Pop Genres 2020

Week 8 Blog Post

Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation

Cosplay is a portmanteau of the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’, but can also be looked at as a combination of the words ‘costume’ and ‘role-play’ (Crawford & Hancock, 2018). Cosplay involves fans wearing costumes and performing as characters from popular shows, movies, comic books, video games or any other type of mainstream media (Mountfort et al, 2018). According to Dictionary.com, a citation is “the act of citing or quoting a reference to an authority or a precedent.” In this instance, cosplay is analogous to citation in that it references its source material, as people who take part in cosplay use their bodies, costumes and the physical space they are in to reference another text (Mountfort et al, 2018). Cosplay also goes further than just referencing its source material, as many cosplayers edit the original source to make it fit their own unique identity, in a process of disruptive citation (Mountfort et al, 2018).

Just as we would reference an academic to build an argument in an essay, cosplay is comparative to citation in that the act of dressing up as a character from a specific text is a form of referencing it. This can be done through costumes and props, such as a cosplayer wielding a dagger to show they are San from Princess Mononoke, or combining a rope with the star-spangled one-piece to embody Wonder Woman (Mountfort et al, 2018). It can also be done through how the cosplayer acts or performs their chosen character while at a convention or out in public (Mountfort et al, 2018). The cosplayer’s body becomes a text that references another text, and they use not just costume but pose and gesture to achieve this (Mountfort et al, 2018). Lamerichs (2011) argues that cosplay drives fans to closely examine and interpret existing texts, perform them via costumes and/or skits, and extend them with their own stories and ideas.

In their study of cosplay, Crawford and Hancock (2018) found that cosplayers stayed in the characters they were portraying as much as possible. This went beyond simply wearing the costume; they acted out scenes of dialogue from the source text, or even created new dialogue in-character, trying to act in the way that they perceived their character would act (Crawford & Hancock, 2018). For example, one participant of the study said that he felt duty-bound to maintain his character in public, especially when children were involved. He said, “They don’t know you are just a lad from Manchester. To them you are actually a stormtrooper. So you might as well act like one and uphold the dream. So if a kid comes up to you and goes, ‘Hey! Scoutrooper how are you doing?’ [Adopts American accent], ‘I’m doing alright sir’. I play up to it and stay in character for as long as possible” (Crawford & Hancock, 2018, p. 315). In this example, the cosplayer is using cosplay as a form of citation to reference Star Wars. The child in question understands the reference because the costume, mannerisms and accent are all directly referencing or citing a stormtrooper.

Cosplay is also comparable to citation in that, unlike other forms of costume or performance, cosplay is heavily reliant on its source material (Mountfort et al, 2018). Other fashion subcultures or forms of dressing up, such as steampunk or Lolita, are not wholly reliant on a specific text to reference in the same way cosplay is (Mountfort et al, 2018). For example, a cosplayer embodying the Joker would have several iterations of the character in which they could reference. A cosplayer dressed as Jack Nicolson’s Joker would look, sound and act completely different from someone channeling Heath Ledger’s version (WatchMojo.com, 2014). The cosplayer researches and studies the cited text in order to reference it fully with their costume and performance (Mountfort et al, 2018). This in turn leads the audience to take a mental leap into the world of the cited character (Mountfort et al, 2018).

Cosplay also goes further than simply citing its source material. Cosplayers often have their own interpretations of a character, and edit or co-create their costumes as a form of disruptive citation (Mountfort et al, 2018). Jenkins (1992) suggests that media fans create new interpretations and narratives that go against the dominant mainstream media. What is defined by the source text, such as gender or race, is often critiqued, negotiated and explored by cosplayers to fit their own identity (Mountfort et al, 2018). Gender-bending cosplay is becoming increasingly popular as we see more people cosplaying a character that is different from their gender, such as a woman cosplaying Batman or a man cosplaying Misty from Pokemon. There is a lot of creativity that goes into the construction of a gender-bent costume, and designers mend the outfit to cite the source material in a new way that will fit their gender (Winens, 2018).

To conclude, cosplayers use their bodies as a text to reference another text from popular media, making it comparable to citation or referencing.

References

Crawford, G., & Hancock, D. (2018). Urban poachers: Cosplay, playful cultures and the appropriation of urban space. The Journal of Fandom Studies, 6(3), 301-318. https://doi-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/10.1386/jfs.6.3.301_1

Jenkins, H. (1992), Textual Poachers. Routledge.

