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Week 9: Cosplay

In what ways can cosphotography be understood as a form of “fan capital”?

Cosphotography is a big part of cosplay as it captures cosplayers hard work and shows their cosplay costumes that cosplayers put in a lot of effort and time into through photography, this helps cosplayers be recognized on a larger scale. According to (Mountfort et al., 2019) Cosphotography helps cosplayers exchange their costume in an online network in the cosphere. This can be seen as a form of fan-capital as cosplayers are having their costumes recognized and the photographer who is capturing their costumes gets a subject to work with.

Cosphotography is a new concept just as new as cosplay because this concept is fairly new it come with modern day issues such as body-shaming. This creates a negative space for cosplayers as it discourages them from participating in conventions or they might feel embarrassed to walk out on the streets and show off their hard work.

Even though there is a negative side to cosphotography a lot there is still a lot of cosphotography that goes well recognized such as online platforms have specific galleries dedicated to cosplayers and their costumes even music videos to get cosplayers outfits recognized in a musical form. Another example is when Armageddon events happen a lot of people who aren’t even professional photographers hired to take cosplayers photos but do it purely out of getting them recognized which not only helps the cosplayers but also gets the event gain attention.

References:

Mountfort 2018, Planet Cosplay (Bristol, UK: Intellect Books), Intro and Chapter 1

Week 7:

King describes horror as being defined through three basic elements. Explain, using references, what these three elements are. Think of a horror story you’ve read/watched/heard that makes use of all three of these elements and show how King’s definition is at play in that narrative.

The three basic elements that define horror are said to be terror, horror and gag reflex by the famous author Stephen King. These elements can be seen in the 2019 film “In the Tall Grass” directed by Vincenzo Natali based on the Stephen King and Joe Hill’s 2012 novella of the same name the film is a good example of how these three elements come into narrative.

Terror is the feeling of dread it is basically induced by the mind because the human mind fears the unknown. This can be seen in the film where “Becky” and her brother “Cal” panic because when they enter the field the grass randomly changes their course which leaves them in even more fear when they weren’t able to run back to the car because they weren’t able find their way back to the car. This when the terror kicks in when watching the film because the audience get to witness the actors expression of dread and fear of the unknown.

Secondly, Horror is something that humans cannot comprehend it is beyond the human imagination. This can be seen the film “In the Tall Grass” where “Becky” gets carried by the unknown grass entity who take her to the rock that has prophetic drawings on it which tells her the future about her pregnancy. This leaves not only “Becky” horrified by what is happening to her but also the audience because we aren’t able to comprehend what is going on and how its possible for a rock to tell “Becky’s” future.

Lastly, revulsion is when the audience is disgusted by the horror of certain aspects of the story having a story that can cause the audience to be disgusted has a greater impact on an audience when it is exhibited through a film because of the graphics that is produced so it helps the audience feel disgusted. We are shown this in the film where “Becky” stabs the chracther “Ross” although she was trying to escape from “Ross” who was going to attack her it still leaves the audience in disgust because of how visually grpahic the scene is.

References:

King, S. (1981). Danse Macabre.

In the Tall Grass (film). (2020, October 28). Retrieved September 26, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Tall_Grass_(film)

Week 6: Horror

What is the philosophy of cosmicism and how is it used to convey a sense of dread in both The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour out of Space?

The philosophy of cosmicism was developed by H.P Lovecraft an American writer that naturalistic fusion of horror and science fiction which is known as ‘Lovecraftian Horror’. A common theme in Lovecrafts novels was fear of the unknown fear of species or an entity that is beyond our understanding as said my Lovecraft himself “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” this theme can be seen as comicism which is conveyed in Lovecrafts work such as, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour out of Space.

Lovecraft’s ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’ has a supernatural entity which is called the ‘deep ones’ who are half human and fish hybrids that take control over the town as the inbreeds change fully into hybrids they lose their humanity while gaining immortality in the story they are described as repulsive. The cosmicism horror is shown through the protagonist Robert Olmstead who in the end turns about be a descendant of the ‘deep ones’ which leaves him in a state of shock which ultimately leads him to insanity because he fears of what will become of him. This theme of the unknown is repeated once again in Lovecrafts ‘The Colour out of Space’ where a meteorite crashes into a family’s garden the meteorite is from an exoplanet which is occupied tentacle entities the meteorite has an unknown energy beyond human understanding it mutates and kills anything that is around it. This classic weird horror themed story by Lovecraft shows that his stories were consistence with the theme of fear of the unknown.

Lovecrafts stories start of as uncertainty which quickly coverts into dreadful horror beyond humans capacity to comprehend as Slåtten (2016) writes in his article “idea of “cosmicism” which consists in the notion that humanity is utterly insignificant in and in relation to the cosmos-at large” Which shows, that cosmicism is used as dread in both The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour out of Space and many other stories by H.P Lovecraft he used cosmicsim to simply reinforce the readers natural fear of the unknown because it is the oldest feeling that humans have. He uses it in his interest to create dread and horror in the readers minds which ultimately keeps them captured into his weird stories.

