Week 5 Response – Chloe Pope

5. What genre or genres is Princess Mononoke? How does it relate to its ‘prequel,’ Nausicaā ?

It can be argued that Princess Mononoke (1997) combines two genres – fantasy and historical fiction. The film is set during the Muromachi era of Japan, which stretched from the 12^th to 14^th century, and was a time of the both great cultural and artistic growth for Japan, and the growth of industries such as agriculture and construction. This is made expressed in large part through the visual aesthetics of the film, such as in the design of the characters (especially characters of certain ‘classes’ such as the brothel women and the ainu) and the architecture of the buildings. From here, however, director Miyazaki divorces the film from it’s historical base and introduces aspects of fantasy, such as spirits and Japanese mythological figures, such as the shishigami (deer god) and kodama (forest spirits). Not only mythological figures, Miyazaki’s representations of them within Mononoke are unique in themselves, furthering the ‘fantasy’ element of Mononoke and creating, ‘an essentially personal mythology’. (Cavallaro, 2006, pp. 120-130)

In comparison, Nausicaa leans further into the ‘fantasy’ genre, lacking the specific historical base that Mononoke has, but with the two films sharing similar fantastical elements, particularly with regards to the creatures and animals the characters encounter, and their relations with them; a comparison could be made between Nausicaa, with her ability to communicate with animals, and San, who has been raised among the animals and treats them as her own family. However, the story of Nausicaa does draw partly from the character of the same name featured in Homer’s Greek epic the ‘Odyssey’ along with Japanese mythology featuring a girl who could speak to animals – another example (or early instance of, given the timelines of the two films) of Miyazaki creating his ‘personal mythology’ from pieces of real-world culture, similar to how he does within Mononoke.(Cavallaro, 2006, pp. 47-57)

While fantasy appears to be the main genre shared between the two texts, both also share similar themes that feature heavily enough in the films (and many of Miyazaki’s other works) that one could argue for them to be considered a genre of their own. ‘Ecofiction’ is a contemporary term for a genre (or ‘supergenre’) that covers texts in which nature or the environment play an integral role. (Dwyer, 2010, pp. 1-8) This rings true for both Mononoke and Nausicaa. Nausicaa takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting where the land has been made toxic through extreme pollution and is now overrun but giant, mutated insects. On the other hand, Mononoke focuses on the conflict between the industrialist Irontown and the various gods of the forest which the town is destroying and killing. Both films focus heavily on the relationship between man and the environment, and seem to have the aim of making the audience keenly aware of this relationship, through showing cycles of behaviour (as seen in Nausicaa, where war-mongering and industrialism of the ‘new’ society seems set about to bring the same destruction that the old did) and a distinct disconnect between human society and nature, often represented by spirits and gods (as seen in Mononoke, with the conflict between the people of Irontown and the forest spirits and, ultimately, the beheading of the deer god). (Morgan, 2015)

References

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers.

Dwyer, J. (2010). Where the Wild Books are: A Field Guide to Ecofiction. Reno: University of Nevada Press.

Morgan, G. (2015). Creatures in Crisis: Apocalyptic Environmental Visions in Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke. Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities 2 (3), 172-183.

Week 4 Response – Chloe Pope

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

It is hard to argue that anime is a ‘low’ art form, just as it is hard to argue it as a ‘high’ one. Instead, anime seems to blur the lines between what is considered ‘low’ and ‘high’ for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest is perhaps how intrinsically tied to many aspects of Japanese culture – including those that are generally considered to be ‘high’ art – anime is. Many of the frequently seen stylings and aesthetics of anime are taken from Japanese kabuki and noh theatre. (Napier, 2005) Both forms of theatre, while coincidentally regarded as ‘low’ art or entertainment for the commoners in the time they were invented, are regarded in modern culture as a precious art form unique to the Japanese culture. As explored by Stevie Suan in ‘The Anime Paradox : Patterns and Practices Through the Lens of Traditional Japanese Theater’ (2013), multiple aspects, unique to Japanese media as they are not found nearly as often and certainly not within popular American or British (what one could call ‘Western’) media, are shared between the traditional Japanese theatre forms and anime. (Suan, 2013, pp. 1-20)

