Can reality TV be thought of as a genre?

Reality television emerged from the rise of documentaries becoming popular forms of media in the middle of the 20^th century. Film makers wanted to create something more artistically refreshing, disillusioned by the conventions which cinema had acquired in the wake of bog Hollywood movies. Cinema had become very glamorized and over exaggerated, thus fuelling creators to develop a desire to be candid. They wanted to show what the world was really like, turning away from the over fictionalised concepts of filmmaking. The subjects of these documentaries became ordinary people, showing the mundane, but often simple beauty of their everyday lives.

Once television became a popular medium, there was a larger demand for more programmes to be made. With this demand the expanse of the audience also needed to be accommodated to, as these documentaries were no longer just for a niche community who believed in counteracting the effects of cinema. With nine to five jobs becoming the most conventional way of life for most people in the middle of the 20^th century, watching television in the evening and on weekends became a very popular and relaxing form of entertainment. People often wanted to see programmes they could relate to, featuring the lives of people who were similar to them. The natural curiosity about other people lives and the appeal of relatability is what created a platform for documentaries to evolve into reality television.

It was the 1990s and beginning of the 21^st century which set the scene for reality TV to become what it has today. The demand and popularity expanded the confines and boundaries of what could be created and the way it is marketed. Reality TV became a business of it’s own within the realm of the entertainment industry. This meant the producers felt they had to mould and orchestrate what they were creating in order to make it the most profitable. Reality TV still focused on portraying fact, but it became a more fictionalised and performative portrayal. People appearing in reality tv programmes have acquired fame and recognition and are known as reality television stars, receiving media coverage and public attention. The irony of reality tv birthing celebrities and causing media storms is the same glamorization that the original documentary makers were trying to counteract.

The 21^st century also brought the hybridization of reality television. With a much larger audience to cater to, more and more reality television programmes were made, touching on many different themes and fields of interest. “As many commentators have argued, however, over the latter part of the 20th century its content increasingly departed from any such sense of the mundane. These departures were signalled in particular by the advent of hybridizations that cut across the categories into which programming is customarily divided. Television’s cultural forms have lost their former rigidity and are increasingly confounded.” There are so many different types of reality tv programmes, including shows about emergency services, game shows, talk shows, docu-soaps, docu-soap surveillance, survival shows, dating shows and the list goes on. One of the main dividing aspects about all these shows is how much they are based on fact and how fictionalized they are. Because of all the different fields of interest subcategories and subgenres, it is impossible to define reality television as one genre.

References :

Wood, B. (2004) A World in Retreat: The Reconfiguration of Hybridity in 20th-Century New Zealand Television. Media, Culture & Society, 26(1), 45-62. doi:10.1177/0163443704039709

Week 11 – Reality TV

How real is reality TV?

Reality Television has seemed to really take off within mainstream media, and gain vast popularity over the past two decades. Reality TV programs have become engrained in most American and European television cultures, and this something that can be associated with the past twenty years, though early forms of reality TV have existed since the fir Cist quarter of the last century. In a very broad understanding, reality TV is the portrayal of real people doing real things, mostly in exceptional situations and with a focus on personality and drama. Some TV stations make the differentiation between scripted and factual content, programs which are still in the realm of portraying something real, but harboring different commercial and creative intentions. The important question is, how real is reality tv in actuality, and should it still be considered factual content, if most of it is orchestrated and scripted?

The initial motivating force for filmmakers was to create something which could persuade the viewing public that what they are watching has a direct connection to real life. One of the first generic influences on reality were documentaries. The term documentary was coined by John Grierson in 1926, and he called documentaries ‘the creative treatment of actuality’. Up until that point the most important screen was cinema, which depicted an overly glamorized view of life, which stimulated the counter narrative of documentaries. The main intention of documentaries at that time was to enlighten the masses to the circumstances of their society, in the hopes that a social reform could be achieved. This type of documentary was creative and experimental using interviews, music and camera tricks. They used an almost omniscient, voice of god type narration, which was condescending to the viewers. Another early influence was direct cinema which was a more discrete and observational type of filming which offered no attempt at analysis. It used a fly on the wall type of technique, valuing intimacy and immediacy. It used a more scientific approach and avoided the social responsibility agenda. Cinema Verite was the French movement of documentaries in the 1960’s, also using a fly on the wall technique, but allowing for the camera and cameraman to appear in the frame. The defining feature of this type of documentary was self reflexivity, condemning the voice of god type narration as falsehood. Free cinema arose in Britain in the 1950’s, using a filming style of handheld camera, real locations and a raw style. The subject matter was ordinary culture and ordinary people, portraying the regularity of everyday life. These documentaries were poetically staged and often focused more on the aesthetic and visual beauty than the actual motive.