References:

Slåtten, K. Ø. (2016). Humans in a hostile cosmos: Science, cosmicism and race in HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Master’s thesis. University of Stavanger, Norway.

Jones, N. (2020). Lovecraftian Horror Video Lecture. Retrieved from AUT Blackboard.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). The shadow over innsmouth. Retrieved october 10, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_over_Innsmouth

Week 5: Anime

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

Shōjo in Japanese means ‘little girl’ it is also a type genre in anime and manga which focuses on romantic relationships and personal ones Shōjo mainly has a target audience of young girls because of how much it romanticizes a young girls life. Shōjo rose to popularity in the late 90s it is seen to have this stigma of female pureness, virginity, vulnerability, romanticism and nostalgia” (Berndt, Nagaiki, Ogi, 2019). Which means that Shōjo characters can be sexualized, unlike the male protagonists which are shown to be protective dominant and masculine males which are shown to be idealized in for the younger girls in Shōjo anime.

Shōjo has evolved throughout the year’s directors such as, Hayao Miyazaki who is a famous anime director who created anime movies such as ‘Spirited Away (2001)’, My Neighbor TOTORO (1988) and Princess Mononoke (1997) proves that Shōjo can be more than just romanticism and fragile girls that need to be protected by boy/men his work portrays girls as being strong independent protagonists that don’t need protection. His work admired and appreciated because of the themes of environmentalism, pacifism, family, love and feminism for example in his anime film ‘Princess Mononoke’ all of these themes can be seen through the character Ashitaka who does not intend on going to war against humankind and believes in peace much like another anime he directed Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds (1984) where the character Nausicaä also possess the same pacifism and many other qualities as Ashitaka making the themes consistent with Miyazaki’s work. Miyazaki’s work is seen to empower women to be self- efficient and not having the need to have a saviour which makes his work different according to Cavallaro (2006) said that “while the average shōjo is portrayed as a passive being suspended in something of a timeless dreamland”. Which means that directors such as Hayao Miyazaki have their own interpretation of Shōjo and how they convey it to their target audience and it isn’t necessary to coney Shōjo to be sexualised or romanticized but can also be shown Shōjo to empower girls/women that can fend for themselves making Shōjo an important part of anime function.

References:

Mountfort, P. (2020). Pop genres week 5 anime 2 part 1 [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki

Week 4: Anime

What was the cultural impact of Akira (1988), and why does it occupy a key place in the canon of anime greats?

Anime began to get increasingly popular in the 1960s and 1970’s it appealed to a large audience especially children because it was entertaining and the animation itself was captivating which is one of the reasons it gained recognition. Later on, the release of Akira an animated Japanese movie made in 1988, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, had a significant impact in the anime world because of billions of yen being invested to create this film. Akira is set in a post-apocalyptic future after the third world war and Tokyo has become a ‘neo-Tokyo’ where a member of a biker gang has been kidnapped by a secret government agency and his friends try to rescue him.

The opening scene to Akira where the audience sees a bomb explosion this to signify both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb explosion and the media revolution (Bolton 2018) We later see that the explosions we see in the opening scene of the film this was due to Tetsuo who developed telekinetic powers which influenced Akira making her cause the explosion. Another example we see in the film where there is a cultural impact is the scene where we see a crumbling wall with three panels this is to signify the war that was occurring in Serbia where a Japanese critic Ueno Toshiya paid a visit. In Serbia, Akira was seen to a iconic anime because it showed political resistance which was a rare thing for anime movies to do at the time making it occupy an important place in the canon of anime greats.

Akira has also had a significant impact in the world of arts it inspired a lot of animators and it still does today. Before the release of Akira anime was seen to be for children, there hadn’t been a more influential Japanese animated film ever made because of the amount of money and advanced animation technicians used to create this film. Akira was the first film where western audience were infatuated with the story line, artistic Japanese animation and technical work that went in to creating the film. Now many directors and writers cite Akira as an inspiration for their work such being the Duffer brothers who created ‘Stranger Things’ have said ‘the influence of Akira was obviously a big one’ Chu, H. (2018). The Duffer brother were just one of many creators that were influenced by Akira and they probably won’t be the last because even after 32 years of its initial release the film Akira still manages to influence many creators work which makes it so deserving in the canon of anime greats.

References

Chu, H. (2018). Why the pioneering Japanese anime ‘Akira’ is still relevant 30 years later. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/why-the-pioneering-japanese-anime-akira-remains-relevant-30-years-later/2018/07/12/b7577c74-813f-11e8-b851-5319c08f7cee_story.html

Mountfort, P. (2020). ENGL602 Popular Genres: Lecture 4/Week: Anime 1_Akira_2020 [PowerPoint slides] AUT Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Bolton, C. (2018). Interpreting anime. University of Minnesota Press.

Week 3: Tintin

What gaps are there in Hergé’s representations of women?

There are many gaps in representations of minority groups in Hergé’s “The Adventures of Tintin” one of them being the representation of women Hergé’s believed “that there was no place for women in the world of Tintin” This belief is shown through his work repeatedly where women are seen to have little to no role in the comics they are either wives, mothers, caretaker or nurse or just crowd fillers. Although, Madame Castafiore and Peggy Alcazar are the only two women in “The Adventures of Tintin” that Hergé’s gives important roles to that really have voice.

