What place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia? (ie comparing Chian and Japan)

Before having a superficial knowledge about animation, I thought animation was just a genre for younger generations and to give the audiences pleasures. To me, Animation was just an entertaining tool that I used to watch on TV frequently after school when I was a kid, enjoying myself. At that time, it's for sure that I absolutely had no sense of the depth and variety of animation. However, after the reading, I have found that the world of animation is far more than just an amusement.

 

 

In Japan, animation belongs to a 'popular' or 'mass' culture and "intellectually challenging art form" while it is considered to be a 'sub' culture in America.  Unlike older art forms, on the surface level of animation, the audiences get pleasures but deeper level, it also provides them with specific contemporary issues. Anime in Japanese culture is a "cultural phenomenon worthy of being taken seriously, both sociologically and aesthetically." (Napier, 2005, p.4) Thus, some of the animation stories are rather thought-provoking to audiences.

 

 

Animations particularly in China has been required to be educational as well as enjoyable. In addition, the Chinese animation emphasizes the importance of material that deals with morals, national characters, an originality of the culture and applying human traits to characters. (Lent, 2000) In Asian societies nowadays, the genre seems to be very significant in terms of cultures and economies as well.

 

 

In economic terms, Asian nations spotted a niche in animation market. Animation business is related to the economic benefits since it represented "most of the country's cultural products exports." (Lent, 2000, p. 14) Once an anime makes a big hit that results in exporting, for example, Princess Mononoke, its images and pictures are present everywhere, making an enormous economic effect.

 

 

I could notice this global phenomenon of animation since they are one of the genres that we are dealing with in this paper. Apart from the entertainment reason, animations in Asian societies exist for more reasons such as education, adornment, commercial enterprise, global phenomenon (cultural force) and reflection of a society with insights into significant issues.

 

 

References

 

Lent, J. A. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and

     adoption or adaptation. Retrieved 28 September, 2012, from

     http://www.latrobe.edu.au/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.

week6- What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?

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

I have a lot of interests in movies and animations. Personally, if someone asks me what the first thing that pops to my mind is when I think of the feature of Japanese animation, I would say it is a ‘shojo’, a Japanese word which means girls in English.

Now looking back on Japanese animations I have watched, most of them have a young girl in early age of 5 -18 as the main character. Especially, Hayao Miyazak, who is the most famous animation director in the world and my favorite director, also presents young women. He presented a kid that seems to have just begun going to primary school as the main character on My Neighbor Totoro. As well as the My Neighbor Totoro, the rule of using girls applies to many of his other works.

Why do animation directors use girls in their animation for the main character? How does it often function in anime?

I think it is easy to make stories based on a character that has unstained innocence and liberty. The character has unstained innocence and liberty is a girl, called ‘Shojo’.

I think that is why many directors prefer a young woman because of purity and freedom that the features of young women character have in animation. There were some restrictions on man`s life like dress, behavior and formality. It is as if a man wears a dress for women and put on a heavy make-up, other people might think he would be a gay and looks like a freak. Like that, a girl character has more flexibilities and liberty of a scope of behavior and formality to express a various characters and situations. Of course, many restrictions in woman`s life existed in the past. Because of this flexibility and liberty, woman characters are expressed as various characters like Mulan which was based on an old story that women dress up as a man and go to a war.

Furthermore, when a director uses a girl character, feelings in animation is expressed easily, variously, widely and more abundantly. And, the director is able to keep pure emotions and last it longer. I think purity is only expressed by females, especially young woman. One of representative examples is Hayao Miyazaki. He presents the girl in My Neighbor Totoro and appeals to audiences about the importance of nature by using purity of children. So the audiences could understand the director’s purpose without any repulsion.    

Also, in The Princess Mononoke, the princess is a young lady and looks adolescent just under 20 years old. I think this period is the time when person has both innocence and maturity. So, due to this advantage, a message about reckless destruction of nature by human being, and the process that the princess is opening her eyes to other cultures and love could be effectively engaging to audience.

Reference

Mulan [Photograph]. (1988). Retrieved September 21, 2012, from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mulan/
 
Hayao miyazaki [Photograph]. (2009). Retrieved September 21, 2012, from http://geekinthemovietheater.blogspot.co.nz/2009/07/limelight-hayao-miyazaki.html

Week 6 - Anime: a high or low cultural genre?

