Author: willyhruru

I'm a student at Auckland University of Technology, city campus studying Creative Writing and Maori.

WEEK 4 ANIME

WEEK 4  AKIRA  

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

Anime (Japanese Animation) was established in 1960’s and 1970’s in Japan. (Mountfort, 2020) 

The anime film Akira was released in 1988, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and is an adaptation based on his manga (comic volumes 1-6) of the same name.  This release was at a time when the Japanese economy was experiencing a boom mid to late 1980’s a period known as the “Golden Age of Anime.” Its production budget of 700 million yen (US$5.5 million), was the most expensive anime film at that time and used cutting edge techniques of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) along with traditional CEL animation. Otomo’s eye for detail made extensive use of multilayered backgrounds, perspective and edited sequences that required many CEL’s to be produced which allowed captive viewing (Napier, 2005).   

Akira is the first anime film successfully exported from Japan in the entertainment economy to Western audiences in the 1990’s (Napier 2005) and possibly the start of the “Cool Japan” marketing term adopted by the Japanese Government. For many Western viewers Akira would have been the first anime feature film they had ever seen where action and adventure collided with teenage and adult themes of motorcycle gang warfare, politics, militarism, science and technology which led to a cult following. Not only did Akira introduce anime it also had a huge impact on filmmakers both in Japan and in the West. Many filmmakers and artists have credited Akira as being instrumental in constructing their own creations and is confirmation of this anime feature films attributes.  

Akira’s success lay the foundation for the rise of anime and Japanese pop culture in the West and considered one of Japan’s significant cultural exports.  

REFERENCES  

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

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

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 Tintin

WEEK 3 Popular Genre 

  1.   How and why have Tintin’s gender and sexuality been question? 

Herge stated in an interview that Tintin was not gay nevertheless Tintin shows no romantic interest in dating the opposite sex, getting married or having children one day which leaves his sexuality open to interpretation. It appears Herge intended to leave Tintin’ personal life out of his adventures like family, favorite food and clothes, sexual preferences etc. These stories were written with children in mind, understandably, it would be too traumatizing in 1929 when Tintin was created to deviate from the norms of the time. 

Tintin is a teenager aged somewhere between 15 –18 and as such be going through puberty. In boys this starts as early as 10 years of age when fluctuations in the sex hormone testosterone stimulates libido and growth and ends at around the age of 16. Daily erections and wet dreams are common and a normal part of puberty that happens to all boys. Why Herge didn’t give this matter any thought is baffling considering the use of more adult themes of drugs, crime, violence, political propaganda, religion, racism, sexism and so on.  

On the rare occasion woman are included they are not the cliché damsels in distress that need saving by our hero. Women take a back seat and are depicted as irritants at best and at worst nags (Mountfort, 2020). In no way is this confirmation Tintin is gay due to lack of evidence or him running around with a campy toy dog breed terrier, or frequent compulsion of getting dressed up in disguise, or Dorian Gray-esque of staying young as most fans would be more inclined to see Tintin as asexual. 

There however seems to be more substance than meets the eye between Tintin and Captain Haddock friendship which has homoerotic overtures. When they first meet on board Captain Haddocks cargo ship ‘Karaboudjan’ in The Crab with the Golden Claws, Haddock is drunk and is consoled by Tintin when he finds out his mutinous crew are diamond smugglers. Tintin shows his feminine side of caring for Haddock when he comforts him by tenderly holding both his shoulders from behind then Tintin saves Haddock life by helping him jump overboard and escape in a rowboat. Tintin then saves Haddock from an airplane crash and a group of men in this Golden Claw episode and each time Haddock calls out for Tintin to save him. Sexual tension is symbolized when Haddock dehydrated in the Sahara Desert and imagines Tintin is a bottle of champagne and jumps on top off him.  

Their actions towards each other suggest a kind of intimacy and devotion, spending a considerable amount of time together and sacrificing their lives for each other and I believe Tintin is gay. 

REFERENCES.  

Paul Mountfort (2020): ‘Tintin, gender and desire’, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2020.1729829 

Week 2 Tintin

WEEK 2 POPULAR GENRE  

1.  How decisively did Hergé address this issue from The Blue Lotus on, and in what ways did it remain problematic? 

If you don’t know about something you intend to write about its usually a good to find out more about it somehow.  

