Weeks 5 and 6
Princess Mononoke
1) What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?
2) According to Lent (2000) what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (i.e. comparing Japan and China)?
3)Is anime a high or low cultural genre/media, according to Napier (2005)? What are some of its subgenres?
4)Does Anime confront social issues? Gender roles in Princess Mononoke.
ENGL 602. Blog
ReplyDeleteAnime. Week 5-6: Princess Mononoke
Alister Kreft. 17974588
Anime has been present in global popular culture for many years now, but is a relatively recent addition to critical academic study. Early animated productions, the likes of Disney circa 1930s-60s, were receiving global recognition and acclaim, however these western productions differ greatly from what we now recognise to be anime, which originated in Eastern countries, predominantly Japan. In these societies anime is a vastly greater and more varied form of expression and deals with many more complex themes than most western animated productions, this is largely due the cultural significance of anime throughout Asia.
Early animation across Asia was heavily influenced by Disney and Asian animators went to great efforts to imitate Disney’s style and integrate this into their own productions. A notable difference here is from China and Japan, where animators had the influence of Disney and would also try to incorporate their own cultural beliefs and themes into their work and avoid direct imitation of western animations. As Lent wrote in his study, “the Chinese, perhaps more than any other Asian animators save those of Japan, were insistent on adapting only those elements of foreign animation that fit their culture, never favouring full adoption.” (Lent, J. 2000) Anime underwent rapid growth in the 1950s-60s onwards and begins to take hold a significant place in Asian societies as their work grew more original and gained a more culturally unique focus, the western influence of Disney that so many loved was present as was a specifically Asian flavour that local audiences could enjoy. This is evident in Princess Mononoke as it possesses many recognisable traits of popular Disney works, aspects of fantasy and wonder, people talking to animals, the hero on an important quest etc; while also treating many ideas with a uniquely Japanese focus, themes like the importance of unspoilt nature vs the advance of industry and women’s roles in a society.
The prevalence of anime in Asian societies is also due to economic factors, in that many studios who produce anime are based in Asian countries. While most of their work is done for western audience’s, significant effort is put into productions for local audiences, “South Korea is still the third largest producer of animation worldwide, but 95% of its output is manufactured by foreign order” (Lent, J. 2000). So not only is anime an important cultural product in Asia but also a source of employment for many.
Anime is especially important in Japanese culture, it is a popular mass cultural phenomenon, as opposed to a sub culture in the western world. (Napier, S. 2005) This is in part to the Japanese tradition of graphic novel or manga. Manga encompasses a vast array of themes and genre and is written for all demographics, this can help us understand why anime is so immensely popular in Japan. Napier says however, ‘this does not mean that anime is viewed as highly or reverently as other aspects of Japanese culture like the haiku or martial arts but it shows that it is a widely accepted and consumed culturally Japanese product, especially amongst younger generations.’ (Napier, S. 2005) Few anime have had the ability to cross this generational divide, Princess Mononoke does this by appealing to an older generations sense of history and questions how important traditional values are in a rapidly developing society and does so in within the frame of a story that appeals to all. Evidence of this appeal is in box-office numbers, Princess Mononoke remains the second highest grossing film in Japan in history. (Napier, S. 2005)
Refence list:
Lent, J. A. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Retrieved from http://tlweb.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/jlfr11c.htm.
Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp.3-14). Hampshire: Palgrave/ Macmillan.
Princess Mononoki
ReplyDeleteDivyesh Kumar
16949662
Anime has been present in current societal culture for numerous years now and is newly introduced to the academic analysis’. Anime creates interest to people of all ages, majorly in the Asian or teenage communities. The characters have a huge influence on people because of how relatable it can be. Japan being a male dominated country, anime like Princess Mononoke challenge the stereotypes. Miyazaki creates a character of a young, feral female warrior. A shojo. She acts, resembles and lives with the wolves in the forest. Shojo is a genre of Japanese anime (visual animation) or manga (Japanese comics) particularly targeting the female youth crowd, it literally means “young girl” in Japanese. It varies in animation and style. However, the one common characteristic of the shojo genre that is generally “dominated by images of flowers, ribbons, fluttering hem skirts, and innocent-looking girls with large, staring eyes.” (Monden, 2015). The women characterised in the anime are more distinguished as dedicated and diligent; on a similar scale as the men in the anime. These overthrow the traditional idea of the dominance of men being the only rulers.