Most notable of these are some of the most recognizable aspects of anime, such as the visual aesthetics and appearance. Both noh and kabuki put great emphasis on form, using the body, props, lighting, costuming and make-up to create exaggerated appearances featuring extremes of colour and shape. Alongside this (and indeed, part of it – perhaps even impossible without it) was the blending of the ‘unreal’ with the real. Noh and kabuki often featured monsters, ghouls, and other surreal creatures and characters along with fantastical (and often disturbing) happenings. This blending of the real and the unreal is key to both the Japanese theatre forms and anime. (Suan, 2013, pp. 20-35)

Looking at Akira, we can see examples of both of these aspects throughout the film, especially within the closing sequence, where we see Tetsuo’s body swell and mutate into a horrific, monstrous form, then get destroyed by Akira, sucking Kaneda briefly into another dimension in which he has visions of Tetsuo’s childhood. The changing of Tetsuo into a monstrous mass is a clear example of the use of form, especially that of exaggerated and extreme shape, as a mode of storytelling within anime, representing Tetsuo’s transformation into a complete monster of destruction. Along with the transportation of Kaneda to the ‘alternate’ dimension, it is also an example of the unreal meeting the real within anime – although the ‘unreal’ seems to exist even from the moment the audience experiences the almost surreal motorcycle chase through neo-Tokyo at the beginning of the film, it is here that it reaches it’s peak, and is used to fill in the final blocks needed to completely tell the audience the story of Akira.

While this is just one example of the point where anime blurs the line between high and low art, another important point is the wide range of sub-genres that anime stretches across. Traditionally, animation as seen in ‘Western’ counties (such as America and Britain) has been considered children’s fare, with ‘adult’ animated works only becoming more common relatively recently. This has limited it’s sub-genres significantly. Anime, on the other hand, has not had such limitations, and significant anime works can be found in almost every genre. Akira, as an example, is considered a significant work in the cyberpunk genre, and cyberpunk (alongside the mecha genre) remains a notable subgenre within anime. (Napier, 2005) Another popular subgenre is fantasy, and other distinctions within it such as steampunk; these can be seen clearly in the popular works by Hayao Miyazaki under the Studio Ghibli banner, such as within Spirited Away and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The popularity of both genres can in part be related back to ‘unreal’ aspects of anime taken from Japanese theatre, as both genres heavily involve fantastical, surreal, or ‘magical’ elements, and the unique aesthetic elements of anime play a large part in bringing them to life (as can be seen in the landscape of neo-Tokyo within Akira). (Swaile, 2015, pp. 100-120)

References

Napier, S. (2005). Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Suan, S. (2013). The Anime Paradox : Patterns and Practices Through the Lens of Traditional Japanese Theater. Leiden: BRILL.

Swaile, A. D. (2015). Anime Aesthetics : Japanese Animation and the ‘Post-Cinematic’ Imagination. London: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Week 3 Response – Chloe Pope

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

Women in the Tintin series are overwhelmingly relegated to background roles, and roles of domesticity or service – wives, mothers, nannies, maids and the like. In the very first Tintin album, Tintin in the Land of Soviets, women have no speaking roles or roles of note at all, merely drawn as background characters in what is shown to be a downtrodden Soviet Union. While the next albums, Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in America, give character (and even a couple of throwaway lines) to a handful of women, these would set the tone for representation of women throughout the rest of Herge’s work – they are shown as wives, mothers, and homemakers, either speaking about their children, their husbands or matters of the home. (Mountfort, 2020) In the two aforementioned albums, it is also notable that the women shown are women of colour – Congolese, African American, and Indigenous American – and, although not the worst of Herge’s racial misrepresentations, similarly sets the precedent for the treatment that women of colour would receive throughout the Tintin series.

