Transgressing Death in Japanese Popular Culture

ISBN-13: 9783030508821 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 138 str.

Miguel Cesar

Spis treści

Contents

Introduction. 6

Death and Afterlife in Japan. 12

Japanese Secularisation. 14

Contemporary Discourses, New Media. 16

Japanese Popular Culture. 19

Chapters’ Overview... 22

References. 26

Chapter I. A Genealogy of the EBT Conversation in Japan. 34

The Relevance of the Kojiki to the EBT Conversation. 35

Scholarly Approaches to the Kojiki 36

Post- Kojiki Conversations in Premodern Japan. 38

The Conversation in Modern Japan. 43

Contemporary Japan: Everything Solid Melts into Air 51

References. 64

Chapter II. Transgressing Boundaries: Exile and Loneliness. 70

Manga, Ontology and Phenomenology. 72

Methods for the Study of Manga. 75

The Story of Fullmetal Alchemist 78

Life and Death Transgressions in Fullmetal Alchemist 79

The First Scene. 79

The 2nd Scene. 84

The 3^rd Scene. 89

Discussion. 93

Alchemist in EBT Intertextuality. 93

Contemporary Debates in Alchemist’s EBT.. 96

Civilization, Power and State. 96

The Individual and the Group. 98

Content and Medium... 99

Conclusion. 101

References. 103

Chapter III. Rebellion and Transgression in “Journey to Agartha”. 108

Theory and Methodology. 110

Animating Transgression. 111

EBT Polyphony, Tensions and Confrontations. 113

Resurrecting Her 117

Discussion. 127

Conclusion. 131

References. 132

Chapter IV. Tragic Transgressions in Shadow of the Colossus. 138

Experiencing Transgression through Computer Games. 140

Analysing Transgression in Computer Games. 142

Transgressing the Boundaries of Life and Death in Shadow of the Colossus. 144

The Structure of Shadow.. 145

Playing the EBT in Shadow... 152

The Mechanics of the EBT.. 153

Shadow of the Colossus as Ethical Experience. 157

Conclusion. 166

References. 167

Conclusions. 170

Contributions of the Work. 172

Research Implications. 175

Final Words. 179

References. 179

 

O autorze

Miguel Cesar completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He obtained his degree in History at the University Complutense of Madrid in 2013, an MSc in American Anthropology at the same university, and an MSc in Japanese Society and Culture at the University of Edinburgh. He is currently an independent researcher studying the role of contemporary Japanese visual media in the shaping of current discourses on individualism and community.

Blurb

This book studies how transgressions of the boundaries of life and death are represented in Japanese contemporary visual media. Specifically, the book examines three case studies: the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, the animated film Journey to Agartha, and the computer game Shadow of the Colossus. By addressing how this theme is constructed by three different media, the book focuses on the narrativization of Japanese ontological anxieties. The book argues that, although these texts deal with matters of afterlife through fantasy worlds, the content of their stories, the archetypes of their characters, and their existential journeys echo contextually-situated conversations. Matters of gender, societal structure and, most of all, the tensions between individuality and sociocentrism not only permeate but structure the interrogation of our relation to the afterlife. This book stands to contribute significantly to media studies, literary studies, comics studies, and Japanese studies.

Miguel Cesar completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He obtained his degree in History at the University Complutense of Madrid in 2013, an MSc in American Anthropology at the same university, and an MSc in Japanese Society and Culture at the University of Edinburgh. He is currently an independent researcher studying the role of contemporary Japanese visual media in the shaping of current discourses on individualism and community.