One project I have been working on this semester is on the Americanization of anime. I don't really see this research "going anywhere," but I love anime and learning, so none of this has been a waste of time.
For Part II, see
here.
To begin, here's a bibliography and some resources to read if interested in the topic. More on specifics to come. I highly suggest anything by Napier or McCarthy
1. Cohen, Karl. Forbidden
Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in
America.
Because
cartoons are theoretically geared toward children, and children are most
susceptible to being “corrupted,” cartoons have always been highly censored.
While his study began as looking at how we think censorship reflects the moral
tone of our culture, he soon found that certain groups were doing the
pressuring; pressuring politicians to vote a certain way, pressuring certain
artists to censor their work, pressuring others to blacklist certain
works. TV shows are more censored than
movies. He supports the use of ratings
rather than censorship, saying that the legal system is a bigger danger to our
society flourishing than uncensored animation.
Sometimes censorship is tied to racism or hiding truths from American
audiences, both of which are terrible.
And where is the line drawn?
After all, propaganda has been allowed and even commissioned by our
government, as Cohen readily points out.
He gives many examples of censorship, which allows him to question what
the purpose of animation is and what its intended audience is. After all, some
censors such as the Hays Office frequently told animators to change
questionable material; many of them were surprised and would respond with “It’s
only a cartoon” (p. 38). Cohen doesn’t
spend much time on foreign animation except when discussing Osamu Tezuka, Akira, and Robotech. He argues that
bringing anime to the United States and what is censored in anime is determined
by who has the money. Advertising
requires money, too, and some newspapers refuse to advertise for anime. Convincing American producers to release
anime, then, is expensive, and this expense limits what American audiences can
see, and therefore learn, about Japanese culture. Most interesting in Cohen’s work is the Television Code released in 1952. This code sets standards for what can be
shown for children on TV. Shows must
help children with “cultural growth,” “foster and promote the commonly accepted
moral, social and ethical ideals characteristic of American life,” and reflect
respect for authorities of the American community” (p. 123). Much of anime, obviously, does not reflect
American ideals or culture, and so is often censored or simply not produced by
American companies or TV stations.
Censorship is always questionable, and if children are supposed to be
taught American values (freedom of speech, being one), censoring anime seems
contradictory to teaching these values.
2. Denison, Rayna. “Star-Spangled Ghibli: Star Voices in the
American Versions of Hayao
Miyazaki’s Films.” Animation 2008 3:129-146.
Denison argues that
Miayzaki’s films, published through Studio Ghibli, have hired “star” American
actors instead of unknown voice actors like other dubbed anime in order to
enhance its sales and reach audiences that know the actors but wouldn’t
necessarily care to watch other anime.
The use of hiring “famous” actors is a form of Americanizing anime that,
while does bring in a wider audience, may bring more credit to these actors
than to the creators of the story and country of the story’s origin; in this
case, Japan. Dubbing changes the
original scripts, and these changes and interpretation of said scripts are
controlled by those with the money: the production companies.
3. Fiske, John. Understanding
Popular Culture. Winchester: Unwin Hyman. 2010.
Fiske
argues that all popular culture is political.
While many view elements of popular culture,
including animation, low culture that is merely for kids or is unable to teach
lessons, Fiske argues differently. His work is regarded as one of the
essentials in understanding popular culture and is essential in understanding
popular culture’s impact on consumers.
4. Giroux, Henry. The
Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence.
This
book could also be called “Disney Pedagogy.”
He says that Disney has a pedagogy; Disney teaches us something, as all
animation does. Animation is important
because its goal is to make children into consumers. Disney understand how children’s minds were
like blank slates, and took advantage of this by teaching them American values,
which included consumerism. Disney has
done well at this by creating a convergence culture. Children not only watch cartoons; they buy
toys of their favorite characters; they go to theme parks and interact with the
characters. Recognizing that animation
can ruin a child’s “innocence” is important in noting the purpose of animation
and how it affects it audiences. The
version of America that Disney promotes isn’t multicultural at all and is
therefore dangerous to American children, Giroux argues. Animation and its history can represent how
history can be written by corporations that have only their own interests at
heart. Giroux’s book is a wonderful
study on how dangerous Disney, and animation, is to American audiences, even
those that aren’t censored and are deemed harmless.