When questioned about misrepresentations and stereotyping within his work (particularly racially, although the same can apply to representation of gender), Herge almost famously relegated blame to the time period which he was from and in which he worked. However, multiple points challenge this excuse. For one, Herge’s work spanned a significant period of time, with the first Tintin strips published beginning in 1929, and the final, incomplete album released the year after Herge’s death in 1983. This time period was full of, often radical, societal change. On the gender front, this included the notable second-wave feminist movement, which occurred not just in the United States (upon which the focus is often put), but transnationally, from Asian countries such as Japan and Korea to European countries, including France, in which Tintin was first published. (Molony & Nelson, 2017, pp. 1-4)

Of particular note is that one of the focuses of French second-wave feminism was the dismantling of societal structures which relegated women to certain ‘roles’ and, effectively, took away their freedom to be individuals and make independent decisions. Historian Natacha Chetcuti-Osorovitz, in her essay on French feminism within ‘Women’s Activism and “Second Wave” Feminism: Transnational Histories, wrote that,‘Ultimately, twentieth-century feminist struggles expressed women’s desire to escape the subjection to a power system that claimed neutrality and universalism, yet kept them both invisible and marked as different.’ (Molony & Nelson, 2017, p. 65) If women in France, Europe, and worldwide were breaking out of their once designated ‘roles’ from the 1960s onwards, this wasn’t reflected in Herge’s work, as women continued to be relegated to their ‘invisible’ roles, rarely given so much as a name.

Although the feminist movement was far-reaching, Herge’s work and it’s lack of representation of women also stands out when compared to other works from that time outside of the feminist sphere. As study of novels by popular British children’s authors from the 1940s through to the 1970s – all in the midst of Herge’s working period – looked at language and ‘modifiers’ used by the authors when describing male characters and when describing female characters. Although, as author Elizabeth Poytner states, ‘In the mid-twentieth century, sociocultural gender roles were quite distinct in Britain…There was great pressure on women to be primarily wives and mothers’, popular children’s books didn’t necessarily always reflect this, and there were deviations from gender stereotypes, ‘The books examined in this study…offer a more complex picture, often involving equal numbers of boys and girls (Blyton, Saville) as well as courageous and dominating female characters (Brent-Dyer, Johns).’ (Poytner, 2020) Tintin, a series that, although enjoyed by adults, similarly appeals to children, and published within the same time period, shows none of this complexity. Although language analysis alone obviously cannot paint a clear picture of the entirety of the portrayal of women within a particular text (as Poytner points out with the example of George from Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’ series), it is a useful comparison to disprove Herge’s own claims that the lack of representation of women outside of domestic roles throughout his work was a ‘product of it’s time’, and further emphasises just how gaping the holes are where unique, developed, and well-represented women should be within the Tintin series.

References

Molony, B., & Nelson, J. (2017). Women’s Activism and “Second Wave” Feminism: Transnational Histories. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Mountfort, P. (2020). Tintin, gender and desire. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics.

Poytner, E. (2020). Aggressive but loyal: modification and gender. Gender and Language, 175-196.

Week 2 Response – Chloe Pope

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

One of the main issues with Herge’s Tintin albums, particularly early ones such as Tintin in the Congo, in relation to ethnic stereotyping, is the perpetuation of harmful tropes in both the visual art of the works and it’s narrative, including written speech. As graphic novels and comic books, by definition, combine both textual and visual narrative, they have the ability to make use of negative and harmful stereotypes of both forms. Furthermore, given the structure of comics as multiple, sequential images, providing readers with not only repeated imagery but also ‘space’ between panels in which the brain creates rapidly interprets the work, comics arguably have an even greater ability to perpetuate dangerous representations, stereotypes, and ‘othering’. (Mountfort, 2012) (Dunnett, 2009)

Using Tintin in the Congo as an example, visually, we see the Congolese people drawn in ways that fall in line with common racist caricatures of black people– with exaggerated features such as ink-black skin, overly large pink lips and bug-eyes. Given Herge’s unique and very particular style (the famous ligne-claire), it would be hard to argue that this was not a deliberate stylistic choice, and this certainty can only be bolstered by Herge’s background as both a Belgian and writer for a conservative paper that aligned with those who were supportive of Belgium’s occupation of the Congo. The depiction of the Congolese in the narrative similarly falls in line with a common black caricature of the bumbling, stupid African, in need of education by the white man. This latter point is even made explicit in the original 1930 publication (translated to English in 1991) of the album itself, when Tintin enters a classroom and proceeds to announce to the Congolese students that he is going to, ‘talk to you about your country: Belgium!’ Their written speech shows a similar depiction of the Congolese people, saying of Tintin, ‘White master very fair…! … Him very good white.’ (Herge, 1991) As with their visual representation, given the context of the rest of the album and the writer himself, it would be difficult if not impossible to argue this as a ‘stylistic’, genuine depiction of the Congolese accent and not, instead, as a caricature.

