Week 5 Farish

According to Lent (2000), what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (ie comparing China and Japan)?

Lent(2000) stated that animation’s fit in Asia can be found in two main sectors, which was for both political and economic gain. Since Japanese government in comparison to Chinese was a lot more democratic, the way that these animations occupied their society was vastly different and due to this, there was an unconfined accessibility for these animations. As for China, since there was a communist government there, the political aspects overruled everything else. The influence of animations in China was stressed on morals and partially motivated by politics. Western animations was limited and at times even banned to make way for local cartoons instead. While in Japan, they were inspired to make animations based on animations from western societies, namely Disney. While they had their products freely made with no limitations or motivations and this grew to be one of their main exports not to just the western world but also within Asia as well.

Lent, J. A. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Retrieved 20 August, 2011, from

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/jlfr11c.htm

KT's Week 5

Is Anime a high or low cultural genre, accrding to Napier (2005)?

In my opinion, anime is a high cultural genre. As Napier(2005) mentioned, anime has been gradually seem as a intellectually challenging art form that builds on previous high cultural traditions of 20th century cinema and photography. I think animation was regarded as a minor art by ethnic prejudice at first, but currently anime's popularity has grown hugely. Napier stated, Japan has been known for such 'high cultural' products as haiku, Zen, and the martial arts, the Japan of the 1990s began to develop a new export, animated films and videos-anime. Actually I love watching anime and they are amazing. The story is interesting, and the unique characters can be created, also everything is possible in the animation world. Anime has been, and will continue to be, a major force around the world.

In addition, I think I mixed comics up with anime on Week 1. So I tried to figure out the difference between comics and anime. Anime is animated Japanese cartoons, and comics are images like pictures or books. Usually, when comics became a hit, they may be created as an anime version. 

Reference

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

WEEK 5 (Winny)

According to Lent (2000), what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (ie comparing China and Japan)?

According to Lent(2000), comics and animations have deep relationship between each other, whereas in other Asian countries such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, they tend to evolve them into movies and drama series.  In China, a person called Jin Xi, who was one of the originators of the post-1949 animation studio claimed that animations should be educational.

I have a strong point of view against Jin Xi.  From my own experience, I noticed that Chinese people always think that Animations are for children only.  Well, people also has the same opinion with comics.  I would assumed that why Jin Xi said animations should be educational, is because he believes that animations are for children.  Indeed, if you look at the wide range of different anime/manga works from Japan, you will realize that most of them are actually aimed at the teenager, or the young adults audience level.  Another reason why I would say that I am disagreeing with Jin Xi's idea, is because I think what they are saying that they want to do, is different to how they act in reality.  Especially in China, as some of the people would know, they always prohibit movies and similar media to screen China, if they considered them as improper contents.  For example, I always feel difficult to understand why movies that contained homosexual contents are bad to children, but violence or heterosexual sex scenes are fine.  Even if the work that contains homosexual contents does not have any sexual scenes.

References

Lent, J. A. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Retrieved 21 June, 2006, from AnimeResearch.com

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2006). Princess Mononoke. Tokyo:Studio Ghibli Prodictions.

Love Kim-Week 4

Is Tolkien's notion of the 'faery story' linked to fantasy genre? How closely?

According to Tolkien (1964), fairy is equivalent to elf, but fairy-story is not a story about fairies or elves, but a story about Faerie which contains their being, for example, dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons, and these creatures hold the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky and the earth. And all things, that possibly exist in a real world, are in fairy-story such as tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and human being. So fairy-story is truly about the nature of Faerie, which is in fact indescribable. Fairy-stories were clearly not a matter of real possibility but a matter of desirability. So as long as fairy-stories contain the element of desire, for example, chase dreams, adventures, and look for buried treasures, they can be called successful fairy-stories. Tolkien claims that Magic may possibly be an equivalent word for Faerie. In other words, faerie has a magic sense to it. Faerie is not a dream but a desire of human being to hold communion with other living things through a surreal world.

      “An essential power of Faerie is thus the power of making immediately effective by 

       the will the visions of ‘fantasy’ (Tolkien, p. 25).

In fantasy, Faerie starts and Man becomes a sub-creator. Fantasy creates Other-worlds and is a centre of the desire of Faerie. Tolkien addresses that human is apt to conceive imaginations in their mind which are not actually exist in real world. To have a successful expression in fantasy, the inner consistency of reality is important. For example, different degree of imagination requires image perception, understanding and control of  the implication of  imaginations. And imagination generates the sub-creative Art and qualities of strangeness and wonder, which is an essential to fairy-story.