5. Iwabuchi, Koichi. “’Soft’ Nationalism and Narcissm:
Japanese Popular Culture Goes
Global.” Asian Studies Review Vol. 26 no. 4 (Dec. 2002): 447-469.
Anime is changed because it is a form of
“soft power” and is a threat to changing American ideals. This article reviews “how the rise of Asia media culture
production and inter-Asian connections fail to serve wider public interests
locally, nationally and transnationally, especially in terms of the promotion
of uneven globalization process in which the logic of market has deeply
governed the production, circulation, and consumption of media culture” (197).
6. Kelts, Roland. Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has
Invaded the U.S. New York:
Palgrave. 2006.
Kelts seeks to explore why Japanamerica, or, why are
elements of Japanese culture becoming so popular in the United States? He concentrates on the third wave of
Japanophilia—infatuation with Japanese culture—which is the age we are
currently in that is dominated by an interest in anime and manga. Kelts conducts his
research by interviewing Americans and Japanese. One simple point that is telling: that we
often associated the culture or country we see a work in as the work’s original
culture or country. Thus, American kids
who watch Pokemon think it is an American-made show, and Japanese kids who eat
McDonalds think it is a Japanese-created restaurant.
7. Kuwahara, Yasue. “Japanese Culture and Popular
Consciousness: Disney’s The Lion King
vs. Tezuka’s Jungle Emperor.” Journal of
Popular Culture: 37-48.
Tezuka, one of the most important anime artists, created The Jungle Emperor. Years later,
Disney released The Lion King. While
the entire production company at Disney denied knowing anything about Tezuka’s
work. Fans cried foul and accused Disney
of stealing from Tezuka. However, Tezuka
was so influenced by Disney that both couldn’t have been made without the
other. This apparent copying of an anime
without giving any credit to its original creator, is another example of
American producers taking and misusing anime for their own profit.
8. Lent, John, ed. Animation in Asia and the Pacific. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press.
2001.
Lent
begins by acknowledging the same frustration I have had in researching the
Americanization of Anime: scholarship isn’t extensive on the subject! Even less research has been done on animation
outside of Japan. Lent focuses on 15
different countries with the help of a number of contributors. The book is therefore scattered and seems
disorganized in some places, but the lack of emphasis on many countries
correlates with the lack of available research on them. The book does include most research on Japan,
three chapters worth.
9. Lent, John. Comic
Art of the United States through 2000, Animation and Cartoons: An
International Bibliography. Westport: Praeger. 2005.
Wonderful
resource for receiving other sources on the subject of U.S. Animation and
Cartoons. The bibliography covers shows
and movies and has a section on propaganda and censorship.
10. Levi, Antonia. Samurai
from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation. Chicago:
Open Court. 1996.
Answers
the questions behind why the U.S. audience is growing to love anime. She seeks to understand hidden messages
behind Japanese animation, images, stories, and symbols that, when taken out or
not already known to audiences, changes the way an anime is watched and
interpreted. Discuss otaku fans (a fan
without restraint; used to have a negative context; is now used to describe
many anime fans without shame). Some
distributers take the original anime seriously, like AnimEigo and Pioneer,
unlike Streamline Pictures and Viz Video.
She argues that translations—subbing or dubbing jobs—largely impact how
an anime may change. She addresses how
Kimba and Astro Boy both had so many cultural clues to Japan removed that most
audiences didn’t even know the shows originated in Japan. Ultimately, while America has changed much of
anime, anime’s power is now starting to influence and change American
culture. Anime and its popularity has
taught American children to “share,” to strive to think globally for
understanding themselves and others.
Japan even has a version of our “otaku,” called “amecomi,” fans who love
our comics such as Superman and X-Men.
In the back, she offers a wonderful bibliography covering not only
anime, but also Japanese history and culture.