While with any text such as Tintin, this issue would be notably problematic on it’s own, it is made even more so by the position Tintin would grow to occupy in the broader media landscape. From the first stop-motion animation adaptation of The Crab with the Golden Claws in 1941 to The Adventures of Tintin directed by Steven Spielberg in 2011, with countless other adaptions, translations, and unofficial spinoff stories, Tintin would become one of the first ‘transmedia franchises’. (Mountfort, Tintin as Spectacle: The Backstory of a Popular Franchise and Late Capital, 2016) This further problematizes the issues with Herge’s ethnic stereotyping in his works as, while Tintin in the Congo certainly doesn’t have the popularity that the other albums do, the Tintin name and character alone still carries with it the global, transmedia recognition alone, and remains within the Tintin canon.

References

Dunnett, O. (2009). Identity and geopolitics in Herge’s Adventures of Tintin. Social & Cultural Geography, 583-598.

Herge. (1991). Tintin in the Congo. London: Sundancer.

Mountfort, P. (2012). ‘Yellow skin, black hair…Careful, Tintin’: Herge and Orientalism. Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 33-49.

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

Week 1 Response – Chloe Pope

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

Prior to the late 20^th century and beyond, popular genres were largely viewed as ‘below’ the ‘higher’ forms of literature, such as novels and poetry, and ‘not worthy’ of the analysis and criticism the latter received. In part, this was due to how relatively new the genres were. The majority of what we recognize as ‘popular genres’, for example, television, comic books, anime, and so forth, came about due to advancements in technology. Television and film being obvious; comic books, a result of improvements in the printing press, anime an advancement in both animation and the ability to share cultural media between Japan and America. Due to this, many of these ‘popular genres’ only came to wider public awareness in the 20^th century, and their reliance on new and still not entirely explored technologies gave them an aspect of the ‘unknown’. Critics were uncertain how to deal with them – and so they didn’t. (Lister, Dovey, Giddings, Grant, & Kelly, 2009) (Schneider-Mayerson, 2010)

It wasn’t until around the 1980s that ‘popular genres’ began to be viewed and criticized at a similar level to traditional ‘high’ literature. This period brought with it a change in the way texts were being critically analysed in general; where previously much analysis had been focused on the text itself, it’s structure and content, that focus began to shift onto other influences such as the contextual, historical, environmental, ideological, and, most especially, audience. This favoured popular genres due to their intrinsic connection with the time period in which they were created and their unique, often ‘new’ forms of delivery, as critical analysis was no longer as closely tied to the form. (Schneider-Mayerson, 2010)

What might the value be of studying them?

Popular genres have a tendency to be a product of their time – or at least act as a mirror of it at the time of their creation. Because of this, by studying popular genres, we can get an insight into aspects of the time period they were made in, such as human interests, perspectives and trends. This is exemplified with the ‘Tintin’ series, that ran from the 10930s through to the 1970s, beginning with the early Tintin albums, which carry many propagandistic and (to use the ‘popular’ term of today) problematic aspects which stem in large parts from the context in which they were created. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, the first album, shows rather clear anti-Soviet and anti-communist ideologies that were common during the period it was produced (1930s) – and would continue to be throughout the 20^th century. Tintin in the Congo is perhaps the most egregious example, with both the art and writing throughout the book depicting highly offensive race-based stereotypes – the character design resembling that of blackface caricatures and the roles and speech depicting the Congolese people as dumb and sub-servient. This is notable not just in that it mirrors how black people were viewed in many places throughout the world, but also in that it very specifically mirrors the perspective of the author, Herge, and the context he was writing in – a Belgium that was doling out one of the harshest colonial regimes onto the Congo that had ever been seen. However, as Herge’s career in writing Tintin would continue and as both he himself along with the world around him grew more racially sensitive and aware, he would alter go back and edit out some of the worst of the offensive racial aspects, and later albums would show at least some sensitivity in depictions of other races (even if still containing ‘problematic’ moments). (Mountfort, 2012)

References

Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I., & Kelly, K. (2009). New media: A critical introduction. Taylor & Francis Group.

