抄録
This paper aims to clarify the image of the girl among the new urban middle class, which had a great influence in society, using analysis of the image of girls that appeared in mass-consumption culture, and especially which arose in the girl's magazine culture. In our analysis of columns in a girl's magazine, we assumed that the interaction between the editors of the magazine and its readers constructed the image of the girl in the magazine. Specifically, the readers' column of the magazine Shojo-no-Tomo from 1931 to 1945 was analyzed. The results are as follows. In the 1930s, a "girls network" among the readers was organized in Shojo-no-Tomo. Through this network, readers corresponded with each other in the columns and met at regular readers' parties. The readers were united under the concept of girlishness, especially pureness, and for a concrete thirst for culture and arts. This girlishness, with its "purity, " was constructed in opposition to the "dirty" "adults, " and took precedence over adults. However, from the end of the 1930s, in the midst of the war, editors and the surrounding adults started to condemn "girlishness, " and in response, the girls themselves changed their image to one of "Japanese girls" who served the country with patriotism. However, the image remained one constructed against "adults." Therefore, there was continuity between the "girl" of the 1930s and the "Japanese girl" of that era. The process of change during the War indicates two facts. First, "girls" came to be admired for their ability to work, and secondly, the idea of "girlishness" had become defective.