11. McCarthy, Helen. The Anime! Movie Guide. Woodstock: The
Overlook Press. 1996.
McCarthy is one of
the few anime “scholars,” meaning she has published more than one article or
book on the subject. Her work is always
detailed and dedicated to the art. This
guide is set up to be a guide to give consideration to a genre that isn’t
usually regarded as “mass” media and to delve deeper into an ocean that
Americans have only seen the surface of
(7). McCarthy admits that this
guide isn’t complete and is compiled with as much information for each title as
available at the time. Her book is
useful to be able to see what anime movies were being created during the
1983-1996 and to see which of these movies weren’t brought to America and which
were. I would also be able to use
McCarthy’s work for statistical reasons; to look at how many shows and movies
there were, for instance. Finally, The Anime! Movie Guide provides a glossary
and explanation of the difference between Japanese and Western credits, helping
to explain how anime is made and what cultural words and contexts might be lose
in bringing it to America. Where
McCarthy’s guide lacks is in its admittance of anime shows. Either way, the guide is crucial to see which
shows American production companies have taken on.
12. Poitras, Gilles.
The Anime Companion. Berkely:
Stone Bridge Press. 1999.
Dictionary
for understanding Japanese words.
Despite the attempts to spread Japanese culture through anime into the
West, censorship has led many to believe Japanese culture is highly refined,
dignified, and not understandable by “common” people. Poitras emphasizes a difference between
animation and cartoons; anime is more imaginative and provides better, deeper
stories, she argues. She has looked at
subtitled works only, but all ones that are translated into English. These subtitles, as other authors and works
show, sometimes change words to leave out references to Japanese culture, or
leave the words in but don’t explain them.
Thus, Poitras’ goal is to provide a way for viewers to better understand
such inclusions.
13. Price, Shinobu. “Cartoons from Another Planet: Japanese
Animation as Cross-Cultural
Communication.” Journal of American Comparative Cultures 24,
no.2 (September 2009). 153-
169.
Miayzaki, so
similar to Disney, is sometimes not recognized as Japanese. Price explains Japanese cultural elements,
such as the use of looking at clouds in the sky and cicades during the summer,
that are misunderstood in anime. One
difference between anime and American cartoons is that anime heroes and
antagonists are not black and white but instead conflicted characters. She explains Tezuka’s tie to Disney and how
Miayazaki’s first movie done by Disney, Nausicaa, was dubbed so poorly that
Miyazaki and fans protested because much of the story was changed.
14. Ruh, Brian. “Transforming U.S. Anime in the 1980s:
Localization and Longevity.” 5
Mecademia (2010): 31-49.
Tells the story
behind Miyazaki’s Nasicaa of the Valley
of the Wind and its dubbing fiasco in America. Ruh then concentrates on other anime released
during the 1980’s and mentions how most of them were science fiction
related. This article helps because
Miyazaki clearly was upset with Disney for butchering its subtitling and
dubbing job, but the Americanization of his product didn’t keep him away for
long.
15. Smoodin, Eric. Animating
Culture: Hollywood Cartoons from the Sound Era. New
Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press. 1993.
Speaks
on the rise of animation in the United States and how censorship existed even
in the 1920s and 1930s. Smoodin argues
that animation is used for political gain more than audiences and other
scholars may want to admit. His sources
are mostly primary; he looks at many shows and looks to the Library of Congress
to back up his argument that when shows are censored, they are so changed in
order to meet or create an audience demand.
Changing a show also changes its message. While audiences are left to interpret
animation on their own, producers do have an effect on what is included and
omitted from a piece. He mainly
concentrates on the animation of Walt Disney, showing how Disney bridged a gap
between high and low culture. Animation
has this sort of power, and arguably anime like Miyazaki’s can do the same,
even if not given credit. Animation
helps bring American ideology to other parts of the world. Animation holds much power, and those who
animate control this power. Disney, for instance, when investigated by the FBI,
turned the situation around by offering to make propaganda films for them. Animation isn’t pure, innocent, or just for
children, in other words. Spectators,
consumers, of animation cannot be passive, as animators and producers all have
a goal in what is shown, but must rather resist.
