I'm teaching a short course on Anime!

[Zoatebix]

Check out my class website and message boards by loggin in as a guest: http://www.brown-college.org/moodle/course/view.php?id=11

I am full of excitement. I'd love comments or suggestions, too.

 

[Stone Angel]

I tried but it asked me for a login. Good luck


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Darkness]

I tried but it asked me for a login.

Hehe:

loggin in as a guest

 

[jester47]

Hopefully you will be able to convey that like almost any other entertainment medium that only about 10% of it is in any way redeemable as worthwile.

Might I suggest the first Cowboy Bebop episode as an example of how west influences east influences west?

Aaron.

 

[Zoatebix]

That's actually how I explained my like of anime to a non-fan once and it went over great. Something along the lines of, "I'm not an anime fan, I'm a fan of good film and TV. Some good stuff just happens to be animated TV and movies made in Japan, and I happened to get very interested in what makes good animated film in Japan different from good animated film here - or good film anywhere."

There's definately going to be a Cowboy Bebop episode screened during the first meeting - and episode one could be the best choice.

 

[Alzrius]

I have a suggestion, but I don't think it's a very good one.

Most of my later academic work involved gender roles in anime. While it was very fun and interesting to do, it was a bit of a downer, because the ultimate conclusion I came to was that, being inherently Japanese in design and construction, anime ultimately represents the values of its parent country; this is to say, most of the anime I've seen has had sexist elements to it.

This isn't to say that anime is bad (kami knows I love it), or that it doesn't have many, many other features that are both well-done and inspirational, but in regards to male-female interactions, it (as a generality) doesn't push anything forward in terms of feminism. I realize there are exceptions, but they are just those: exceptions.

Needless to say, I don't think the above is a good topic for this course, as the course sounds somewhat introductory, and you don't want to introduce people to something by showing it's worst face forward. It is, IMO, a great topic of study for people who want to advance further in it.

 

[Zoatebix]

Hey Alzrius - had Susan Napier's book come out when you were doing your research? I've only started reading it, but aparantly she looks at the whole spectrum of depiction of women in anime from The Legend of the Overfiend and other pornography to Miyazaki's heroines. I only discovered the book by chance the other day and it seems like it'd be right up your alley if you haven't picked it up already. The title is Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation.

Yay for finally finding an academic book on anime!

 

[Alzrius]

Hey Alzrius - had Susan Napier's book come out when you were doing your research? I've only started reading it, but aparantly she looks at the whole spectrum of depiction of women in anime from The Legend of the Overfiend and other pornography to Miyazaki's heroines. I only discovered the book by chance the other day and it seems like it'd be right up your alley if you haven't picked it up already. The title is Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation.

Yay for finally finding an academic book on anime!

Thanks for mentioning this Zoatebix. The book had indeed already been published while I was doing my undergraduate work, and it was required reading in one of my courses. While I found her work insightful and helpful, there were points I disagreed with. Without getting specific, I think there were some points where she was seeing what she wanted to, and seemed to be trying to say that anime wasn't as sexist as it seemed (at least to me). This was more apologetic than my conclusion in my own compositions was, but I still think her book is quite worth a read.

As it stands, I'm trying to get admitted to the University of Texas at Austin where she teaches, since I'd like to study under her in the same field.

 

[Psion]

Interesting.

Not that I partilarly recommend it for enjoyment, but it seems to me that no analysis of its genre with an interest in its impact on the west would be complete without reference to a kids' anime like Pokemon.

I also think Princess Mononoke would be a fun film to disect.

 

[Zoatebix]

Quickly glancing to the index, I see Pokemon only gets mentioned on pages 6 and 7. That's still in the introduction, so nothing in-depth there. Since she's a professor of "Modern Japanese Literature and Culture," instead of "Culture and Literature" I'm guessing that cultural studies takes a back seat to aesthetics. A few other children's shows get mentioned briefly: so far (and again in, this is still in the introduction) there's a brief mention of Doraemon's popularity in Thailand...