Millennial Monsters

Japanese Monsters 
Second Essay

Suggested Topics

1. In “Panic Sites,” Susan Napier says of the animeAkirathat it interrogates “the very conception of Japan’s identity as a nation in a complex contemporary world.” She points, for instance to its lack of narrative closure to suggest how it might be more attuned to the situation the nation finds itself in the postmodern present of the 1980s (when the film was made). Napier contrasts Akira with two earlier works—Godzilla and Nihon chinbotsu (Japan sinks)—to make her case about how these works present and reflect different attitudes regarding Japan’s place in the world. I’d like you to take the story further, and think about Akira in relation to later works (like Ghost in the Shell or Spirited Away). What has changed in the 30 years since Akira debuted? What do the cyborgs and monsters appearing in the later works suggest about how the Japanese imagination of the future (which is also of course a reflection on its present state) has changed? What might account for such changes?
2. Compare the monster stories told by Mizuki Shigeru with the medieval and other tales you have read, e.g., the Dōjōji stories, the stories about Seimei, or in theTale of Genji. How does Mizuki’s treatment of ghosts, monsters, etc., differ from earlier tales of monsters, demons, spirit possession, etc.? What has changed? How would you characterize and account for the changes?
3. In Millennial Monsters, Anne Allison speaks of the “Pokémonization of the America (and the World)” and describes the complex negotiations that accompanied the marketing of Pokémon to the world outside of Japan. William Tsutsui describes Godzilla as an “American icon” inGodzilla on my Mind. Is the global success of Japanese monsters—Pokémon and Godzilla, of course, and including many of the creatures found in anime and manga—an example of the Japanization of other cultures or the globalization of Japanese ideas/culture? Or, to put the question slightly differently, does the worldwide success such creatures arise from the fact that they are distinctively Japanese (is this an example of Japanese “soft power” conquering the world?) or uncompromisingly global? Is it worthwhile to make such a distinction? Additional resources (beyond what you’ve read for class): Christine Yano, “Monstering the Japanese Cute” and Anne Allison, Millennial Monsters, 1-34.

As before, the essay should be 6-8 pages long (about 2000 words), double spaced, in a normal font. It is due, on Quercus, by November 28.