Transgressing death in Japanese popular culture

Author(s)

    • César, Miguel

Bibliographic Information

Transgressing death in Japanese popular culture

Miguel Cesar

(Palgrave pivot)

Palgrave macmillan, c2020

Available at  / 6 libraries

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book focuses on the theme of the transgression of life and death boundaries through its representation in Japanese contemporary visual media, more specifically in the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, the animated film Journey to Agartha, and the computer game Shadow of the Colossus. By addressing how the theme was constructed by three different media and what these texts say about it, 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, and Japanese studies.

Table of Contents

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 3rd 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

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