All of these early types of reality TV have influenced the way we perceive what is real on the screen, thanks to the techniques, constraints and worldviews which they implemented in their work. One thing that all genres of documentaries have in common is the revelation of the ordinary as knowledge. “There is now a general recognition that all notions of ‘realism’ are historically determined and that the criteria for judging the realism quotient of a text have just as much to do with the audience expectations and with sets of established conventions as with any objective measure for judging how much reality can be transposed to the screen.’ (Kilborn, p.:422)

While the early influences of reality TV may have had the pure intention of portraying real life in a raw way, the reality TV genres which have evolved today have merged the essence of reality and dramatization in order to gain commercial success and accumulate views and public affinity. While these programs feature real people, their actions and relationships with each other often times orchestrated to fit the perceptions and expectations of the audience.

References :

Kilborn, R. (1994). ‘How Real Can You Get?’: Recent Developments in ‘Reality’ Television. European Journal of Communication, 9, 421-439. Doi: 10.1177/0267323194009004003

Smith, P. (2020). REALITY TELEVISION, Popular Genres (ENGL602) Week 11. Powerpoint.

Week 10

Philip K. Dicks novel The Man In The High Castle (1962) is classified to be his breakthrough piece of work and has been hugely critically acclaimed in the realm of alternate history genres. The premise of the novel is the alternate historical situation which would have occurred if Germany would have won the second world war, and Nazi power were to have ruled the world. The story is set in America in the 1960’s and shows the East coast under Nazi, and the West coast under Japanese occupation. The central plot device relies on the characters periodically using the Chinese oracle, the I Ching.

“The I Ching has existed for thousands of years as a philosophical taxonomy of the universe, a guide to an ethical life, a manual for rulers, and an oracle of ones personal future and the future of the state.” (Eliot Weinberger) While writing the novel Philip K. Dick also used the I Ching, to help guide the events of the story and determine the pattern of decision making. This established an interesting metaphysical dynamic between the author and the protagonists, as the oracle harbors existence within the authors reality and the fictional reality of the protagonists. The use of the oracle lays down a philosophical foundation which branches out into the realms of meaningful coincidence and infinite alternate realities. The Man In The High Castle transcends beyond the boundaries of causality and linear chronological storytelling, and enters the realm of postmodern fiction. Because of the novels philosophical complexities, the constraints of genre fiction do not apply to it, and the bounds of literature are challenged. The concept of many worlds interpretation can be applied to way the oracle summons many different realities and this crosses into the study of quantum physics.

The genre of The Man In The High Caste has been debated, mainly because of how complex and philosophically articulate the novel actually is. Because it portrays and alternate historical setting, it is easy to reduce the novel to simply be alternate history, but because of the philosophical intricacies and the intellectual depth, the genre of alternate history is too narrow to fit the extensive and ever widening expanse of The Man In The High Castle. It would be more accurate to label the novel as postmodern alternate history, as it still possesses the basic premise of portraying a world in an alternate historical setting, but breaks away from causality and the more traditional, diachronic view of time. Postmodern alternate history uses a synchronic view of time and applies theories of postmodern relativism to the complexities of the story. It shows a multiple coexistence of factors or facts and establishes a web of interrelationships, which allows for a more complicated plot structure. Dick’s notion of history is certainly synchronic rather than diachronic, in the terms of Jameson’s analysis, both in his evocation of a web of interrelationships and in his sense that the profusion of possible realities could radically undermine our sense of the real. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a better summary of High Castle’s philosophical implications. (Mountfort, p.:301)

Another defining feature which makes the novel postmodern is the importance of the I Ching and other eastern influences. By implementing a metaphysical plot device which connects to eastern beliefs such as Taoism, the philosophical and spiritual roots of the novel moves away from western norms and wishes to intellectually expand the readers perception of not just reality, but of cultural views as well.

References:

Weiberger, E. (2016) What is the I Ching? https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/what-i-ching

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. SF-TH Inc.

