1,721,010 research outputs found
Princess Mononoke:Understanding Studio Ghibli's Monster Princess
No full textPrincess Mononoke (1997) is one of anime's most important films. Hayao Miyazaki's epic fantasy broke domestic box office records when it came out in Japan, keeping pace with the success of Hollywood films like Titanic (1997). Princess Mononoke was also the first of Studio Ghibli's films to be distributed outside Japan as part of a new deal with Disney subsidiary Buena Vista International. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the release of the film, Rayna Denison curates this new collection to critically reflect on Princess Mononoke's significance within and beyond Japanese culture. The collection investigates the production, and re-production, processes involved in the making of Princess Mononoke into a global phenomenon and reevaluates the film's significance within a range of global markets, animation techniques, and cultures. In revisiting this undeniably important film, the collection sheds light on the tensions within anime and the cultural and social issues that Princess Mononoke explores, from environmental protection to globalization to the representation of marginalized groups. In this remarkable new collection, Princess Mononoke is examined as a key player during a major turning point in Japanese animation history
Princess Mononoke
No full textThis book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Princess Mononoke (1997) is one of anime’s most important films. Hayao Miyazaki’s epic fantasy broke domestic box office records when it came out in Japan, keeping pace with the success of Hollywood films like Titanic (1997). Princess Mononoke was also the first of Studio Ghibli’s films to be distributed outside Japan as part of a new deal with Disney subsidiary Buena Vista International. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the release of the film, Rayna Denison curates this new collection to critically reflect on Princess Mononoke’s significance within and beyond Japanese culture. The collection investigates the production, and re-production, processes involved in the making of Princess Mononoke into a global phenomenon and reevaluates the film’s significance within a range of global markets, animation techniques, and cultures. In revisiting this undeniably important film, the collection sheds light on the tensions within anime and the cultural and social issues that Princess Mononoke explores, from environmental protection to globalization to the representation of marginalized groups. In this remarkable new collection, Princess Mononoke is examined as a key player during a major turning point in Japanese animation history
Homer, Ovid, Disney and Star Wars:The critical reception and transcultural popularity of Princess Mononoke
No full textThe 1999 theatrical release of Princess Mononoke in the US signalled the moment in which many Western audiences became aware of Hayao Miyazaki’s films for the first time. Princess Mononoke’s early reception in the West was characterised by a focus on the film’s provenance and attendant issues of cultural translation. Across the intervening years, however, there has been a distinct shift in the frames of reference employed by Western critics to discuss the film, and in this respect it functions as significant marker of changing attitudes towards anime in Western contexts of reception. This chapter tracks the evolving status of Princess Mononoke by considering the fluctuating valuations of the film across a nineteen year period. In particular, it explores the ways in which a series of comparisons between Hayao Miyazaki’s film and an eclectic mix of popular and high culture reference points, from classical European epics by Homer and Ovid to Hollywood film franchises like Star Wars, have been employed to localize, frame and valorize the film for Anglophone audiences. These cultural comparisons also reveal an intersection of discourses around genre, audience and industry, as well as reflecting shifting attitudes towards gender identity, race and media violence. Furthermore, by comparing and contrasting news and magazine reviews of Princess Mononoke with those offered by online citizen-critics, this chapter also considers developments and continuities in film reviewing practices across a twenty year period, and reflects on the tensions and overlaps between professional and amateur critics in the digital era
Controllers and the Magic Kingdom:Corporate Partnership, Synergy and the Limits of Cross-Promotion in Disney and Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
Full text linkWho controls the Kingdom Heartsfranchise? This article examines this question using a mixed industrial and promotional approach to seek moments of revelation about the creation and status of the Kingdom Heartsfranchise for both of its conglomerate co-creators, Disney and Square Enix. Disney’s conglomerated industrial practice has long been assessed for adherence to the concept of synergy. By examining where and how synergy was adopted as an industrial logic within the creation of the Kingdom Heartsfranchise, and Kingdom Hearts IIIin particular, I argue that it is in moments of tension wherewe can find the most instructive evidence for who controls the games we play. Following work by Janet Wasko (2001) and Barbara Klinger (1999) in particular, I first look across the shared discursive history of the franchise and then at the promotion of Kingdom Hearts IIIfor instances where synergy breaks down or becomes contested. These, I contend, demonstrate the limits of the logic of synergy in cross-cultural, transindustrial production cultures
Star-Spangled Ghibli: Star voices in the American versions of Hayao Miyazaki's films
No full textThis article offers an examination of the use of American stars in re-voicing a set of Japanese animated texts. The author argues that a new industrial, contextual and textual understanding of stardom is required to penetrate the dense network of meanings attached to star voices in animation. Furthermore, she utilizes a mixed textual and contextual approach to several of Studio Ghibli's American DVD releases to consider the markets for and meanings of anime in America. In so doing this article represents an intervention into a range of academic debates around the nature of contemporary stardom and the significance of anime in America
How does a Transnational Audience Factor in Character Design for Professional Broadcast Animation?
Full text linkThe broadcasters’ perception of its consumers is an important consideration in the successful acquisition of animated character productions. The article will focus on the different types of audience that is to be acknowledged when creating professional character based transcultural animated entertainment. It will determine how a character’s design must fit within distinct audience archetypes. The articles’s research will be contextualised with previous successful character design, and will look at successful designers and their co commissioners that have created transcultural work such as the Frankenstein’s Cat (McKinnon & Saunders: UK / Kayanta Studios: France) and Luo Bao Bei (Cloth Cat Animation: UK / Magic Mall: China). The paper’s ultimate aim is to identify a formula to create engaging animated characters
Tu Mera Superman: Globalization, Cultural Exchange and the Indian Superhero
No full textWhile the recent blockbuster Krrish (2006) was initially promoted as “India’s First Super Hero,” the film is actually part of a long history of attempts to engage with the superhero genre in Indian cinema. Utilising Yuri Lotman’s model of cultural exchange, this chapter traces five distinct stages in this history from the early use of imported characters in titles such as Return of Mr. Superman (1960) through to the transnational influence of contemporary Indian superheroes such as Krrish and Ra.One (2011). Moving beyond simplistic formulations that see Indian superheroes as purely imitative of Western models, this chapter instead positions the Indian superhero as part of a transnational dialogue that has a number of implications for our understanding of globalization more broadly
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