Lamerichs, N. (2011). Stranger than fiction: Fan identity in cosplay. Transformative Works and Cultures, 7(3), 56-72. https://doi:10.3983/twc.2011.0246

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Intellect.

WatchMojo.com. (2014, March 16). Heath Ledger vs. Jack Nicholson as The Joker [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz8AXNi4wnI&t=250s&ab_channel=WatchMojo.com

Winens, E. M. (2018, May 1). With gender-bending, cosplay adds another layer of creativity. Study Breaks. https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/gender-bending-cosplay-creativity/

Week 8 Question: To what extent can narratology, translation and adaptation studies aid us in understanding cosplay?

3. To what extent can narratology, translation and adaptation studies aid us in understanding cosplay?

Cosplay is an art form that is a popular way for fans of a certain series to express their love for it by dressing up and performing as characters from popular media. The discussion surrounding the art form continues to evolve and change over time as cosplay is increasingly popular and fan engagement also evolves. When approaching cosplay, there are several methods of analysis that can be applied to cosplay as a way of understanding it, these being narratology, translation, and adaptation studies.

Narratology is the study of narrative texts and the structure of narrative; the approach is effectively applicable to any narrative regardless of the medium. The term can be applied to literature, film, video games, and other mediums, however, it is difficult to apply narratology to cosplay. This is because most cosplay comes from existing texts that have long-running narratives, it results in the inability to translate an entire text’s narrative on to the cosplay. As such, the question surrounding narrative within cosplay is how much of it survives the transition to the medium of cosplay, Mountfort (2018, p. 31) asks “whether the terminology of narratology, the study of narrative texts, is of any relevance.” Attempting to apply narratology to cosplay, the narrative text would be the original text that a cosplayer derives their cosplay from, and the actor is the character that a cosplayer also decides. Although narratology cannot be directly applied to cosplay as a way of understanding the entire narrative of a text that a cosplay originates from; it can assist us in understanding the unique way narrative is told in cosplay. A cosplay might not be able to convey the entire history of the original text’s world, but it could potentially showcase a singular event that relates to the character of choice.

Translation studies can also aid us in understanding cosplay as the medium revolves greatly around referencing source texts and the accuracy of that referencing. The common belief surrounding translation used to be that they should be as painfully faithful to the original text as possible, where every single word and sentence is very literal. Translations now, however, take more creative liberties and they must be taken when translating from one language to another. Such is the case when translating Japanese as words can have multiple meanings. Translators must choose the appropriate meaning behind a word by attempting to discern what the original author intended. It results in translations that are never truly accurate but are better because of the changes made. This is how translation studies can help us better understand cosplay as translation studies according to Mountfort (2018, p. 32) “have moved away from the expectation of isomorphism (one-to-one correspondence) between a source text and the target text that characterized their pre-theoretical phase.” Cosplay is comparable to the way translations have changed because cosplay is not required to be a replica of a character’s design. Not being entirely faithful can result in a better cosplay because it must accommodate for how physics in the real-world work if an aspect of a character is impossible to recreate.

Like translation studies, adaptation studies also help us better understand cosplay because as Mountfort (2018, p. 33) mentions “A similar shift has occurred in adaptation studies, which has had to deal with the added dimension of translation across media.” Adaptation studies are incredibly aware of the changes that must be made when transitioning to a different medium. A good adaptation is one that should make changes appropriate for the medium regardless of accuracy to the original text. Cosplay then presents a complicated issue as complete faithfulness to the original text is in some cases impossible given the designs of characters from series that are popular to cosplay. However, adaptation studies show that a good adaptation is not necessarily accurate to the original text and this also applies to cosplay. A good cosplay may change an aspect of a character in a different way that ultimately makes the cosplay work better.

Reference

P, Mountfort. (2018). Planet Cosplay. Bristol, UK; Intellect Books.

Week 8 Question

Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation?