Madame Castafiore is the only female character that has an album dedicated just for her which is ‘The Castafiore Emerald’ where she is an independent, self-made and famous women. Even though she posses these admirable qualities she is still objectified in the story and does not contribute much to the story although the story is dedicated to her she’s almost seen unwelcomed in conversations which kind of gives the audience a perception that she is not an important character. Which shows Hergé’s ideaology of women and how he precieves them as not important and their voices and opinions are not welcomed into the world of Tintin which is an awful example to set because of how much popularity the Tintin series has gained globally and how many kids around the world read the series.

Peggy Alcazar is another character from the album “Tintin and The Picaros” where she is seen to be a matriarchal women who constantly bullies her husband her husband is seen to be doing ‘womenly’ jobs which gives the perception that she is a dominating making her by far the only dominating women in any of ‘The Adventures of Tintin’. Hergé portrays Peggy in a very negative light to show that women have no place in the world of Tintin by doing this Hergé is he has contributed to the inequality in the representation of women in books, films and etc.

Refrences;

Mountfort, P. (2020). Tintin and gender part 1 [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Mountfort, P. (2020). Tintin, gender and desire. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2020.1729829

Week 2: Tintin

What issues do his albums raise in terms of representation of ‘race’, and particularly ethnic and cultural stereotyping?

The Adventures of Tintin created by a Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi most commonly known under his pen name Hergé was seen to be a very controversial because of racist viewpoints that were displayed in his comics most prominent in the volume ” Tintin In The Congo” and “The Blue Lotus”

In the comic “Tintin In The Congo” published in 1930 at the time it was successful in Belgium and many white occupied countries until the late 20th century when it was seen to have a racist colonial point of view because of its illustrations of the natives as ‘monkeys’ and ‘savages’. In the comic it shows Tintin to be the savior that is civilizing the Congolese in making Tintin seem as the savior it is promoting colonization. For example in the comic Tintin is in a classroom with African children and points at the map and says “Today I’m going to talk to you about your country: Belgium! which shows how Belgium colonizers were trying to brainwash the natives to erase their culture and language and become like the white colonizers who cleverly killed their ancestors and are now claiming that it is their land. Another example is when the Congolese are talking in pidgin English saying “white master very fair…! him give half hat to each one! him very good white!” (Tintin In The Congo, 1931) Which shows how they had started communicating in the language of the colonizers and not their own another point we can take from this example is the fact that just because they were given half a hat they feel very grateful but they forget about all the things the colonizers had taken away from them like their country and most importantly their freedom. The reason for this being is most likely because of the brainwashing that occurs when white colonizers take over a land of another race they wash away the native peoples identity just as Tintin was lying to the school children that they are from Belgium and not the natives of land he is an outsider of.

Hergés later published “The Blue Lotus” which was seen to be a change in ideology which can be credited to Hergés and his new friendship with Chinese art student, Chang Chong-chen. While being with his new friend Hergés starts to gain knowledge and respect of his friends Chinese culture and sympathetic towards the Chinese during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria (Mountfort 2012) This new change in Hergés ideology is seen in “The Blue Lotus” where the Chinese are sympathized with and even the character Tintin has a Chinese friend in the comic so the audience favour the Chinese. Although there is a change in Hergés ideology it isn’t a huge change because even though he has shown the Chinese in a better light he has excluded the Japanese and shown them in negative light and made the villain of the comic a Japanese man named ‘Mr Mitsuhirato’ and illustrated him as a “pig-snouted and visibly subhuman” (Mountfort, 2012). Which shows although Hergés has been introduced to asian culture he is still selective and his comics were not inclusive of all asians just Chinese because of his friendship with his Chinese friend Chang Chong- Chen.

Week 1 Questions

How has the academic reception of popular genres changed over time?

As technology developed cheap printing became more affordable which made sci-fi and fantasy fiction so popular because publications were producing them in masses that’s when Popular genres such as comics, fantasy novels and science fiction novels were on the rise. Although they were popular they still weren’t categorized under literature in the beginning when they first were created because it didn’t meet the standards of traditional literature such as fables, myths and folklore. The reason why they weren’t accepted to be part of literature because the structure of the plot was seen to be too “predictable” along with its portrayal of characters. Over time popular genre started to project the realness of our society today which is the struggles of marginalized groups such has African- Americans, homosexuals, women, and many others. This gave recognition to popular genre as people realized that classical literature teaches us about the problems of the past and not about about the struggles of today which people find much more appealing to read. Therefore, nowadays this perception of popular genre has changed and is widely available in tertiary education institutions. The reason for this is because popular genre is the outcome of social change in our society.

What might the value be of studying them?

Popular genre has become valuable over the years because it has more inclusive and relevant stories which suits the modern audience today. It also makes the audience of the popular genres capable of critically analyzing aspects of the story and also critically view the functionality of our society. Therefore many universities around the world provide a popular genre course alongside classical study courses because in today’s society all sorts of genres are worth learning and worth exploring because of the different techniques that are being used and are considered to be just as equal in knowledge with conventional English.