Week 9 – Cosplay and unwelcome gazes

Cosplay is the act of citing or referencing a text from popular culture, by dressing up and embodying a certain character. It is a fan practice that is popular all over t in he world, though0020de3originally it emerged from intersecting cultural influences from Japan and the United States. Conventions which are dedicated to comic books and genres from popular culture have acted as a cultivating force in the world of cosplay, allowing for the practice to become a serious business. The costumes and attire have become more elaborate, cosplayers putting in a significant amount of effort in order to portray their interpretation of the text and character they are referencing. Because of how much effort goes into their costumes, props, hair and makeup, cosplayers feel that gaining some sort of fan capital would be desirable. This is where cosphotography comes in, as this is a way for cosplayers to capture their practice for the personal value of the photography, but also potentially gain fan capital as their photos are displayed within the cosplay community. “ Being photographed and videoed, as long as it is not of the invasive variety, can thus provide cosers not only with tokens of private value but fan capital that circulates within wider, largely online networks of exchange operating in the cosphere. Understanding the photograph as a token of ‘subcultural or fan capital’ or ‘hipness’ allows us to better scrutinize this economy of desire, and frame some of the polarizing issues that surround cosphotography.” (Mountfort, p.:47)

According to Lameriches, there are four crucial components which define cosplay, and these can be interpreted in a global sense. There is a source text or narrative, which the cosplayer will be referencing through their physical body and costume, then the costume or clothing itself, performance in front of an audience, and the cosplayer/subject. A fifth element can be added to this list, which is cosphotography. Photography is an integral part of cosplay, as it helps shape the practice and define its artistic meaning. The performance that is associated with cosplay is different to other types of performing arts, as it is much more fleeting and relies on its true essence being something that can be captured in the moment.

The different types of cosphotography range from formal and informal photography practices. Some of the most famous or most circulated photographs are simply taken inside the convention’s venue, or outside in a predetermined setting like a park or forest. Another setting for cosphotography are specific fashion shows dedicated to showcasing cosplayers and their elaborate costumes. Because of the purely visual nature of cosplay that includes the attention of spectators and photographers alike, there is a common occurrence of cosplayers, , who are subjugated to unwanted or unwelcomed gazes. “Conflated in the popular imagination with fetish and other kinky behaviors , cosplayers, especially female are also frequently objectified by the male gaze, reducing the multivalency of cosplay performance to a clutch of normative cliches about girls in sexy outfits.” (Mountfort, p.: 63)

This issue can arise from the notion that certain cosplayers are simply embracing and embodying a character who has already been sexualized within their source text, this means that cosplayer themselves aren’t attempting to subjugate themselves to hypersexualization, rather that they are referencing their text in an accurate way. Certain genres, such as manga, anime, and comic books, include characters who are caricatured in a way, and this can also lead to hypersexualized interpretations by fans. Those who are not apart of the cosplay world may not understand the complexities of the source text that is being portrayed, or the act and process of referencing as being the defining feature of the fan practice. While many photographers are also apart of the cosphere and harbor intentions which are indicative to cultivating fan capital, it is important for cosplayers to know of other photographers who have the intention of exploitation. Like in any other public situation, cosplayers, males and females, deserve the same amount of respect, and the notion must be understood that no matter what the nature of someone’s costume is, they are not to be subjugated to inappropriate comments or sexualization.

References : Mountfort, P. Pierson, Smith, A. Geczy, A. (2018) Planet Cosplay Intellect Books. Chapter 2

Week 8 – In what way is cosplay analogous to citation?

The term cosplay derives from the portmanteau of the words costume and play, and it entails the act of dressing up as popular characters from comic books, movies, television series, video games, etc. Cosplay is a performative act, as those who engage in this activity go beyond just dressing up as their character of choice and also perform as them. It is said that there is a certain indebtedness to Japanese culture, such as manga and anime in terms of popular culture, though cosplay as we know it today sources its influences from both eastern and western culture. It was these cultural exchanges between the United States and Japan which allowed for the foundations of cosplay to be established in the 1970’s and 1980’s. With many more fandoms arising in the 21^st century, along with the globalizing current of information due to the age of the internet, the realm of cosplay has expanded and the complexities of this artform have been noted and studied. Specific conventions which were created to cultivate and magnify the qualities of cosplay have shown the true essence of what this fan practice really is. Cosplay can be interpreted as a form of modelling, textualization, translation, and most importantly, citation.

