skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The Transformation of the Teenage Image in Oshii Mamoru’s Sky Crawlers
Abstract: In t
his paper I examine Oshii Mamoru’s unusual portrayal of teenage characters in his recent work Sky Crawlers (2008). Oshii contrasts the adult life styles and responsibilities of these military aviators with their youth in ways that question the meaning of both childhood and adulthood. Oshii’s approach in this work will be compared to other teenager protagonists in Japanese animation, including those employed by Miyazaki Hayao. My presentation will explore how Oshii’s Sky Crawlers treats images of teenagers and their bodies in a manner that moves away from the usual treatment in anime that often employs exaggerated liveliness and romance conventions.
Biographical Statement: I am a postdoctoral fellow with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) affiliated with Kyoto University. This paper is part of the larger book project that analyzes many of the leading figures in the anime/animation world of Japan. The goal of this book is to produce a combination of essays on these animators together with original interviews, to provide a critical and analytical investigation of the complexity and diversity of Japanese animation. Discussions of famous figures like Miyazaki Hayao and Oshii Mamoru are included along side analyses of other prominent animators, who have often been neglected by the mass media despite their significant careers and contributions.
Urban Nightmares: Anime City Spaces(preconstituted panel: ‘Urbanimation’: representations of the city in animation)
Abstract: This paper
will chart some of the prominent tropes in the representation of the city in anime. Sci-fi, fantasy and even noir generic conventions are used to channel the representation of the city into an imposing presence. The paper seeks to understand the pleasures available for viewers when cities are often ‘rewritten’ (Staiger, 1999: 97) or ‘imagined’ (Orbaugh, 2006: 81) and cityscapes, or lines, redrawn. The paper also considers how this relates to theoretical models of spectatorship and the pleasures animated city spaces might hold for viewers outside the context of Japan.
Biographical statement: Dr Caroline Ruddell teaches at St. Mary’s University College, UK, in the areas of animation, popular culture and identity, North American cinema, and critical methodologies. Caroline's research interests are in animation and representations of identity and subjectivity. She has published on the representation of witchcraft in popular television, fissured identity in film, and on anime. Her current research focuses on anime aesthetics and spectatorship in relation to issues of movement, space and the animated ‘line’. Caroline is a member of the Editorial Boards for Animation Studies (the Society for Animation Studies online peer reviewed journal) and Watcher Junior: The Undergraduate Journal of Buffy Studies. Caroline is also Reviews Editor for animation: an interdisciplinary journal, published by Sage.
his paper I examine Oshii Mamoru’s unusual portrayal of teenage characters in his recent work Sky Crawlers (2008). Oshii contrasts the adult life styles and responsibilities of these military aviators with their youth in ways that question the meaning of both childhood and adulthood. Oshii’s approach in this work will be compared to other teenager protagonists in Japanese animation, including those employed by Miyazaki Hayao. My presentation will explore how Oshii’s Sky Crawlers treats images of teenagers and their bodies in a manner that moves away from the usual treatment in anime that often employs exaggerated liveliness and romance conventions.