When Herge announced that Tintin was going to the Far East, China he received a letter from Father Gossett, a Catholic priest and Chaplin of Chinese students at the University of Leuven. He wrote that if he made the mistake of drawing a Chinese with a pigtail or eating birds nests while shrieking “Hee, hee” he would cause much damage. Father Gossett encouraged Herge to do some research about China and their culture and introduced him to an art student named Chang Chongren. Chang taught Herge many things about Chinese drawing, poetry, religion and calligraphy which was a revelation for him. 

Chang assisted Herge in producing The Blue Lotus in 1934, considered his first masterpiece. Chang’s influence is seen on Shanghai streets scenes with Chinese banners and posters sayings about well-being and slogans on the walls of buildings with political messages of “Down with Imperialism” during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, China from 1931 onwards. 

Tintin was no longer just a children’s comic adventure book, it had become current affairs, contemporary journalism and strong political satire. The Blue Lotus was highly significant at that time and influenced every adventure after that. 

 During Tintin’s adventure in The Blue Lotus he saves an orphan boy from drowning who has the same name as Herge’s real friend Chang Chongren. Together they find the professor who develops a vaccine for the poison that makes people mad ‘Raijahjah’. Chang is adopted by the professor and here inlays the problem. 

Tintin being a ‘Hero’ and ‘Saviour’ of non-White, non-European people is the ongoing problem. This ‘Mighty Whitey’ trope was common at that time. It was expected that Tintin would succeed making him superior both to the local natives, even though he was sympathetic towards the Chinese (only, not all Asians). Additionally it is also reinforcing European superiority back home when people are saved by kindhearted white Europeans who know best. 

REFERENCES 

Mountford, P. (2020). Tintin: the franchise and Herge’s The Blue Lotus. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz. 

Week 1 Popular Genre

Popular Genre 2020  – Week  1  

  1. How has the academic reception of popular genres changes over time? 

We all have different tastes and by academic standards popularity is no indication of good storytelling that comes now in the form of cartoons, comic books, science fiction, fantasy, detective stories, film noir, graphic novels, television series and anime. Even though many people enjoy this type of entertainment it was often not considered as ‘serious’ or ‘high’ literature by the academic elite who tended to be white, male and English speaking. We are now a more literate society than at any time during the past and nowadays authors can reach a wider selection of the public.  

Serious literary works, unlike popular genre fiction, had not transitioned well into the age of digital media. Universities offer courses now that reflect this change to examine practices associated with popular genre to examine humanity that has become part of the cultural gestalt.  

  1. What might the value be of studying them? 

The value of these courses is potential future employment. By exploring the foundation of popular genre gives one an insight into development of structure, characterization, setting, context, mode(s) that contribute to an audience’s understanding of a composition, use of technology and other literary devices to reach readers in all corners of the publishing industry. Additionally, works by writers from different backgrounds eg gender, ethnic, sexual orientation or other marginalized group gives different perspective, themes and messages the author wishes to impart that maybe more pleasurable relevant and tell us more about society today than do literary classics. 

 
REFERENCES  

Mountfort, P. (2020). AUT Blackboard. Popular Genres ENGL602. Powerpoint Week 1. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_96250_1&content_id=_5273101_1&mode=reset 

Week 1 Popular Genre

Popular Genre 2020  – Week  1  

  1. How has the academic reception of popular genres changes over time? 

We all have different tastes and by academic standards popularity is no indication of good storytelling that comes now in the form of cartoons, comic books, science fiction, fantasy, detective stories, film noir, graphic novels, television series and anime. Even though many people enjoy this type of entertainment it was often not considered as ‘serious’ or ‘high’ literature by the academic elite who tended to be white, male and English speaking. We are now a more literate society than at any time during the past and nowadays authors can reach a wider selection of the public.  

Serious literary works, unlike popular genre fiction, had not transitioned well into the age of digital media. Universities offer courses now that reflect this change to examine practices associated with popular genre to examine humanity that has become part of the cultural gestalt.  

  1. What might the value be of studying them? 

The value of these courses is potential future employment. By exploring the foundation of popular genre gives one an insight into development of structure, characterization, setting, context, mode(s) that contribute to an audience’s understanding of a composition, use of technology and other literary devices to reach readers in all corners of the publishing industry. Additionally, works by writers from different backgrounds eg gender, ethnic, sexual orientation or other marginalized group gives different perspective, themes and messages the author wishes to impart that maybe more pleasurable relevant and tell us more about society today than do literary classics. 

 
REFERENCES  

Mountfort, P. (2020). AUT Blackboard. Popular Genres ENGL602. Powerpoint Week 1. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz