment due to the use of pictures, which are often seen as something for the undeveloped mind ( e.g. picture books for children), and thus thought of as beneath a persons intellect. A common prejudice. Also, comics use of humour is also seen as a lesser form of entertainment ("lowers class" is the term I think Mike used in lectures) but this isn't the case.
Tintin and The Blue Lotus is a fine example of the combination of children and adults entrainment within comics. Whilst the story is a fairly basic adventure plot, the inclusion of politics, such as Mitsuhirato blowing up the railway line, and protest in the subtext, adds a more complex side to the story. Thus making it enjoyable to all ages.

Week 11-12: Reality TV (Isaac)

How does Hill define reality TV?

Hill discusses that the term of 'reality TV' has become so broad and flexible that it, "can be applied to any type of popular factual programming the industry wants to sell  to channels and viewers at home or abroad" (Hill, 2005). This is true, as reality TV has become an extremely popular genre, from American Idol, Master Chef, and Grand Designs, to Jersey Shore and Punk'd, all very different programs, yet all defined as the same genre. Thus broadcasters would want to ride of such a shows success, by associating their new show with it.

Hill goes on to say 'reality' TV' is a term that now is generally used to categorize programming as "cheap, tasteless, and compelling" (Hill, 2005). I personally agree with this. I don't know how many times I've heard the phrase "oh I don't really like reality TV", said with some disapproval. It is because of 'reality tv' becoming a general umbrella term that quality shows like Grand Designs, had become tarnished by shows of lesser value via association.

Reality Perception

From the documentary genre of TV shows they are shown to be 'reality TV shows', to emphasize the show as a daily following of the real life of the characters. Well since watching reality shows, such as survivor and the amazing race, well reality is extremely debatable. The endless rumours of the helping hand that contestants and the shows 'characters' are given, surely they cannot let a person starve for 5 days? Well who knows?,  but its the image they want to perceive so that we keep watching this outrageous theory and situation. Touching on the shows characters for a moment - another arguable situations where in a case of contestants getting voted off, the most interesting ones are almost always going to stay in the show until the end no matter how many rules and regulations they may break or if they deserve to be there or not, the ratings of the show s what really matters. In reality TV there has to be the depiction of the nice character and the mean character, it creates confrontation and another storyline and interest. Its almost best, to play the most interesting, the 'bitch', or the crazy one always creating 'drama' and drama is what they get from it - a following. So the reality of reality tv and documentary style shows is never fully trusted because our, meaning the audience, are never really given the truth are we? - just entertainment to give them more money and following. Obviously documentary shows such animal planet and the current animal show on TV One recently, follows real wildlife stories and extensive footage. Well they definitely can't trick us there, they don't tell the elephant to play soccer with the camera disguised as a 'poo' for want of a better word, apologies. Animal shows must be real??

With no shame I can say I am a 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' viewer, now I don't idolize the family or any of them, I purely watch to see how 'the other half live', I laugh at it, at them most of the time because they are ridiculous buts its interesting. So, this family have been filmed nearly every day of their lives for the past 5 years, even more, they are used to the camera. Sure, situations are exaggerated and emphasized to create more 'drama' but I mean, most of it must be real, they love themselves and think they are 'fabulous' which they admit, they are completely honest with the camera, they agree with what 'haters' say, they love themselves. Someone like my mum can sit down and barely watch 5 minutes of the show when she sees how dressed up they are, the kind of car they get into and the small little things they can whine about and fight about with each other. Yet the point that a lot of people don't see or understand is that, this is their work, this is the easiest and most highly paid job you could ask for with such minimal effort. Their lives are dramatic because they make it but you get to know the characters and the surprising to some values and morals they have had imprinted in them but then still grow up to believe in live by. At the end of the day, the cameras watch a family, a very wealthy family that are extremely materialistic but also could not live with out each other, they are each others lives, they love each other and they can still sit down at the dinner table once a week: daughters, sons, boyfriends and husbands and all, even though you may see the butler and caterer in the back ground, their get ups worth thousands they can still be like a normal family just with a few different occupations and day jobs. One of them even has had both pregnancies and births filmed, you cant get more real than that can you? Do you believe its real when a child is born and seen through their family handheld cameras?

In conclusion, documentary shows wary people and question the honesty of the camera, but of course the camera is going to skip all the boring parts like eating every meal, there's no drama in that and nobody would watch it, it would be boring. Yet, you can still see the 'real' side with the drama, just slightly more exaggerated. The people on these reality TV series are just like you and me, they just live slightly differently, can have most things they want, stay at hotels free of charge if they are shown in their series but it reality - they live that life and that's how they succeed. Reality really hitting you in the face, that could be you on the television, that could be similar to your life but it's not, that's why you watch it. You're still "fabulous darling".

