Author: marcusgk

Week 4

2. Is anime a high or low cultural medium, according to Susan Napier (2005) and what are some of its subgenres?

For a short answer it is a high or low cultural medium you need to look no further than “Why anime?. There now should be enough evidence to show the value in studying this complex and fascinating medium” Napier (2005) to have answered the question as to if it is a high or low cultural medium. From her text we can see that she is very invested in this medium and is trying to show its value over the course of the first chapter Why Anime, the medium itself is largely a digestible way for to show anything for light hearted shojo style texts and more important issues such as wars and gender identity i feel though the way the text is conveyed shows that Susan regards anime as a high cultural medium and equates it to how kabuki which is now highly regarded was one just a cultural phenomenon and that it goes beyond the conventions of low or high culture.

Sub genres of anime, Anime can be split into many different kinds you have Shojo which is specified as geared towards young girls mainly adolescents examples being Sailor Moon or Fruit Basket with its counter part being Shonnen which now days plenty of the males in our class probably remember watching on say cartoon network or after school on normal network television being Dragonball Z as a very familar one or Naruto which normally try to peddle a narrative of friendship while having enough action to keep a younger males attention. These then move into Josei for Teenage Girls and Seinen for Boys, There are many genres that are shared between Japanese graphic novels/anime and westen equivents such as Action, Sci Fi, Romance and Drama but we also have genres that only exist in that medium like Isekai (Another World) or on the other side the more Pornographic Medium of anime/graphic novel (manga) Hentai.

References:

Napier, S. J. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl’s moving castle: Experiencing contemporary Japanese animation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Click to access Napier%202005_Chapter%201%20%262%281%29.pdf

Week 2

What is the alleged connection between Hergé’s early comics and propaganda?

Due to Herge’s Employeer Le Pitit Vingtieme’s foriegn corrospodenent being the one to being the person to provide the familiarity and early understanding of Comics for the time period (1928), From there he went on to Found and Lead a Belgian Fascist ground called the Rexist (Mountfort, 2016). I feel we can assume from the way Leon inspired Herge in the use of the speech bubble aswell as introduced him to the latest transatlantic developments, That they were on good terms and with him being the one to provide comics for him as he started his own influences could have been transferred on to Herge. We can see this influence in his early works Tin Tin and the Congo being Belgian Colonist siding with the Racist depiction of the natives and that that it was in their best interest to be colonized i feel that this is a perfect example of Leons influence seeping into Herges Comics therefore spreading Leons rightwing propaganda whether by design of Herge himself or if he was just following what he had just assumed as normal we can clearly see the bias towards one side.

Much like how we hear that with news stations in america that they either lean one way or another and lately even in our own country we may not view it as propganda in the present but as time goes on and views change and more information comes to light we can then see that a lot of media past or present has a bias and one we may not see until either pointed out or our own personal views change.

References

Mountfort, P. (2016). Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture (Vol. 1). Auckland University of Technology. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-5308427-dt-content-rid-12496222_4/institution/Papers/ENGL602/Publish/Mountfort%202016_Tintin%20as%20Spectacle%282%29.pdf