So, how exactly is cosplay analogous to citation? First of all, it is important to understand the metaphorical nature of this concept, as the traditional understanding of the term citation lies in textual referencing. Cosplay as a citation can be interpreted as a physical referencing, through the body of the cosplayer which is the medium, the text which is being cited is the costume and performative being of the body and costume together. Dressing up is an expression of self, as it is connected to showcasing the body in a way which connects to the self in a non physical way. This is something which can be practiced through fashion and personal style, while cosplay transcends beyond that as it is the embodiment of a certain character which isn’t necessarily synonymous to the self. “This embodiment includes not just costume but theatricalism, including pose and gesture. While there may be limitations to analogies between cosplay and citation, investigating the practice, on one level, as a system of reference between texts helps us differentiate it from other forms of dressing up and acting-out.” Mountfort, (2018) (p.:23)

Cosplay has an undeniable postmodern quality to it, as it is connected to the concept of the “death of the author”. The Death of the Author is a 1967 essay by French literary theorist Roland Barthes. This concept refers to the idea that authors no longer have autonomy of their story or characters, and that interpretation and meaning can be assigned by the reader or audience. This is a postmodern understanding of literature, because classical texts allowed the author to posses sovereignty. In the realm of fan practices, meaning and interpretation have a more fluid understanding, as the components of the text can be manipulated according to personal affinity. A good example is the creative freedom associated with fanfiction, as the writer can take certain parts of the story, or characters and create their own story with their own meaning assigned to it. Cosplay acts in a similar way, as it is a citation that can be referenced in a way that suits the cosplayers preferences, imagination and creative autonomy.

References :

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

Mountfort 2018, Planet Cosplay (Bristol, UK: Intellect Books), Chapter 2

Week 7 – The Three Components of Horror

The exploration of horror through narrative dates back to the dawn of humanity, as stories of terror and violence have always existed, though their purpose hasn’t always been the same. In the context of modern horror, the genre is executed as an artform through movies and books with varying intentions and interpretations. If we examine the pre modern evolution of horror, the historical reasons for conjuring terrifying stories are quite different to the purpose they derive from today. The very first horror stories were crafted to be cautionary tales, warning humanity to be weary of the dark, unknown, and dangers that may lurk if they are not careful. Around the time of the Spanish inquisition, horror became closely tied to religion as the Catholic church strived to condemn heresy. Horror stories were created in order to shock and scare the people away from engaging with witchcraft and satanism, as well as being a conditioning tool to encourage obedience and submissiveness. The significant difference between these older forms of horror and modern horror is that the former had a real influence on people in a time when scientific discoveries had not yet been made in order to explain how the world works, while the latter exists purely for entertainment purposes.

It is important to discuss what horror actually is in artistic form, as it is not identical to the horror we feel arising from certain real life events. Caroll explains these to occurrences as “art horror” and natural horror. A horrifying tragedy which happened in real life is not equal to a form of horror which was for example created for the big screen. The differentiating factor is the artistic purpose. “Generally when the word “horror” is used in what follows, it should be understood as art-horror. This kind of horror is different from the sort that one expresses in saying “I am horrified by the prospect of ecological disaster,” Caroll, (p.12)

According to Stephen King horror is a form of conveying emotions and thoughts we would not usually share due to them being socially unaccepted. In a way horror allows us commit acts of violence and absurdity in our imaginations and face our fears as we are being brutally confronted by them. “Horror appeals to us because it says in a symbolic way things we are afraid to say right out straight with the bark still on ; it offers us a chance to exercise (that’s right not exorcize, but exercise) emotions which society demands we keep closely in hand.” King, (chapter 3)

When examining the structure of modern horror or art horror, it becomes apparent that there are three defining components. These components are revulsion, horror and terror. Revulsion is the first tier of creating something that will have an overall horrifying affect on audiences. This component showcases an occurrence which will cause the reader/viewer to be disgusted and repulsed. Moving to the next component, which is horror, allows for a graphic portrayal of something shocking and unbelievable. The purpose of the horror component is to generate fear, as it is a natural reaction for the human brain to have when faced with something they don’t understand and is out of their depth. The third component induces fear through imagination, and this is terror. Once confronted with something horrifying and incomprehensible, the brain will conjure up images to further fuel the unfolding terror.