Mountfort, P. (2012). ‘Yellow skin, black hair…Careful Tintin’: Herge and Orientalism. Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 33-49.

Schneider-Mayerson, M. (2010). Popular Fiction Studies: The Advantages of a New Field. In Studies in Popular Culture, 33 (1) (pp. 21-35). Popular Culture Association in the South.

Week 1

How has the academic reception of popular genres changes over time?
Popular Genres has been known as the not as serious form of literature and have often been excluded from the authorized literary cannon but as of late many places of learning have added it to their curriculum of study such as MetraNet and Central Queensland University
What might the value be of studying them?

Being able to extract why people enjoy them more than high literature is the essence of making literature more accessible, with popular culture being undefined by the conventions of realism we can explore facets that would be otherwise very difficult in high culture.where high culture is bound by the world we live in popular culture exist in imaginary worlds where things could be plausible or outright imaginary.

Referneces

Mountfort, P. (2020). Pop Gen Week 1 Intro [PPT]. Auckland: Auckland University of Technology.

Week 6 Questions – Horror

Rija Faisal

(Q). Reyes (2014), describes Body Horror as being a “fictional representation of the body exceeding itself or falling apart, either opening up or being altered past the point where it would be recognised by normative understandings of human corporeality.” How do The Colour out of Space and Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth make use of this definition to explore themes of the unknown?

The Shadow Over Innsmouth

The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a tale by American writer H.P. Lovecraft. The tale can be viewed as Lovecraft’s own comment on the advancement of technology that was beginning to emerge in his time and of its growing influence on the lives of American people and on their lifestyle, and of the potential dangers such an influence could pose.

After the Industrial Revolution, the early 1900s saw a great boom in technological development and the field of scientific research. Lovecraft uses The Shadow Over Innsmouth to explore the danger humans were exposing themselves to by exploring new and unfamiliar territories, and by seeking unknown knowledge that could potentially end up being more destructive rather than beneficial for the human race.

In The Shadow Over Innsmouth, the unknown elements of this new ‘scientific’ age of humans is represented in the form of a character named Zadok Allen. In the novel, Zadok is a representation of the knowledge the human race could gain by pursuing scientific interests. At the same time, Zadok also represents the terrible consequences that could befall the human race if they were to acquire such knowledge.

This idea of technological advancement being seen as something to fear rather than to pursue is further highlighted in a more subtle way, as well, by the mention of railroad tracks. For the narrator of the tale, the railroad tracks represent an escape route from Innsmouth, but the tracks are rusty and abandoned. This neglected state of the rail tracks implies how a part of technology has been abandoned before in the past, and thus should be left as it is and not be taken up again. And even when the narrator does manage to escape from Innsmouth, his escape does not save him in the end. Even with technology’s help, he is not saved. This is the writer’s way of implying that technology, therefore, could potentially end up being a lot more trouble than its worth.

In Lovecraft’s writing of the tale, we can clearly see that the concept of placing oneself and the situation in the hands of forces that are beyond our control or understanding is not portrayed as a favourable thing to do. In the case of The Shadow Over Innsmouth, this is applied to technology. The writer distrusts the largely unknown world of science and all that science attempts to explain.

I believe The Shadow Over Innsmouth does make use of the Reyes (2014) description. In his tale, Lovecraft is commenting on the dangerous, but inevitable, path that humans are choosing to tread- the path of technology- which might potentially lead to the downfall of society. In this tale, technology can be viewed, metaphorically, as a sort of alien deity. While Lovecraft acknowledges that technology could hold value for society, he also points out that, just as a deity, technology holds the ability to be far more superior to humans, and it cannot be fashioned to become our servant.

Humans and technology exist in an equilibrium, but what might happen if technology, our own creation, turns on us someday? What would it turn us into?

What would become of the human race then?

Colour out of Space

The 2019 film “Colour out of Space” is a science fiction body horror film based on the The Colour out of Space, a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. The film deals with a meteor that lands in the house of the Gardner family, after which they find themselves battling an extraterrestrial organism that infects the mind and body.

