Nia wk 5

Q: What is the ‘shoujo’ and how does it often function in anime?

A: Cavallaro (2006) defines shoujo as a term that plainly means “little female.” Metaphorically speaking it can also depict “the transitional stage between infancy and maturity, and its admixture of sexlessness and budding eroticism.” In terms of its use in Japanese animation (anime) shoujo is mostly alluring the sense of “stories [that] are serenely dreamy…bathed in an atmosphere of magic and wonder” that is admired by its readership of girls because of its ‘cuteness’ but also Japanese men. Other anime such as the popular ‘Princess Mononoke’ by Miyazaki uses shoujo however with its own twist if you like. Miyazaki’s approach presents his characters with abilities such as active courage that breaks shoujo simple characteristics; instead Miyazaki’s works are described as “youths wearing shoujo masks.”

Reference

Cavallaro, D.(2006)The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki. London: McFarland & Company.

Nia wk 4

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

A: The fantasy genre is heavily influenced by modern media such as video games and vice versa. The extreme focus and illusion in modern media can depict the unreal is real in video games and to subconsciously be aware of your character and its well being such as to keep your character alive, kill opponents and to gather skills on the way and to meet the ultimate arch nemesis in the final level. This being said, the fantasy genre has similar characteristics such as character(s), plot, opponents, mentors and goal(s) even series that would translate into different series of video games or levels. The dramatic difference however is in video games you have ‘some’ control over your character in a situation instead of reading linear the story that you have no control over (unless when you skip pages, chapters etc.) Burns (2004) states that in video games just like most fantasy genres the “hero character is marked by vulnerability and need for helpers” he goes on to say that the main difference however is that you have to be second person in the video game for instance in Harry potter chamber of secrets video game, “You must beat the spiders” instead of being rescued by a flying car and so on and so forth.

Reference

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

Sheldon week 4

How does Tolkien (1964) define fantasy? Compare and contrast this to the other definitions from last week’s reader?

Tolkien compares the similarity between fantasy and a fairy-story in which both, in his mind cannot be described directly leaving it undefined. In his mind you cant put a definition on fantasy, it cannot be caught in a net of words for its indescribable. So much so that analysis will not necessarily discover the secret of the whole.

Tolkien talks about the human mind and how it is capable of forming mental images of things not actual present. We naturally call this faculty of conceiving such images as our imagination. But imagination is often tied to something higher then just mere image making, something in which we call as fantasy.

Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult reason; on the contrary the keen and clearer the reasoning is the better the fantasy will be. Therefore giving human imagination the power of the fantasy world.

In comparison to last weeks thread. Atteberry presents quite a similar take on Fantasy as he goes on to say that fantasy is a concept that can’t really be tamed to just one meaning. Its vastness and diversity exudes beyond all stereotypes. He then goes on to distinguish the differences between it and other similar genres.

References:

J.R.R Tolkien, "On fairy-stories, in tree and leaf (Boston:Houghton Muffin Company, 1965) p.55"

Attebery, B. The Fantasy tradition in america literature: from irving to le guin. bloomington: indian university press, 1980, pg 1-10

Week 4 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?

Harry Potter.
An international literary phenomenon or one woman's attempt to brainwash youth?

Questioning what it is about Harry Potter that makes a Christian fundamentalist draw so much contempt for this literary phenomenon Cockrell (2004), is quick to draw parallels between the magic seen in Harry Potter and the magic from Cinderella, Glinda the Good Witch and Gandalf the Grey and wonders what it is about this boy and his story, that sets it apart from the long literary history of magic in fantasy fiction.

Could it be the popularity (perhaps far too disseminated for the bible lovers of the world) that shifts the focus of ‘censorship efforts from sex to the occult’ in Harry Potter (Cockrell, 2004)? Alternately, it could be the presence of a fantasy world residing in the back door of reality as Rowling has a contemporary London setting for her novels, rather than a mystic far away setting that is nothing like it is here. Offering up also, the way that one cannot escape the ‘magic’ and ‘at any moment it may manifest itself’ evidenced in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone and the relentless way of informing Harry that he is, indeed a wizard (Rowling via Cockerell 2004).

Cockerell has to take literal the Christian fundamentalists belief of the ‘monsters and miracles’ that are in the bible in order to argue that ‘Harry Potter’s subversive placement within perceived fact...makes him so slippery and troublesome to readers’ (2004). This bridge between fantasy and reality leads one to believe that ‘if art may make the unreal real, it may also disguise the real as fiction and teach witchcraft in the guise of fantasy’ (Cockerell, 2004). Clearly this idea frightens those who oppose the idea of magic, good or evil, and also frightens those who require answers, but is quick to note that ‘In Rowlings world, the answer is not [going to be the same] everytime’ (2004).