The term cosplay refers to the popularized, and revered contemporary phenomenon of ‘costume play.’ With roots based in both American and Japanese culture, it involves the act of dressing up as a character separate from the individual, in respect to performing as the character from a popular media franchise (e.g. comics, animated/live action films, television, games, etc.). Mountfort et al. (2018), explain that cosplay in the present day is a form of mass cultural engagement, seen both off and online, and especially in events like manga/anime conventions, as well as within their own cosplay communities. It is mostly considered a type of performance art, as the individual attempts to shift their identity to the character they are ‘cosplaying’ through the use of costumes, accessories, even gestures and attitudes in a way to adopt the persona of the character. It can be considered that the individual inhabits the role of this character both physically and mentally.

Moreover, a distinguishing feature of cosplay from previous costuming practices such as those in carnivals, masquerades and theatrical performances, is that cosplay largely depends on source texts from new popular media, both in the east and west. As newer forms of media (e.g. comics) did not exist before the twentieth century, cosplay can be acknowledged as a result of modernity or postmodernity.

On the topic of citation, cosplay usually requires a source or reference text (known as a parent text), this is where the main inspiration for a cosplay begins, and mostly depends on a source of narrative text for its purpose, and for performing its citational act. This implies that through the use of cosplay, the cosplayer can actively produce or manipulate the canonical text. Cosplay can be citational as the image of the character is often detached from the original narrative of the text, converting the two-dimensional fantasies of a character to a three-dimensional living character, performed in real time. With that, cosplayers take these characters into their own narratives which is acted out using their own bodies. Some argue that cosplay is a kind of ‘static live performance adaptation’ of the iconic qualities of popular narratives found in some medieval European histories (like Shakespearean plays). This also involves the knowledge of the audience, as they are also aware of what is being cited (e.g. knowledge of who these characters are).

In some ways, cosplay’s citationality has similarities with referencing, as the familiarity of a cosplay audience with the original narratives when subjected to a cosplay performance, can prompt them to recall the original source narrative. The audience is just as important in the citational act as without them, the performance of cosplay cannot be carried out to its full extent. The three elements, the cosplayer, the text, and the audience all make up the experience of cosplay and adhere to its citational qualities.

References

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. ( 2018). Planet Cosplay. Intellect Books.

WEEK 7 HORROR

1. King (2010) 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.

Stephen King wrote a book in 1981 called “Danse Macbre” which covers the horror genre, in TV, film, radio, and text, from 1950-1980. He casually moves from boyhood to manhood describing and dissecting each horror story explaining what the appeal is, how they impacted him and states “The good horror tale will dance its way to the center of your life and find the secret door to the room you believed no one but you knew of ”(King, 2020).

Stephen describes the horror genre as being able to find national phobic pressure points, and those books and films which have been the most successful seem to play upon expressed fears which exist across a wide spectrum of people. The popularity of horror stories is a product of its times (Hendrix, 2018) and swings around every ten to twenty-year cycles coinciding with periods of serious economic and/or political strain (King, 2010).

Stephen recalls as a ten-year-old in October,1957 sitting in a picture theatre watching a sci-fi movie Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and just as the saucers were mounting their attack (the good part), everything just stopped. The screen went black, the lights came on, the manager walked to the middle of the screen and announced the Russians had put a space satellite into orbit around the earth called Sputnik. As a war baby he had been raised in an atmosphere of paranoia, patriotism, and national self-importance. They were told they were the greatest nation on earth, America was on top and had replaced England as the colossus that stood astride the world, a future filled with “AMERICAN PIONEER SPIRIT.” The horror on screen was no match for the horror in real life he was grappling with in the secret recesses of his heart that Russia had beaten America into space (King, 2020).

The above is an example of one of the three levels of horror that Stephen explains in what captivates us and makes us so scared: The Gross-Out, Horror, and Terror.

The Gross-Out is the lowest tier and is where there is revulsion. The “ew” factor when witnessing gruesome, bloody, grotesque scenes in movies.

The Horror is the second tier and “graphic portrayal of the unbelievable.” (King, 2010) When audiences are faced with something implausible and unnatural, their minds struggle to comprehend it and often react in fear.

Terror the highest tier “induces fear through imagination,” (King, 2010) where the creepy specifics exist in the readers mind.

The Sixth Sense in 1999 blew my mind. Yes “I see dead people” movie is about a child psychologist Malcolm Crowe played by Bruce Willis tries to help a young boy Cole Sear played by Haley Joel Osment who sees dead people everywhere and is tortured by this.

The Gross-Out part starts when Cole reveals to Malcolm of his affliction and the audience start to see what Cole has been seeing, gory dead people everywhere.