I believe the Reyes (2014) description of the “body exceeding itself or falling apart, either opening up or being altered past the point where it would be recognized by normative understandings of human corporeality” applies perfectly to this movie, as the entire plot deals with the mutant organism infecting the minds and bodies of humans, leading them to experience bursts of insanity. The human body loses control of itself, and takes on aggressive qualities, transforming the human being into something entirely inhuman, into an alien creature. This fear of becoming something other is the main focus of the film’s plot, and what the story is actually about, the fear of the Gardner family not knowing what the alien creature will do to them, and whether there is any way to stop it or to get free from its hold.

We can view the aftermath of the meteorite landing and the “birth” of the Colour- the purplish hue the sky turns to after the meteorite lands- as seeming to point towards some sort of alien testing. It is shown that the Colour only effects a small, remote region, almost as if this is only the beginning stage and some sort of preliminary sample, and the worst is actually yet to happen. This appears to be done to gain information about humans, judge the Earth itself, and to take a sample for next time, almost as if the worst is yet to come.

We as the viewers know that even if the danger is temporarily over, traces of the extraterrestrial material the meteorite brings with it are still present in the sky, and no one knows what that might lead to. There is fear over the unknown. The uncertainty of not knowing what will happen could itself drive the humans in the film towards madness, and that, I think, fits in with the description of Body Horror very well.

References:

(n.d.). Literature/ The Shadow Over Innsmouth tvtropes.org Retrieved from: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth

Daniel Kurland (JAN 24,2020) Color Out of Space Ending Explained screenrant.com Retrieved from: https://screenrant.com/color-space-movie-ending-explained-lovecraft-alien-threat/

Week 6 – Horror

According to Joshi (2007), a tale from the Cthulhu Mythos has several defining features that occur regularly throughout Lovecraft’s work. What are these features and how are they used in The Shadow Over Innsmouth? Furthermore, can you see any of these features being used in The Colour out of Space?

The Cthulhu Mythos has several defining features which Joshi (2007) surmises in to four main elements. These elements are:

A topography based on a ‘vitally realized but largely imaginary’ New England (Joshi, 2007). 17th century New England is characteristic of religious fanaticism and fear of witchcraft, also known for The Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts in the latter part of the century. This was a time where the growing fear of the unknown and unfamiliar outside of civilization was heightened, making the history of this area fundamental to the root of many horrors. New England is also known for it’s Atlantic coastline, which has inspired the marine-heavy thematic throughout Cthulhu Mythos tales. The opening sentences of The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1931) identify a New England setting immediately in the imagined seaport town of Innsmouth, Massachussets. Throughout the story references are constantly made to figures with sea creature features such as rough, scaly skin and ‘slopping-like’ voices, as well as the restrictions on access to marine life by outsiders.

A growing collection of both ancient and modern occult books, accompanied by scholars who seek out these texts in an attempt to utilize or combat them (Joshi, 2007). Other historical sources of information, such as jewellery in The Shadow Over Innsmouth, is of particular interest to humans despite their unpleasant experiences with and depictions of Innsmouth folk . The ‘normal’ human’s interest in these unique pieces are paired with descriptions that compare these strange but beautiful objects to known and familiar objects, in an attempt to understand what they are. These objects are held in the museum and cared for by specialists like Miss Tilton, consistent with the need to gather as much knowledge as possible about this strange race of beings.

Their ‘gods’ and their ‘monstrous minions or accolytes’ (Joshi, 2007). These gods are also known as the Great Old Ones, a group of powerful and ancient out-of-Earth deities. Although they do have human followers, their servants are typically extra-terrestrial in appearance, of which are not always so easily described due to the limitations of the human mind – attempting to make sense of these beings, whether with your own eyes or by word of mouth, can lead to insanity (Jones, 2020). Rumours and mutterings about Innsmouth and it’s inhabitants are done so in a secretive but incessant way. Depictions of these beings can come off as frantic or never-ending because of the fact that words aren’t enough, and that people who have encountered Innsmouth folk face to face can not comprehend what they have seen. This again alludes to mankind’s fear of the unknown thus fueling the need to accumulate knowledge.