The shojo genre has progressively been more and more significantly recognised in terms of visual aspects. Still, prominence is engaged on the role of narrative structure, the portrayal of gender/ sexual orientations. Joel Gwynne (2013) has raised very interesting questions in relation to girlhood, postfeminism and anime/manga, questioning if manga/anime reify the various demands placed on younger girls “to present their bodies as objects of consumption”, or whether it suggests a more literal depiction of young girls who encounter physical and “sexual subjectivity as conscious and empowered agents?”. Which asks if the genre of shojo is influencing the younger generation to reveal their bodies explicitly; by which he is trying to say is that shojo speaks to the younger woman’s apprehension of sexuality and of their impression of femininity. Fujimoto contends that the shojo genre that mirrors the beliefs of women more truthfully, including the ideology of romance, which instils the female audience to commit themselves to love. However, men do not fall for that trick as for them, “love is another word for lust.” (Monden, 2015).
Fujimoto, Y. (1998), [2008]. Watashi no ibasho wa doko ni aru no? Shōjo manga
Gwynne, J. (2013), Japan, postfeminism and the consumption of sexual(ised) schoolgirls in male-authored contemporary manga
Monden, M. (2015) Shōjo Manga Research: The Legacy of Women Critics and Their Gender-Based Approach
1. According to Lent (2000) what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (i.e. comparing Japan and China)?
ReplyDeleteAnimation or anime as its better known as in modern day pop culture has been around for very many years now, however its popularisation in western society only started to take place after the 1980’s. Anime originated from Eastern society however, largely from China and Japan. It plays a vast and varied role in Asian societies and normally promotes more intricate and sometimes more politically motivated themes in comparison to animation from Western Society. “Over the years, animation was fitted to Asian societies and their mass media. Politically, filmed cartoons have served governmental and bureaucratic goals, particularly in China, Vietnam, and the Philippines” (Lent, 2017). When animation first began taking place in Asia around the 1930’s, Asian animators drew influence from Disney and tried hard to imitate and incorporate the work of Disney into their own animation productions. Anime really started to grow at a rapid rate in the 1950-60’s and onward as Anime started to play a more and more significant role in Asian society. This was due to the the anime being produced at the time starting to have more culturally adapted themes and became ore original pieces of animation while not losing themselves from western influences that local audiences enjoyed. This can be seen in Princess Mononoke as it has many archetypes found in Disney work such as a hero on a quest, fantasy lands, talking animals and royal hierarchy etc; whilst still not losing its Asian perspective and treating themes with a more Japanese orientated focus such as purity of the environment and the role of a woman in society.
We also see that throughout Asia, Anime is presented in a different light and serves a different purpose from region to region “…in Japan, manga and anime feed off each other, and in Hong Kong and Taiwan, many Japanese anime evolve into live action films and television drama serials. Hong Kong musicians write and sing Cantonese versions of anime theme songs, and other Asian artists, such as Lat of Malaysia, Nonoy Marcelo of the Philippines, Dwi Koendoro of Indonesia, or Pran of India adapt their print cartoon characters to the screen” (Lent, 2017).
2. Does Anime confront social issues? Gender roles in Princess Mononoke.
ReplyDeleteAnime has been known to be a more complex and present social issues and themes not normally found in most Western Society animations. However, with anime presenting these themes and issues is very common across most Anime work. With Princess Mononoke with see the social issues of the environment and what happens when people get to greedy and start damaging and abusing the resources available. We see this as the lead protagonist, Akashita is cursed by a demon after defeating him; a mystical force of devastation which was released because of the humans in the narrative ravenously using up natural resources. Another theme dealt with in Princess Mononoke was the theme sexuality, specifically the role of women in society. It is seen in Princess Mononoke, Lady Eboshi the ruler of Iron Town didn’t follow common societal conventions and provided refuge to prostitutes and lepers in her town and didn’t allow for social stigma attached to these groups of people.
Lent, J. (2017). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Tlweb.latrobe.edu.au. Retrieved 26 October 2017, from http://tlweb.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/jlfr11c.htm