Transgressing death in Japanese popular culture
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Transgressing death in Japanese popular culture
（Palgrave pivot）
Palgrave macmillan, c2020
Available at / 6 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
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
by "Nielsen BookData"