And lastly “a sense of the cosmic, both spatial and temporal” linking Mythos to science fiction as opposed to supernatural (Joshi, 2007). This element focuses on the larger scheme of intergalactic existence, highlighting mankind’s fear of their insignificance (Jones, 2020). The unpleasant and varying depiction of Innsmouth folks as “rough, scabby… [with] queer narrow heads and flat noses… Bulgy, stary eyes that never seem to shut” with unnatural voices that sounded slopping-like (Lovecraft, 1931), paired with many references of the people and their belongings as that of another planet, coalesce to shape this fear and apprehensiveness of accepting the existence of these things. We can see consistently the palatable human interpretation of Innsmouth natives and artifacts do not always make sense due to the limitation of the human mind.

In Colour Out Of Space (2019) these elements are also present. The main setting of the Gardner family property in Arkham, Massachusetts, gradually changes after the landing of the meteorite, in ways that might not be astonishingly shocking, such as the appearance of new flowers and insects (the creature that Jack witnesses at the well). Then there is the increasing amount of technicolour hues over and around the property as time passes, which again is strange, but seems to just be brushed off as the family continue on with their lives. Even when they begin to acknowledge that strange things are happening both spatially and temporally, there is difficulty in not only believing but also explaining what they’re feeling and seeing. The closing scene is paramount to this underlying philosophy – “What touched this place can not be quantified or understood by human science. It was just, a colour… out of space. A messenger from realms whose existence stuns the brain and numbs us, with the gulfs that it throws open before our frenzied eyes” (Ward, closing scene – Colour Out Of Space, 2019).

References

Cthulhu Mythos. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2020, from https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos

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

Joshi, S. T. (2007). The Cthullu Mythos, in Icons of horror and the supernatural: An encyclopedia of our worst nightmares. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Lovecraft, H. P. (1931). The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Week 6: How does The Colour out of Space and Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth make use Reyes definition of body horror to explore themes of the unknown?

In this blog, I will be discussing Reyes’s description of body horror as being a “fictional representation of the body exceeding itself or falling apart, either opening up or being altered past the point where it would be recognised by normative understandings of human corporeality.” (Reyes, 2014) And how they do The Colour out of Space and Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth make use of this definition to explore themes of the unknown?

H.P. Lovecraft was in clear terms a bigot who held bigoted views against those different to him (Jones, 2020). As a writer like most, he brought those views within his works. So, when looking at body horror as described by Reyes in regard to the story The Colour out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft one could say it was used to express Lovecraft’s bigotry as the story does depict the fear of the other and its effects. Within the story, the meteorite is immediately different from other meteorites as it still glows unlike the scientifically factual meteorite (Lovecraft, 1927) the never seen before colours of the meteorite further shows its difference (Lovecraft, 1927). Initially thought of as a possible blessing this other seems to be dispersing of possible fears “The pears and apples slowly ripened, and Nahum vowed that his orchards were prospering as never before. The fruit was growing to phenomenal size and unwonted gloss, and in such abundance, those extra barrels were ordered to handle the future crop.” (Lovecraft, 1927) however right after this the other once again reveals itself to be a poison as the literal fruits it bares are thought of as poisonous (Lovecraft, 1927). From a body horror perspective, the humans affected by the meteorite become much like the fruits and animals and become altered until they are nothing but grey ash (Lovecraft, 1927). By introducing the meteorite as the other H.P. Lovecraft depicts what he expects would occur if the other is allowed to continue to exist, far worse situations could occur as explained by his expectation of what would occur if promiscuity were to become less judged by the public. His escalation goes from sodomy, or homosexuality, as he calls it being slowly accepted until finally bestiality is allowed (Jones, 2020). In H.P. Lovecraft’s words he is drawing out the steps of escalations which he expects will occur if others are welcomed into the fold it starts with fruits and escalates towards humans. Thus, I believe the theme of the unknown within the colour of out of space is that of fear for the unknown.

In The Shadow Over Innsmouth, Lovecraft creates body horror through the depiction of characters degenerating until their humanity if stripped and they resemble fish creatures rather than humans. This body horror though getting a different reaction from its character as in the end the narrator accepts these half human half fish creatures and accepts himself as one of them (Lovecraft, 1936) still depicts the acceptance of the status quo because at the beginning the narrator is the other and because of this he is hunted however as the story progresses it is revealed he is, in fact, a descendant of the Innsmouth residences and as such when he embraces them all his passed decisions he made as another is nearly all but a few forgiven(Lovecraft, 1936). To the narrator, the humans are the other as they are not like him and the deep ones are now the ones who make sense (Lovecraft, 1936).