If we were to use the theory of the three defining components while analysing a popular horror movie, it would look like this. In the movie adaptation of It, Stephen Kings novel, revulsion, horror and terror are demonstrated in the following ways. In the opening scene of the movie, Bills younger brother Georgie is attacked by an unknown entity resulting in him getting his arm bitten off in a gruesome and graphic way – the scene works as a form of revulsion, as it is a gory depiction of violence. When applying the horror component the scene with the disturbing painting is a great example. Stanley is confronted by the surrealist and absurd portrayal of a woman in a painting who comes alive. This is horrifying because of how surreal and unfathomable the occurrence of a frightening painting coming to life is. Finally the third component which is terror, is comprised by the character of Pennywise ; who the audience doesn’t know much about. It is left up to their imagination to ponder where he originates from and who he is exactly, which will leave the mind twisting and reeling from fear.

References

Carroll, N. (2003). The Nature of Horror. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com

King, S. (2010) Danse Macabre.

Nellan, D. (2017) Stephen King Breaks Down the Different Levels of Horror https://www.avclub.com/stephen-king-breaks-down-the-different-levels-of-horror-1806112160

Week 6 – Cosmic Horror

H.P Lovecraft ( Howard Phillips Lovecraft) born Aug. 20^th 1890 was an American writer from Providence, Rhode Island. He prolifically wrote novels and short stories which were sometimes described as fantastical or macabre and pioneered the movement of Gothic tale of terror writing in the 20^th century.

Lovecraftian horror is defined as a subgenre of horror fiction which is conceptually synonymous with cosmic horror. This type of horror focuses on the danger of the unknown and the terror which can stem from horrific beings or occurrences which we cannot see, rather than the gory, graphic side of other horror genres. “the monsters in Lovecraft’s tales aren’t the true horror. The true horror and essential element of Lovecraft’s tales is the sense of helplessness and insignificance of humanity that the existence of the monsters signify.” Lacroix, (April 6^th 2020) This is the true defining quality of Lovecraftian horror, which brings a philosophical quality to the discussion of horror and terrifying things. More mainstream genres of horror focus on amplifying the shock factor and emphasising violence as a way of increasing adrenaline. Some interpretations will suggest that horror is a way of facing the ugly side of human nature and that explicit content is a reflection of the sides of ourselves we do not wish to face. When it come to H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic horror though, there is a testament to existentialism, as human life is seen as pointless and futile, in comparison to the vast and unknown landscape of cosmic knowledge. Lovecraft established a strong understanding of fear in his work, distinctly when it came to cosmic fear which differs from physical fears or fear of the gruesome. In the article The Outsiders and Others the following is said about cosmic horror : “that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguards against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space.’’ Lovecraft (1939) Stableford, (2007) P, 66.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1936) is a horror novella by H.P. Lovecraft, forming a part of the Cthulu Mythos, telling the story of a malign undersea population. The story is set in New England, the protagonist being a young student who is on an antiquarian tour of New England, and hears of a horrifying story about aquatic monsters who can interbreed with humans to produce amphibian hybrids. Some critics believe that there might be a personal connection between the cosmic horror portrayed in The Shadow Over Innsmouth and H.P. Lovecraft himself. Both of his parents had been admitted to mental hospitals, where they had stayed until the end of their lives, this suggesting that there was a genetic history of mental illness in Lovecraft’s family. Having such a personal experience of watching his family go through debilitating mental illnesses most probably projected a serious fear onto H.P. Lovecraft when it came to phycological issues. Losing ones sanity or control over their minds is a terrifying leap into the unknown and is the kind of fear associated with cosmic horror. Mental illness is something that can’t always be seen and lacks a sense of physicality, making it a force of horror which differs from the obvious visual forms. When the narrator is shown things that exist outside his perception of reality, his mind begins to deteriorate, and mental illness ties in with the terrifying creatures and unknown qualities of existence.

The Colour Out of Space (1927) is a short story written by H.P. Lovecraft, featuring an unnamed narrator, set in Arkham Massachusetts. The narrator is trying to piece together the story of a place called the “blasted heath” in the wild hills of Arkham. It is revealed that a meteorite had crashed into that place, changing the landscape grotesquely, affecting the vegetation, mutating the animals and causing the humans to die. H.P. Lovecraft’s intention was to create a story about an alien that was truly alien, because of its mysterious manifestation and elusive entity. He had become disillusioned by stories which featured aliens which took form in illustrated, human perception fuelled ways. An entity from a different planet, or simply just from the cosmos is something beyond our limited earthly perception, and H.P Lovecraft wished to demonstrate the true terrifying quality of this.

