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published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This exploratory study follows existing theory and analysis of mass media product and its audience analysis. It aims to analyse how audience members utilise a popular anime in Japan for their construction and reconstruction of sense of self, which is referred to as socialisation. Academic research has increasingly shed light on audience members??? socialisation by utilising mass media products in encompassing academic fields such as media studies, communication studies and cultural studies. It is widely agreed that the content of mass media products play a significant role in their socialisation. This study takes up a Japanese anime, Mononoke Hime as a sample case for investigating audience members??? socialization. Through the analysis of reactions of audience members to Mononoke Hime, it will be investigated how audience members interpret the anime reflecting one???s experience in the society relating the experience to the content of Mononoke Hime. It will be clarified that the audience members of the anime construct and reconstruct their sense of self, morals and values in the society, that is, they utilize the anime as a facility for their socialization. The data of this study are collected comments which are compiled in a published magazine and private comments posted on Internet sites. 133 comments in the magazine and 32 comments on Internet sites are selected for the analysis. The data were analysed by two analytical approaches. The first analysis is to see how the consulted viewers established their relationship with the anime, while the second analysis is to see how the viewers depicted and interpreted the content of the anime. This study concluded that the consulted audience members show high level of ideological involvement with the anime; they depict parts of the anime relating to their experience in the real life and talk the anime seriously rather than playfully enjoy it as an entertainment. By analysing the comments of consulted audience members, it is also revealed that the audience members take characters of the anime as a role model both in cross gender and gender based ways.

The association between nostalgia, nature and disenchantment has been and still is a very common trope in cultural and literary studies (Saler 138) within the scope of modernity. In fact, it has almost become “a cliché of our time” (Saler 138) in which people often view modern experience as an oppressive status of disillusionment rather than a liberating condition of enlightenment. Since this thesis aims to open up and point at different dimensions of modernity and become “part of a grandiose modernist project yet to be finished” (Hu 23-4), I would like to use Miyazaki’s works to argue that modernity is never a simple, one-sided condition of being ‘disenchanted’ as proclaimed by many scholars. In order to pinpoint some of the contradictory impulsions and potentialities of the experience of modernity, this thesis would first start with a brief overview on the ideas of ‘disenchantment’ and ‘nostalgia’ and their relations to the experience of modernity. The second part would be a general introduction to Miyazaki’s anime, briefly introducing his works in terms of style, content, characterization and such. In particular, I would like to point out how Miyazaki’s works have created alter-tales about disenchanted modernity by showing the multiple facets of modern life and exploring the possibility to (re)enchant modern experiences through his childlike protagonists and the fantastical form of anime. Part three to five would be comprehensive textual analyses about Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Spirited Away (2001) respectively, examining their relationships with and responses to the ambivalent experiences of modernity. The concluding part of this thesis would reflect on the contribution as well as the limitation of my research in regards to the writing of modern experiences and the ongoing modernist project. / published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This exploratory study follows existing theory and analysis of mass media product and its audience analysis. It aims to analyse how audience members utilise a popular anime in Japan for their construction and reconstruction of sense of self, which is referred to as socialisation. Academic research has increasingly shed light on audience members??? socialisation by utilising mass media products in encompassing academic fields such as media studies, communication studies and cultural studies. It is widely agreed that the content of mass media products play a significant role in their socialisation. This study takes up a Japanese anime, Mononoke Hime as a sample case for investigating audience members??? socialization. Through the analysis of reactions of audience members to Mononoke Hime, it will be investigated how audience members interpret the anime reflecting one???s experience in the society relating the experience to the content of Mononoke Hime. It will be clarified that the audience members of the anime construct and reconstruct their sense of self, morals and values in the society, that is, they utilize the anime as a facility for their socialization. The data of this study are collected comments which are compiled in a published magazine and private comments posted on Internet sites. 133 comments in the magazine and 32 comments on Internet sites are selected for the analysis. The data were analysed by two analytical approaches. The first analysis is to see how the consulted viewers established their relationship with the anime, while the second analysis is to see how the viewers depicted and interpreted the content of the anime. This study concluded that the consulted audience members show high level of ideological involvement with the anime; they depict parts of the anime relating to their experience in the real life and talk the anime seriously rather than playfully enjoy it as an entertainment. By analysing the comments of consulted audience members, it is also revealed that the audience members take characters of the anime as a role model both in cross gender and gender based ways.

published_or_final_version / Japanese Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Film and Television. / For this research project, I search for an approach to adaptation theory that may be better suited to adapting Manga (Japanese comics) to film. The American comic book adaptations in the last eight years have met with resounding success, and their increased number has also prompted a shift in what audiences and producers qualify as a successful adaptation. For example, 19 films that have been made by Marvel, Sony and Fox since 2008, were adapted from Marvel comics, but followed plot lines that varied greatly from that of the comics (IMDB.com, n.d). However, Manga adaptations have not met with the same level of success, and as such, I propose that a different approach might be necessary when it comes to adapting them. To do so, I discuss how Japanese Manga has been adapted by Hollywood in the past, and why those attempts have been considered a failure, the key example being that of ‘Dragonball Evolution’ (James Wong, 2008), which was based on the famous series, ‘Dragon Ball’, created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. To conclude, I propose my approach to adapting Manga and support it with a short film adaptation. / MT2017