Malcolm suggests to Cole that he try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts and helping them finish their business. Cole is unwilling at first, then finally agrees to try to help.

The Horror part is when Cole awakens one night to discover a ghost girl vomiting. After finding out who she is, Cole goes with Malcolm to the funeral reception at her home. Cole is directed to a box holding a videotape, which he gives to the ghost girl’s father. The tape shows the girl’s mother poisoning her daughter’s food. By doing this, Cole has saved the girl’s younger sister from the same fate.

The Terror part is when the movie moves under the surface to things that can really haunt a person, not just ghosts, but things in your past. Experiences like regret, sorrow, pain, loss that bring up sadness and deep emotion of being afraid that late in life you might realize there are things you never got around to do.

REFERENCES

Hendrix, G. (2018) Paperbacks from Hell.

King, S. (2010) Danse Macabre.

King, S (2020). Danse Macabre. Cumberland Public Libraries. Retrieved from https://cpl.catalogue.library.ns.ca/Record/5394/Excerpt

Week 2 Question

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

The Oxford Dictionary (2020) defines propaganda a “ideas or statements that may be false or present only one side of an argument that are used in order to gain support for a political leader, party, etc”. Though Herge had earlier comics such as ‘Toror’ (1926) and ‘Le Pitit Vingtieme’ (1928), propaganda within his works were not fully realized until the release of his most well-known comic series; ‘Tintin’. The first comic, which was first released in 1929, was entitled ‘Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets’. Scorer (2008) describes the comic as “an unabashed piece of capitalist propaganda satirizing Soviet Russia”. It expresses Herge’s anti-Bolshevik point of view to his readers. For example, one of the panels depicts soviet citizens attending their election while at gunpoint (Herge, 1989). It is viewed by most as a work of anti-communist propaganda and has a strong opposing view against Russia. In 1930, ‘Tintin In The Congo’ was the second of the series to be released, which also has been critically regarded as propaganda. It gives an extremely toned down version of the colonisation in the Congo, replacing the violence and death with comic panels of Tintin educating the native children on their new home country, Belgium (Mountfort, 2016). Though this series as a whole and its characters are beloved by publics to this day, it cannot be said that Tintin’s earliest comics were without right-wing undertones.

Another comic he published, roughly ten years later was ‘The Shooting Star’ (1941), in which the villain was a corrupt Jewish banker (Scorer, 2008). Stereotypes of the Jewish commonly used by Nazis and extreme right-wings were present in this comic (Frey, 2004). For example, Hergé featured a gag in which two Jews hear the prophetic news that the end of the world is near. They rub their hands together in eagerness, and one comments: “Did you hear, Isaac? The end of the world! What if it’s true?” The other responds: “Hey, hey, it vould be a gut ding, Solomon! I owe my suppliers 50,000 francs, and zis way I von’t haf to pay vem!”. This exchange implies that Jewish people are untrustworthy and greedy (Lofficier, Lofficier, 2002). This sort of work cast a negative lens on the Jewish people, and as a result, in 1954, this comic was altered, changing both the villains name and the location.

McCarthy (2006) says that Tintin’s political origins lie on the right, and that there is a good reason why Hergé and his legacy is accused of racism, stereotyping, propaganda and suspect politics. Herge has publicly stated that he was not spreading this propaganda unconsciously. The images and views he was expressing aligned with his right-wing political outlook (Frey, 2004). He had even been working as an illustrator for Léon Degrelle, the far-right leader in Belgium during the Nazi occupation of Belgium (Frey, 2004). These probably stemmed from his worries of retro-colonisation, which was common in this part of Europe at the time. To conclude, the links between Herge’s earlier comics and propaganda are obvious, however this has been mostly amended, with rewrites and reillustrations of his earlier works, and his growth of self-awareness meaning changes were not required for his later comics.

References

Frey, H. (2004). Contagious colonial diseases in Hergé’s The adventures of Tintin. Modern & Contemporary France, 12(2), 177–188. https://doi-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/10.1080/09639480410001693043

Lofficier, J, Lofficier, R (2002) The Pocket Essential Tintin. Pocket Eseentials.

McCarthy, Tom. (2006). Tintin And The Secret Of Literature. Granta.

Mountfort, P. (2016). Tintin as Spectacle: The Backstory of a Popular Franchise and Late Capital. Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, 37-56.