16. Thomas, Frank and Ollie Johnston. The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. Walt
Disney
Productions. 1981.
An
excellent, thorough, complete work on Disney’s animation, not about Walt Disney
or about how his work impacted others or shaped American culture. Written by two Disney animators, the authors
argue that their work “creates the illusion of life,” an element that “no other
studio has been able to duplicate.” This
“Disney style” was achieved mostly through looking at real life before drawing
(such as observing real lions before animating The Lion King). The authors hold an extremely
narrow-minded idea that is contradictory to other sources on Disney’s
works. Other sources have argued that
anime has been censored and not accepted by American audiences (or American
production companies), because they have been “too real.” This contradiction is useful to investigate
in determining what animation is, who its audience is, what its purpose is, and
how people interpret its meanings. As the authors are Disney animators, they
have a biased view and have limited their sources to most of their own work as
well as interviews with other Disney animators.
17. West, Mark, ed. The Japanification of Children’s Popular Culture: From Godzilla to
Miyazaki. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2009.
Most of the books West’s
historiography includes I have read or are included on this bibliography,
but West’s compilation seeks to address why American children are drawn to
anime, and have been increasingly so since 1990, and how they have responded to
anime’s spread. The book doesn’t just
concentrate on anime, but on Japanese Popular Culture elements. This is still relevant to my study, as many
chapter speak directly to anime, such as “The Allure of Anthropomorphism in Manga and Anime,” “We All Live in a Pokemon
World, “Pokemon as Theater,” “Interviews with Adolescent Anime Fans,” “Two Worlds, United by Anime,” “The Cross-Cultural Appeal of
the Characters in Manga and Anime,” “Early Japanese Animation in the
United States,” and “Anime and Anime.” The chapter titled “The Censorship of
Japanese Anime in America” by Rieko
Okuhara is especially important, as the author notes how most that is censored
in anime has been sex references.
Okuhara concentrates on the popular show Dragon Ball Z. FUNimation
Productions, the producer of the series in America, is known to highly edit the
violence and sex for American television, acts which anger fans of the original
show. Dialogue is also changed. Okuhara notes that American changes often led
to the intentions and actions of characters being mistakenly interpreted. Other essays would also help in my research
as they continue to emphasis the importance of how anime is interpreted when
changed and brought to America.
Other Resources
1. Allison, Anne. “Portable Monsters
and Commodity Cuteness: Pokemon as
Japan’s New GlobalPower.” Postcolonial Studies vol. 6 no. 3
(2003): 381-395.2. Born, Christopher. “In the Footstep
of the Master: Confucian Values in Anime and Manga.”Guest-Edited
Section—Teaching about Asia. Vol. XVII no. 1 (Fall 2009): 39-53.3. Brehm-Heeger, Paula, Ann Conway,
and Carrie Vale. “Cosplay, Gaming, and Conventions: TheAmazing and Unexpected Places an Anime Club Can Lead
Unsuspecting Librarians.” Young Adult
Library Services. Winter 2007. 14-16.4. Bresnahan, Mary Jiang,
Yasuhiro Inoue and Naomi Kagawa. “Players and Whiners? Perceptionsof Sex Stereotyping in Anime in Japan and the US.” Asian Journal of Communication Vol. 16
no. 2 (June 2006): 207-217.5. Brienza, Casey. “Books, Not
Comics: Publishing Fields, Globalization, and Japanese Manga in the United States.” Pub Res Q (2009): 101-117.6. Chambers, Samantha Nicole Inez.
“Anime: From Cult Following to Pop Culture Phenomenon.”The Elon Journal
of Undergraduate Research in Communications. Vol. 3 no. 2 (Fall 2012): 94-101.7. Condry, Ian. “Dark Energy: What
Fansubs Reveal about the Copyright Wars.” 194-208.8. Coyle, Rebecca. “Hearing Screen
Animation.” Metro Magazine. 158.