“It was a scene from a vision of Fuseli, and over all the rest reigned that riot of luminous amorphousness, that alien and undimensioned rainbow of cryptic poison from the well—seething, feeling, lapping, reaching, scintillating, straining, and malignly bubbling in its cosmic and unrecognisable chromaticism.” H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space.

References :
Stableford, B. (2007). The cosmic horror. Icons of Horror and the Supernatural, 66-96.
The Editors of the Encyclopedia of Britannica, (2020. Aug.16) H.P. Lovecraft
https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-P-Lovecraft

LaQroix, P, (2017) What is Lovecraftian Horror? https://eldritchpaths.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/what-is-lovecraftian-horror/

The Shadow Over Innsmouth (2020) https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/The_Shadow_Over_Innsmouth

The Color Out of Space (2020) https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Colour_Out_of_Space#

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Week 5

Week 5 – What is the ‘shōjo’ and how does it often function in anime?

Hayao Miyazaki, born January 5^th, 1941 in Tokyo, is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, screenwriter, author and manga artist. His work has acclaimed critical and popular success not just in Japan but in the western world and is thought to be one of the most influential animated filmmakers. His first major success in the film industry came when Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind) was released, a story about a reluctant female warrior on her journey through an ecologically ravaged world. Nausicaa is a type of “eco-fable” telling the story of the collapse of the industrial world, with a premonition type narrative. Its themes include anti-war and anti-pollution, taking a stand against the industrialization and war fueled tendencies of the 20^th century.

Connecting to Nausicaa, one of Miyazaki’s most other acclaimed works is Princess Mononoke, which is 1997 anime epic historical fantasy animated by Studio Ghibli. It is a period drama set in the late Muromachi period of Japan, with incorporated fantasy elements. The story follows a young female warrior; Ashitaki, and her involvement in the struggle between the supernatural guardians of the forest and the humans who consume its resources. Princess Mononoke is considered to be a prequel/sequel to Nausicaa in terms of thematic setting, and according to Miyazaki Princess Mononoke portrays the intended message in a more concise way.

One of the most important defining features of Miyazaki’s movies is the role of the shojo. Most of his stories are built around independent, strong willed female characters who possess a lot of agency and usually are only adolescents. These female characters take on the traditional male roles in storytelling and embody the qualities of a heroine, redefining the ideal of the hero’s journey. Example of the shojo in Nausicaa is Nausicaa herself, who is a young warrior who must defend her homeland, the Valley of the Wind, and has to exercise diplomacy between other kingdoms in order to avoid the outbreak of a full on war. She faces war, death, deforestation and environmental issues along with the uncertain fate of her people. In order to resolve these issues, she must use her diplomatic skills and rely on her scientific knowledge, something that up until that point wasn’t prominent for female characters. Another important point is that there is no romance involved in her story; Miyazaki allows for her to remain a strong female character who is oriented by their career, beliefs and leadership.

Because of how women are portrayed in Miyazaki’s storytelling, strong willed and in charge of their own fate, he is considered to be a feminist. His female characters are often in a position of power and engage with serious issues, along with possessing the tendency to save the ecosystem or the world. He has compared to Walt Disney in terms of being a prolific and celebrated animator, but the way female protagonists are represented is vastly different. While Disney created infamous princesses, whose existence revolved around meeting prince charming. According to Toshio Suzuki, the president of Studio Ghibli: “Miyazaki is a feminist, actually. He has this conviction that to be successful, companies have to make it possible for their female employees to succeed too. You can see this attitude in PRINCESS MONONOKE. All characters working the bellows in the iron works are women. Then there’s PORCO ROSSO. Porco’s plane is rebuilt entirely by women.”

References : Pyun, S. (2016) Miyazaki Movies: Proving Feminism Sells Since 1984 https://comicsverse.com/miyazaki-movie-feminism-sells/

Week 4

Week 4 – What was the cultural impact of Akira (1988), and why does it occupy a key place in the canon of anime greats?