This is what I feel describes bigotry and to an extent Lovecraft’s bigotry the other is that which the narrator is not connected to and as such, there is always another and there is always a place where bigots can fit in.

References

Jones, N. (lect). (2020). Lovecraftian horror and weird fiction. retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-5273120-dt-content-rid-12699658_4/institution/Papers/ENGL602/Publish/Lovecraftian%20Horror%20Lecture.mp4

Lovecraft, H.P (Auth). (1927). The colour of out of space. United States: Amazing Stories

Lovecraft, H.P (Auth). (1936). The shadow over innsmouth. United States: Visionary Publishing Company

Reyes, X. (2014). Body Gothic: Corporeal Transgression in Contemporary Literature and Horror Film. University of Wales Press.

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

Within this blog I will be discussing what exactly is ‘shōjo’ and how does it function in anime. I will be mentioning Princess Mononke, Sasameki Koto, and Slow Start.

As mentioned in the previous blog anime contains a multitude of genres specifically directed at an audience. ‘shōjo’ or Shoujo refers to target teenage female readers and viewers “the transitional stage between infancy and maturity, and its admixture of sexlessness and budding eroticism” (Cavallaro, 2006).

However, at the same time, Shojo manga and anime’s main appeal is the teenage female as Dani Cavallaro points out that Japanese males are a significant number among the shojo audience (Cavallaro, 2006). It is through this, once again, an individual realises the vast expanse of the anime and manga medium.

Because while shojo can contain deeper more philosophical theories about the nature of life itself such as the anime Princess Mononoke, which attempts to depict humanities relationship with nature, and the difficulty of finding a balance between the two, as they battle each other the humans can be seen as honourable through the character Ashitaka who stands out as a human who wants to rebuild while at the same time as greedy seen through the depiction of jigo a character who would even blaspheme as he poses as a monk to gain an opportunity(Miyazaki, 1997). While nature can be majestic yet kind as we see Moro the wolf god who acts as an adoptive mother to the human San while at the same time not immune to corruption as seen through the boar god Nago (Miyazaki, 1997).

You can also find the kawaii sub-genre depicting female characters as cutely innocent and often shy in Slow Start the anime the main character Ichinose Hana is shy and along with other characters is cute, wears school uniforms, and just go about their day in a way that is cute (Hashimoto,2018). That’s the basis of the anime. No large growth no deeper meaning.

Still in the shojo subgenre one will also find shojo-ai a genre showing the “girls love” trope in which romance starts to form between female characters (Cheeky Kid, updated January 2018) like in the anime series Sasameki Koto or Whispered Words where main characters Sumika and Ushio evolve their longstanding friendship into a relationship (Suganuma, 2009). The audience watches the relationship evolve and imagines a world where two female characters love can be accepted in 2009 japan when in 2019 the OECD society at a glance still shows japan as having an overall low acceptance of LGBT people (OECD, 2019).

To bring this blog to a close shojo refers to young females in regards to anime and manga it refers to the target audience of young females and they do attempt to appeal to their audience however connected to the targeted young female is also a large group of male consumers. I believe one could probably conclude this can be both true because the shojo subgenre has many branching subgenres from it such as kawaii, shoujo-ai, and many more not mentioned in my blog.

References

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. in the anime art of hayao miyazaki (pp.5-13). London: McFarland & Company

Hashimoto, Y(dir). (2018). Slow start. Japan: Tokyo MX, GYT, GTV, BS11, TVA, KTV

McFarland & Company.Cheeky Kid (auth). (updated January 2018). A complete list of anime genres with explanations. Retrieved from https://reelrundown.com/animation/Anime-Genre-List

Miyazaki, H (dir). (1997). Princess Mononoke. Japan: Toho

OECD. (2019). Society at a glance 2019: how does japan compare?. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/japan/sag2019-japan-en.pdf

Suganuma, E (dir). (2009). Whispered Words. Japan: TV Tokyo