Cult TV Characteristics similar to Tin Tin

I cannot help but think of Tin Tin when cult TV is spoken of. Many shows, movies or series that are deemed Cult TV have a following both during and after screening, whether it be on the internet, with interventions, magazines and even in comic books the fans still live on and reminisce in their passion of the shows content and series of events. Tin Tin quickly became a cult TV genre, even though it is not said as one, it had a huge following of readers for the comic books and the television series, yet different age groups. It had the appreciation from young viewers who aspired to be the young boy (Tin Tin) going on adventures and catching the 'bad guys', but as we know it also had and still has the interest from adults of all ages still fixated on it when an old comic or book is derived from the attic. For years to come, people will most probably still be collecting the 'collectables', it is a classic just like Star Wars is and arguably the same type of following as those Star Wars fans.
Into the nitty gritty stuff though- having the main character as a hero or the character that the audience aspire to be, whether it be Tin Tin as a young boy interweaving all the antics and trouble he gets himself into but still seems to get out of every time is aspiring to some, people can aspire for one day be able to go on these adventures with 'snowy' by your side all over the world, getting away from the people out to get you and always 'winning'. Even though, Tin Tin can seem childish at times, the hidden adult humour is always refreshing, and still the 'old world' of cartoon adventure is aspiring and interesting to delve back into, it is still entertaining for most. Or in reference to Buffy, the fantasy world of vampires and looking like the 'girl next door' who transforms into this ultimate fighter that attracts an intrigued viewing. The familiar aspects and characteristics of aspiring to be the 'hero' and the one who 'saves the day' or other people's lives is something that people in the real world can relate to, the time they watch these movies or series they can go into their fantasy worlds, they can watch it would be like and they can fixate on something that they regularly think about would be so exciting and a fun day job, as Buffy and Tin Tin seem to have.

Dick and I Ching

So I've been extremely slack and decided to get cracking on this again. I looked into the article by P.K. Dick "Schizophrenia & The Book of Changes", 1965, and found a liking for this Phil guy and his style of writing which is surprising since I've been overly reluctant to try out this SF stuff. As partially schizophrenic himself, Dick has a lot to say about the connections and relevance the I Ching has for schizophrenics, either completely of partial ones. As a schizophrenic, he comments how their life has no relief, their 'universe is much too hard' and instead of watching events play out throughout along period known as their life, it all bowls in like a tsunami - all at once, everything and anything unfortunate happens to them, is going to happen to them whether they want it to or not, one after another.He refers to Wolfgang Pauli's principle of 'synchronicity' - two or more events casually unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, or know as a more simple term as'coincidence'. Dick further goes on to explain the life of a schizophrenic using the term 'sine qua non' - "the state of not knowing what is going to happen next" that is the schizophrenic's miserable kind of life, with everything taking place in the 'now'! He suggests the reader to take 150mg of LSD to feel for only a small period of time the "catatonic schizophrenic state". Dick introduces the I Ching, composed in 1100BC by prisoner and former "throne" holder King Wen, yet reveals how although the book seems as if it predicts future events and is more like a fortune telling service it rather "forecasts coming events". As the reason of Wen's creation, using the I Ching, "the total configuration of the koinos kosmos (shared world) can be scrutinised". Although Dick defends how the book should not rule lives, it should not be used for every aspect in ones day because other wise we all would be deemed 'schizophrenic' and focusing far too much on the future. He says something brilliant and beneficial to every schizophrenic, partial or complete, as well as any of us 'normal' people, that "once the future is gone, the possibility of free effective action of any kind is abolished". In other words, worrying or 'knowing too much about what 'could happen' will only prevent 'anything' happening, and the world would be an extremely boring place. Ok, so knowing that you could get hit by a car tomorrow morning whilst crossing the road could be handy, possibly save your life or a long stint in hospital, we would never be surprised and it works both ways. A lot of people don't like surprises but shit you will never live if you think you will die every day. Dick says for the complete schizophrenic, use the I Ching for absolutely everything, really what else could go wrong?, it can only really make their life better or bring them to more realisation of their fear. For the partially schizophrenic, you are to follow the I Ching with important life decisions, and for the 'normal', to use the I Ching as mere fun and not with anything serious because other wise you will be come partially or even completely schizophrenic in believing that reality is going to hit you all at once.