Oxford Dictionary (n.a) Propaganda. Retrieved from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/propaganda?q=propaganda

Scorer, James. (2008). Imitating Incas and becoming llama – Tintin in Latin America – or the Latin Americanin Tintin? SAGE Publications.
https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/doi/pdf/10.1177/1367877908089261?

Week 3 – Tintin

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

Tintin is inarguably a male dominated series, with all the reoccurring characters being men. The biggest gap in Hergés representation of women is including one that is not a background or minor character. Any women seen in the Tintin comics are delegated to being mothers, wives of male characters, caretakers, or simply just standing around in the background. In fact, in the first ever comic, Tintin in the land of the Soviets, there are no women in the comic, with them simply being in the background.

Hergé was once quoted as saying that “women have nothing to do in a world like Tintin’s. I like women far too much to caricature them…” (Cited in Sadoul, 1989, p.93) This is blatantly false as any female characters, when his comics do feature speaking women, are very caricatured and stereotyped. They are the wives, mothers, and housekeepers of Tintin’s world. Not only that but “tears are an exclusively female predilection in the Adventures, reproducing nineteenth-century clichés of women as the psychologically ‘weaker sex’.” (Mountford, 2020) Only the female characters are ever seen crying, such as the Congolese woman in Tintin in the Congo who is crying for her sick husband. The women are also depicted as being in distress, for example in Cigars of the Pharaoh (1955) a woman is depicted as being in trouble and Tintin swoops in just in time to catch her as she faints. And, in The Crab with the Golden Claw (1943) Mrs Finch, Tintin’s housekeeper, is clearly distressed as she recalls to Tintin watching a man being kidnapped. This is an event that would likely not have caused Tintin much distress and Tintin would likely have chased after the kidnappers as he is the hero of the stories.

The only female character to have a seemingly fleshed out personality is Bianca Castafiore. She is loud, spontaneous, consistently interrupts conversations, and is quite materialistic. In this way she is a caricature of a typical celebrity. While she is one of the most fleshed out female character’s in Hergé’s work, she is far from the ideal feminist representation. Her character has been criticised for being reduced to a sexual symbol or object. Especially in The Castafiore Emerald in which she is the main character. There are multiple references to sexuality within the comic, McCarthy (2006) discusses the emerald as being one of the most obvious references to sexuality. Another reference is seen on page 24 where Castafiore has Haddock smell a rose and when he is stung by a bee she places the rose’s petal on top of his nose. Flowers are common symbols of female sexuality and this is a very obvious reference to that.

Tintin is a man’s world, and Hergé has shown this to his audience by creating female characters with little to no influence on the plot. They sit in the background or exist to cry and give Tintin the chance to be the hero. In the rare case of Castafiore they are comic relief with sexual undertones. Despite his claims of not caricaturing women, Hergé’s ladies are not representations of real women.

Reference List:

McCarthy, T. 2006. Tintin and the Secret of Literature. London: Granta.

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

Sadoul, N. [1975] 1989. Tintin et Moi: entretiens avec Hergé (Tintin and Me: Interviews with Hergé). Tournai: Casterman

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 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 2 – Tintin

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

As with many narratives created in the 1930s, the Tintin comics are products of their time. They feature many examples of representations we would now consider to be unacceptable to be seen in any type of fictional media. One that stands out, in particular, is Herge’s representation of race in the Tintin comics.

In the comic Tintin Au Congo or Tintin in the Congo (Herge, 1930-31) in English, Tintin visits the Belgian African colony of the Congo. This comic’s representation of the African people who lived there is a gross caricature of African stereotypes and has come under much scrutiny and controversy. It is not just the way that they are drawn that is considered racist but also the way that the character’s act compared to Tintin and the other white characters. The physical representation shows people with black skin and black hair, large noses, and large lips. All of the African characters also speak pidgin English, unlike Tintin who speaks “proper” English. There are multiple instances throughout the comic that are used to show how the native people of the congo are unintelligent or cowardly and are greatly helped by the presence of the Belgians. In her book, A Metamorphosis of Tintin (2010) Jean-Marie Apostolides discusses how in the comic the Africans are represented as children while the Belgian’s are the ‘adults’. The African’s are shown to be unintelligent, cowardly, and immature. Thus, the more mature and able Europeans must set the example and impose their rules and beliefs on the Africans. Much like a parent would do to their child. This type of caricature is a way of justifying the Belgian presence, as it says to the reader that the Africans would be hopeless without the Europeans to guide them.