Akira is an animated Japanese movie made in 1988, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, and was a pioneer in the genre of anime. In terms of subgenre, it is classified as a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk anime. Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction, focusing on futuristic urban societies which are built upon computer technology. Akira is set in a post-apocalyptic future, after the planet has suffered a third world war, the story taking place in neo-Tokyo, which was once destroyed and now rebuilt as a thriving metropolis. The story follows a member of biker gang in neo-Tokyo who has been kidnapped by a secret government agency, and his best friends’ quest to rescue him.

It is revealed that Tokyo was destroyed in 1988 by an atom bomb, and though thirty-one years later in 2019 neo-Tokyo is thriving and technologically advanced, it is still desolate and barren in a dystopian kind of way. In regard to the deadly nuclear war which destroyed the city, there is a connection that can be made to world war two, and the horrific nuclear explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This national tragedy which is held with importance in Japanese history played a big part in inspiring the destruction and anarchy that is portrayed in Akira. The historical connection is one of the main reasons why Akira became culturally significant, especially for Japanese audiences.

The theme of the biker gang stems from Japanese popular cultural influences in the 1980’s. In Akira, the biker gang symbolizes the disillusioned and rebellion fuelled youth of the 20^th century. The end of the second world war brought many waves of rebellion, the future generations dissatisfied with the conventions of conservative viewpoints, the horrors and systematic aggressions of war. Themes of youth having lost hope in the future and perseverance is also prominent, portrayed well in the classroom scene in Akira, having seen the students’ disinterest in education. For many teenagers and young people watching at the time, there was great relevance to how that generation was feeling and their unique place in society.

Apart from the cultural, historical and societal importance that Akira holds, it remains to be one of the most artistically influential animated movies of the 20^th century. There had never been a production like it before in Japanese film history, having the most expensive budget for an anime movie than ever before. The animation turned out to be so striking, it was clear even at the time that Akira was a masterpiece, and definitely much more than an animated movie for children. After its release, Akira heavily influenced the way mangas and comic books were made and impacted live animated as well as live action movies in terms of story and production. Akira was the first animated Japanese movie to really break into the western world and catch the attention of American audiences, who now were demanding more comic books and mangas that could evoke the same brilliance that Akira had.

References :

Napier, S. (2005). Anime and Local/Global Identity. In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.15-34). Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Week 3 : What gaps are there in Herge’s representation of women?

The Adventures of Tintin, though widely popular and loved by many generations has faced serious criticism for racial and ethnic chauvinism. Infact, in Herge’s early comics, his affiliation with right wing propaganda and fascism has also been scrutinized by contemporary critics. While these are very important issues and their discussion promotes the step towards equality and the decrease of stigma and stereotypes, the issue of gender in Tintin albums hasn’t been mentioned in many critical discussions.

There are many layers to the discussion of gender in Tintin, including Herge’s portrayal of women, Tintin’s sexuality or lack of, and the representation of gender roles throughout the 20^th century. There is a noticeable absence of women throughout all of the Tintin albums, and there seems to be deliberate reason for this. In the earliest comics, women only appear to be faces in crowds, submerged into the mass of the background. Later on, some women are given space on the page simply as wives of men who appear in the comics, or subordinate, nagging characters who aren’t given any agency. One of Herge’s explanation for this is that he loves women too much to caricature them, and that they cannot be made into comedic characters. This quite obviously suggests that according to his beliefs, there is no equality between the sexes, because if there were, there wouldn’t be a distinction between who can be portrayed as comical and who cannot. Suggesting that he loves women too much to feature them as protagonist like characters with agency points towards the notion that Herge thought of women as weaker than men, and creatures that must be shielded from the world of comedic social commentary. While Herge didn’t demonize women, or make a mockery out of them in a cruel way, he did however perpetuate sexist stereotypes by treating them as submissive background characters who are subordinate to men. Herge’s statement about women and his portrayal of them is hugely problematic because of the various important social movements throughout the time of the albums being published that worked towards the liberation of and emancipation of women. At the time when his racist portrayal of ethnic groups were critiques, he endeavoured to be more politically correct and improve his portrayal of people of colour. At the time of the 1960’s and 1970’s however, when the sexual revolution was unfolding along with the second wave of feminism, Herge failed to change his depiction of women, or change the way he incorporated them in his comics. This proves that he found some issues worthy of paying attention to, and conforming to the waves of social change, while others he wished to view in a traditionalist, chauvinistic way. In conclusion though, gender and sexuality seem to be a complex and sometimes ambivalent issue in the world of Tintin, so that could be a reason for the confusing statements and portrayal of women.

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