 References 

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

Rowling, J,K. (1997) Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Bloomsbury.

Week 5: Danni- 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), what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (ie comparing China and Japan)?
"...animation was moulded to Asia through the use of indigenous artistic styles and techniques, such as paperfold, paper-cut, and ink and wash in China, or shadow theatre in China, Indonesia, and Japan, and localised plots based on literary, religious, or folkloric stories." (Lent, 2000)

Animation began in Asia in 1923, where it chinese animation was heavily influenced by Western cultures. In 1941 China made it's first full length cartoon film: Princess with the iron fan. This film then inspired other asian countries to do the same. With Western themes being involved China and Japan set out to make animation film that showed off their countries cultures and values (not the western ones). Animation in Asian is different in different countries, Lent (2000) said that Hong Kong to build up its economical standing worked with 'Disney' ( a western animation company) and made a 'Hong Kong Disneyland'. Where as China, Vietnam and Phillippenes have been seen to put "Politically, filmed cartoons have served governmental and bureaucratic goals" (Lent, 2000). However China and Japan continue to make animation like (manga and anime) that serves what the Asian people want, which is the cultural views and morals of Chinese and Japanese cultures through animation.

Lent, J. A. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Retrieved Oct 16. http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/jlfr11c.htm

sheldon week 3

How
does
Attebery (1980)
define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions.

Fantasy is a concepts that cant really be tamed to just one meaning. its vastness and diversity exudes beyond all stereotypes. the dictionery defines it; . 1. As a genre of imaginative fiction involving magic and adventure, esp.in a setting other than the real world. 2. An idea with no basis in reality.

W.R Irwin says, ''whatever the meterial, extravagent or semingly commonplace, a narrative is a fantasty if it presents the persuasive establishment and development of an impossilbillity, an arbitary construct of the mind withh all under the control of logic and rehotic. Fantasy then presupposees a view of exterior reailty which it goes on to contradict. it is as J.R.R Tolkien said "founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun; on a recdognition of the fact but not a slavery to it.''

there are ways in in which we can distinguish between fantasy and other related genres. Science fiction spends much ofits time convincing the reader that its seeming impossiblities are in fact explainable if we extroplate from the world and science that we know.Lyric Poetry often deals with impossibilities, but it generally does so not by asserting their existance in a fictional universe but b y treating them as a tempoarymanifestations of states of mind. Narrative poetry often approaches the fantastic, but narrative verse seems to have been all but phaesd out by less restrictede lyric forms.

Fantasy thou, needs consistency. reader and writter are committed to maining the illusion of the entire course of the fiction.
Fantasy invokes wonder by making the impossible seem fimiliar and the fimiliar seem new and strange.

Reference:

Attebery, B. The Fantasy tradition in america literature: from irving to le guin. bloomington: indian university press, 1980, pg 1-10

W.R Irwin, the game of impossible: a Rhetoric of fantasy (Urbana, Il, University of Illinois Press, 1976), p.4

J.R.R Tolkien, "On fairy-stories, in tree and leaf (Boston:Houghton Muffin Company, 1965) p.55"

WK 3 - In what ways does Tax (2002) suggest Earthsea may still be relevant today?

Tax (2002) provides a synopsis for each of the books written by Le Guinn in the Earthsea series. There are a number of themes that are comparable and timely with life today in each of the volumes. Concentrating on A Wizard of EarthSea (1986), we find the main character Ged facing his Shadow, his own demon which he must face in order to defeat. This is very symbolic of ‘real’ world living, where everyone must face the reality of themselves on a regular basis, be it learning their family history, dealing with their feelings for another person or struggling with the thoughts in their mind. The Shadow is representative of the human struggle between good and evil.

In the second volume, The Tombs of Atuan (1970), a theme of struggle between ones beliefs and their passion to do what is right is presented when Tenar the priestess has the chance to help Ged the Wizard in his quest to save Earthsea. Tenar faces a difficult decision between what she has been raised to believe, and what she must do to save Earthsea. This is very symbolic of moralist clashes that occur in the modern day, such as the pull that people in relationships might feel between their partner or friends, and their family.