Not being a fan of anime and having not watched any anime films with any great deal of attention, I would always have said the genre was for kids. In my ignorance, all I knew of the genre was that it was animated - something I have always associated with children's entertainment. But in watching Princess Mononoke critically and identifying a number of themes present, it is clear that this is not the case. As with Tintin, there appears to be two audiences: 1) kids, who can enjoy it for the surface level, animated films that they are, and 2) adults, who can "read between the lines" so to speak and enjoy the under-the-surface, "schematic", adult subgenres and themes present in many anime films, as well as others who can enjoy it for the art form that it is. But what does this mean in terms of high and low culture?

Of whether or not anime is part of a high or low cultural genre, John Treat (as cited by Napier, 2005) suggests "To worry about the relation of the popular to high or official culture is to think about the perennial problem of value." I couldn't agree with this statement more, and it really makes me question what sorts of things our society places value on, and why. Blogger "Tabularthought" (2009) also asserts that the issue of high vs low culture has to do with "Aesthetic Relations" or our "judgement of what is good". (Tabularthought, 2009, para. 1). Rest assured, this entry will not revolve around a philosophical/cynical rant over the term 'value'. I just find it interesting how we have to put things into a box as if everything is either black or white.

Theory states that Anime, for the most part,  fits into the 'Popular' or 'low' cultural genre because of the pure popularity and commercialisation of it. Princess Mononoke is no exception, for the fact that it is Japan's highest ever grossing movie, making $US150 million in Japan in the first seven months of its release. (Rottentomatoes.com, n.d.).

However, Napier (2005) suggests that parts of anime stand out as drawing from Japanese high culture and that in recent times, "anime has been increasingly seen as an intellectually challenging art form". (Napier, 2005, p. 4). Napier also argues that many of the issues explored in anime are at times complex, and would be familiar to those fans of "contemporary "high" culture art cinema" both in Japan and around the world. (Napier, 2005).

I think the issue is clearly not black and white. Anime stands to offer points to both ends of the continuum, but so long as it stays part of this "popular" culture, I don't think it will ever truly be part of the "high" cultural genre or be seen in a canonical sense.


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

Princess Mononoke (Mononokehime) (1999). (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2012, from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/princess-mononoke/

Tabularthought. (2009, January 15). A redefinition of "high" versus "low" culture. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://tabularthought.wordpress.com

Looks like not much has happened here since week four. Keep the discussion flowing! Some good early posts on Tintin - need some on Earthsea.

week.4

What are some archetypes (e.g. common character types)of fantasy fiction?

Archetypes are universal understanding symbols which are often used in myths and storytelling and they refer to generic version of personality. In fantasy fiction, distinctive archetype can attract readers' attention. Majority of fantasy fictions have their own views of the world which readers cannot grasp the essence of it. Fantasy world is a new world which is an imagination world in people’s mind. When we read it, we can give full scope to our imagination because anything is possible in fantasy world. It is a magical world which is not constrained by the real world. 

Most characters in Fantasy fiction are imaginary. Majority of fantasy have something in common in archetype, like some of characters may have supernatural ability- two people painlessly exchanging heads, a tree reaching out to grab passers-by. There are a few particularly notable recurring archetypal. 

The wise old man or Sage: for example, Gandalf who is in the lord of the rings. Merlin which is the magician of the King Arthur. Albus Dumbledore who is the president of Hogwarts School. 

The devil: for example, lord voldemort who is in the harry potter.white witch who is in The chronicles of Narnia. Mrs. Coulter in the film The Golden Compass.

The mentor: for example, the lion in the film The Chronicles of Narnia. Lila’s uncle in the film The Golden Compass.

The Mysterious creatures: half man half beast, dancing tree in the film The Chronicles of Narnia. Hobgoblins, ghost, fairy of little house, dragon, mermaid in the film the harry potter. Daemon, Iorek Byrnison which is bear in the film The Golden Compass.

Also we can see the variety characters in the movie. Which is Hero, martyr, great mother, wise old woman/man, damsel in distress, trickster, Satan, scarecrow and warrior. 


Reference
The Chronicles of Narnia vs Harry potter vs The Golden Compass (2008). Retrieved from http://blog.naver.com/mytears4u?Redirect=Log&logNo=60051289136