Those images are not actually present and also generally believed not to be found in real world. So Fantasy is a higher form of Art, in fact,  which is the most near-pure form and potent. 

Reference

Tolkien, J. (1964). On faerie stories. In Tree and Leaf. London: Unwin Hyman.

Week 4

How does the fantasy genre relate to modern media such as video games?

In terms of content taking the Harry potter book and game as the example, the book almost acts as a base or starting point as to where to go from and what structure the game will follow. In that sense the game and book relate. But the player in the game is afforded the opportunity to fill in the bits in between with their own actions thus creating the consequences in between the familiar structural content. Burns,(2005) mentions when comparing the game and book that "there is a strong trajectory across the major blocks of narrative and game play. Where there is room for different traversals by players is quite specific.......the player has a kind of free time.This can be used to wander around Hogwarts, exploring, picking up extra resources." This demonstrates that by using the plot line of the orignal book as a rough guide to build up background, and letting the player construct the rest for themselves by the actions the take then a highly relatable game and book are created. Burns goes on to interview a child player of the game as the child talks about playing the game her narrative quickly turns from Harry as a character to you have to do this and that, showing that she previously was familiar with Harry from the books but as she played the game she became harry and thus created a new point of relevance between her the book and the game. "Penny:Well sometimes, well with Harry, well with the book,you'll be, you're just you're just reading it and everything will fall into place, whereas in the game you have to walk around quite alot and sort of make sure you find"Burns,(2005).

Reference

Burns,A(2005)'Potter-Literacy-from book to game and back again;Literature, film, game and cross-media literacy', in Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature, Vol 14, No 3.

WEEK ONE - ethan

Do you think comics are a children’s or adult genre/media? How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin’s appeal to adults?

In my own opinion comics and graphic novels in our current age are not limited to one specific age group. There are many different kinds of comics that can appeal to either the young audience or an adult audience as well as some that can appeal to both the young and old. For example “The Adventures of Tintinin” was made to appeal to both a young and old audience as the writer Hergé says “Tintin was aimed at all young people aged from seven to seventy-seven.” In our AUT screening of “Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus (1935)” this was definitely apparent as there were many different aspects that would appeal to both adults and children. As Farr (1991) says, “There are many levels at which the adventures can be appreciated. By devising a character who would appeal to child as much as grown-ups.”

Farr (1991) goes on to justify Tintin’s appeal to adults by stating, “The child will be gripped by the excitement of Tintin, the comedy, even the farce. The adult will additionally find political satre and parody, puns and prescience”.

References:

Farr, Michael. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.8-9). London: John Murray.

Week 4: A Fantasy Reader II

Why does the religious right in the US condemn fantasy, according to Cockrell (2004)? On what grounds does Cockrell defend fantasy literature, using Harry Potter as an example?


Some might say that fantasy is a great escape for children and adults alike to escape the real world and delve into another. However, there are those, fundamentalist Christian’s in particular, that believe it to be corrupting of the mind and not good for us.

In The Roanoke (Virginia) Times on December 9, 2001 a letter said, “I don’t know if J.K. Rowling is deliberately trying to indoctrinate our children in witchcraft and Satanism or whether she’s simply a deluded fool herself. However, I urge parents to listen to the voice of god and say no to Harry Potter for their children’s spiritual wellbeing.'

But why draw the line at Harry Potter? Why not other fantasy stories for example J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?

According to Cockrell (2004), he says, “Harry lives in our world, making him more of a threat. Rowling has abandoned the realm of high fantasy and laid her story in contemporary England, rather than in the imaginary and medievally flavoured otherworld of Tolkien's Middle Earth.”

Marjorie Taylor and Stephanie M. Carlson note that, “While mainstream Christian parents regard imaginary friends as harmless or at worst a nuisance, as when their child insists that the friend must have her own place at the dinner table, Taylor and Carlson note that fundamentalist Christian parents associate them with the devil.”

I believe that fantasy is completely harmless to those who read it. I think J. K. Rowling is a very skilled writer and is careful with her writing that she does not corrupt children’s minds with some of the bad things young people are exposed to today such as drugs and alcohol.


Cockrell, A. (2004). Harry Potter and the Witch Hunters: a social context for the attacks on Harry Potter. The Journal of American Culture, Volume 29, No. 1.