REFERENCES

Tax, M. (Jan 28, 2002). Year of Harry Potter, Enter the Dragon. In The Nation.

Le Guinn, U. (1993; 1968). A Wizard of Earthsea. In The Earthsea Quartet (pp.13-167). London: Penguin.

Week 3 How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn?

      Star Wars - Science Fiction             Earthsea - Fantasy

Accepting that both are works of fiction, Le Guin notes that ‘science fiction is a branch of realism’ by explaining that it meets the conventional expectations of how people ‘generally act, [by] either avoiding events that will strike the reader as improbable, or plausibly explaining them’. This juxtaposes against Le Guin’s notions on the fantasy genre by admitting that it ‘deliberately violates plausibility in the sense of congruence with the world outside the story’. So although the two are both fiction, one incorporates elements that will differ from the other most of these differences, playing on the dividing line between reality and fiction.

Earthsea ‘violates plausability’ by incorporating magic, wizards, an alternate realm and a storyline that is fantastical as the main character ‘relates to non-human beings in unexpected ways’ (Le Guin, 2005).

This can contrast against a science fiction novel or movie such as Star Wars, which plays out in another world typifies the sci-fi genre by ‘employ[ing] plausibility to to win the reader’s consent to the fiction’ (Le Guin, 2005).

References

Le Guinn, U K. (2005) Plausability Revisited: Wha Hoppen and What Didn’t Retrieved from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html

Le Guinn, U. (1993; 1968). A Wizard of Earthsea. In The Earthsea Quartet. London: Penguin.

McCallum, R. (Producer) & Lucas, G. (Director). (2001) Star Wars: The Phantom Menace [Motion picture]. United States: 20^th Century Fox

Nia wk 3

Q: How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least 5 definitions.

A: Firstly according to Atterbery (1980) defining fantasy is mostly dependent on presenting the reader with “persuasive establishment and development of… impossibility, an arbitrary construct of the mind with all the control of logic and rhetoric.” Another definition given by Attebery is fantasy can be “any narrative which involves as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law. Though this can contradict fantasy to be’ fact’ once lulled into it, it is not slavery to the mind. One more definition of fantasy can be a “straightforward treatment of impossible characters, objects, or events…” This is said by Attebery to be believed by use of ‘commitment’ through the reader and writer. A somewhat negotiation of sustainable impression of the fantasy world once in it. In addition, for the fantasy to completely be what Attebery states as ‘fact’ it can also be called a “secondary belief” and this gives the impression of “an occasional sense of…wonder.” This wonder is further explained by Attebery as “fantasy [that] invokes wonder by making the impossible seem familiar and the familiar seem new and strange.

Reference

Attebery, B. (1980) The Fantasy Tradition in American Lierature: From lrving to Le Guinn. Blommington: Indiana U P, 1980.

Nia wk 2

Q: What does Baetons (2001) mean by ‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and the ‘graphiateur'?

A: Okay this may look like something completely complicated but ill try to explain what Baeton means in its simplest form. According to Baetons (2001) graphiation is “the graphic and narrative enunciation of the comics.” And to understand that meaning you’ll have to know what the heck enunciation is, which, in the light of comics is “both narrative and visual.” The term graphiateur is closely related because it means “the agent responsible for it” so in other words whoever wrote and illustrated the graphiation. (Hope you all are with me…) Lastly Baetons calls monstration as “the several types of narration” that is used as storytelling in novels, film and playwright.

Reference

Baetons, J. (2001) Revealing Traces: a new theory of graphic enunciation. In Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Ed.). The Language of Comics: word and image, (pp. 145-155). Jackson: U P of Mississippi.

Nia wk 1

Q: How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin’s appeal to adults?

A: Farr justifies Tintin’s appeal to adults by stating that the early 20^th century comic as underlying much relativism that otherwise was inapplicable to be mentioned upright especially in comic that involved comedy. Although in Tintin’s comics Herge uses countless gateways such as “rock solid foundation in reality” that can convey this relativism using “Political satire and parody, puns and prescience.” This then overtly appealed to the adult audience in ways that is set in accurate detail in world current or not current events. Farr also sets us to realise that the characters in Tintin also portray and invite members of all ages whom relate to them with understanding and somewhat shared interests including adults. He goes on to explain that the Tintin comics can be read repeatedly that is “in-exhaustible” where a child who has read a comic, when adult can reread the same comic- only in a political light finding something new every time.

Reference

Farr, Michael. (1991). Tintin: the complete companion. London: John Murray.