158-162.9. Denison, Rayna. “Transcultural
creativity in anime: Hybrid identities in the production,distribution, texts and fandom
of Japanese anime.” Creative Industries
Journal vol. 3 no. 3: 221-235.10. Dunlap, Kathryn and Carissa Wolf.
“Fans Behaving Badly: Anime Metafandom, BrutalCriticism, and the
Intellectual Fan.”11. Fletcher-Spear, Kristin
and Merideth Jenson-Benjamin. “Get Animated @ you library” YALS(Summer
2005): 32-34.12. Fukunaga, Natsuki. “ ‘Those Anime
Students’: Foreign Language Literacy DevelopmentThrough Japanese Popular
Culture.” Journal of Adolescent &
Adult Literacy 50:3 (Nov. 2006): 206-222.13. Hanson, Ellis. “The Child as
Pornographer.” The South Atlantic
Quarterly 110:3 (Summer2011): 673-692.14. Imaoka, Laura Bletz. “Consuming and
Maintaining Difference: American Fans Resisting theGlobalization of
Japanese Popular Culture.” disClosure 19
(2010): 1-7.15. Iwabuchi, Koichi. “Globalization,
East Asian media cultures and their publics.” Asian Journal of
Communication. Vol. 20
no. 2 (June 2010): 197-212.16. Iwabuchi, Koichi. “Undoing
Inter-national Fandom in the Age of Brand Nationalism.”Mechademia Vol. 5
(2010): 87-96.17. Lamarre, Thomas. “From animation to
anime: drawing movements and moving
drawings.”Japan Forum 14(2)
2002: 329-367.18. McKevitt, Andrew. “ ‘You are Not
Alone!’: Anime and the Globalizating of America.”Diplomatic History 34(5)
Nov. 2010: 893-921.19. McLelland, Mark. “A Short History
of ‘Hentai.’ ” Intersections 1220. Misaka, Kaoru. “The First Japanese
Manga Magazine in the Untied States.” Publishing
Research Quarterly (Winter
2004): 23-30.21. Miyao, Daisuke. “Before anime:
animation and the Pure Film Movement in the pre-war Japan.”Japan Forum 14(2)
2002: 191-209.22. Napier, Susan. “The World of Anime
Fandom in America.” Mechademia vol. 1
(2006): 47-63.23. Ortega-Brena, Mariana. “Peek-a-boo,
I See You: Watching Japanese Hard-Core Animation.”Sexuality & Culture
13 (2009): 17-31.24. Prough, Jennifer.
“Marketing Japan: Manga as Japan’s New Ambassador.” ASIANetwork
Exchange (NEED INFO): 54-68.25. Shamoon, Deborah. “Teaching
Japanese Popular Culture.” Guest-Edited
Section—Teaching
About Asia. Vol. XVII
no. 2 (Spring 2010: 9-22.26. Winge, Theresa. “Costuming the
Imagination: Origins of Anime and Manga Cosplay.”Mechademia Vol. 1
(2006): 65-76.27. Vollmar, Rob. “Dark Side of Manga: Tezuka Osamu’s Dark
Period.” World Literature Today
(March-April 2012): 14-19.
Pokemon is an excellent example of this confusion. The series became hugely popular in American
in 2000. A show quickly emerged, and
millions of kids (teens, and yes, even adults) sat around on Saturday morning
watching Ash and Pickachu adventuring.
In fact, Pokemon has become one of the shows associated with the word
“anime” for many people. The genre led
to one of “the most successful computer game[s] ever made, the top globally
selling trading-card game of all time, one of the most successful children’s
television programs ever broadcast, the top-grossing movie ever released in
Japan, and among the five top earners in the history of films worldwide.”[4] The expanding Pokemon franchise, scholars observe, created a connection between American
children who loved to consume Pokemon and “Japan as a cool nation capable of
producing such wonderful characters, imaginaries, and commodities.”[5] I, age eleven at the time, remember begging
my mom to let me watch the show. She
said no because the show had supposedly given some children seizures. The qualm here, according to the first type
of fans, is that the Pokemon show quickly became Americanized—broadcast and
popularized in order to enhance consumerism in a market saturated with Pokemon
products.