There is the argument to be made of whether or not Herge could have known the negative implications of this caricature and pro-colonialist stance. It was the common belief at the time, and without a large enough anti-colonialist audience to challenge those beliefs it is understandable that Herge may have not realised that this was wrong. However, the existence of Tintin in America challenges this argument. Herge’s depiction of the treatment of Native American’s by the colonists is very critical. Herge uses “explicit representation of American Indians as victims of colonial and ongoing oppression at the hands of capital, backed by the US army.” Mountford, 2012. This is a stark contrast to the way that the colonisation of the Congo is treated. In the Congo Tintin was the ‘white saviour’ of the immature African’s whom he saved from a life of savagery and stupidity. The archetype of the ‘white saviour’ is one that is described by Seekford (2017, p.3) as being a white character who “bring the issues and concerns of black characters to the fore and consequently serve as their advocates (and) make black characters palatable or sympathetic to a white audience.” In the case of Tintin in America he also plays the white saviour as he advocates for the Native Americans against the English colonisers.

Because of this critique being used so soon after the publication of Tintin in the Congo it can not be argued that Herge’s beliefs were a product of the time. It is clear that he simply turns a blind eye to the same issues when they are caused by Francophone colonisers. Herge’s critique of the treatment of Native Americans is more of a critique of England than a firm anti-colonisation stance.

Reference List:

Apostolidès, J. M. (2010). The Metamorphoses of Tintin, Or, Tintin for Adults. Stanford University Press.

Hergé (1931-32) Tintin in America

Hergé (1930-31) Tintin in the Congo

Mountfort, P. (2011). ‘Yellow skin, black hair… Careful, Tintin’: Hergé and Orientalism. Australasian Journal of popular culture, 1(1), 33-49.Mountfort, P. (2020).

Seekford, B. (2017). ‘To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help, and the Regendering of the White Savior.’ James Madison University Journal

W5: Questions

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

Shoujo (romanised as shōjo) literally translates to English as “young woman.” A genre designed to aim itself at the female demographic which, “Unlike boys’ and men’s manga [known as shounen (or shōnen)], which tend to revolve around action or humor, shōjo manga are intensely personal in nature.” (Thorn, 2005.) Shoujo manga and anime usually cover subject genres like romance and slice of life within a realistic setting.

Now the line can be very thin in deciding which genre certain manga and anime fall into, as an example ‘My Hero Academia’ is about a young boy who is born enters a new school with his new “quirk” (which is the world’s term for a superpower). He meets other teens with their own unique quirks as they become a team to protect the innocent people of this world. Versus ‘Beyond the Boundary,’ which follows a high-school boy who is genetically half-demon and his encounters with a girl of a ‘cursed blood’ clan. Together, they battle the demons of their world and their personal problems.

‘My Hero Academia’ falls into the shounen line because the arcs focus more on the action battles and how the characters will escape unscathed. They have strong bonds with each other- focusing big on the strained relationship between Midori Crane and Katsuki Bakugo- and certain episodes will focus on their interactions with one another. However, the big draw in is the action. All of their quirks and how they play into the fights, how the animation will show them in all their glory.

Whereas, ‘Beyond the Boundary’ arcs focus more on the character’s relationships rather than the worldly risks. The biggest being the relationship between Akihito Kanbara and Mirai Kuriyama, and how the two naturally progress into a romantic relationship.

All in all, Shoujo stories are likely those from the romance genre focusing specifically on young love, such as From Me to You (Kimi ni Todoke), Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun), and Saint Tail (Kaitou Saint Tail). Or has a focus on female friendships, like Sound! Euphonium (Hibike! Euphonium), and A Place Further Than The Universe (Sora yori mo Tooi Basho).

References:

Toku, M. (2005). Shojo manga: Girl power! Chico Statements Magazine. https://web.archive.org/web/20111010233300/www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs/spring_06/feature_03.html

Thorn, R. M. (2001). What are Shoujo manga? The Japan Quarterly. https://web.archive.org/web/20070219032133/matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/japan_quarterly/index.html

Scully, R. (2015). What is Shoujo? SourceFedNERD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-8jpZ2GEOs