21G.591
Gender and Japanese Popular Culture
Examines relationships between identity and participation in Japanese popular culture as a way of understanding the changing character of media, capitalism, fan communities, and culture. Emphasizes contemporary popular culture and theories of gender, sexuality, race, and the workings of power and value in global culture industries. Topics include manga (comic books), hip-hop and other popular music, anime and feature films, video games, contemporary literature, and online communication. Students present analyses of materials during in-class discussions and develop a final project based on a particular aspect of gender and popular culture. Several films screened outside of regular class meeting times. Taught in English with a project that requires research in Japanese. Preference to Japanese minors.
Fall 2015
Topics
- Feminist Social Theory and Cross Cultural Perspective
- Guest Lecturer: Professor Edward Schiappa , Comparative Media Studies, MIT
- Women and Media + “Rotten Girls” ( fujoshi ) Manga
- “Rotten Girls” ( fujoshi ) Manga (cont.)
- “Cool Japan” and Its Discontents
- Participatory / Convergence Culture
- Capital, Debt, and Power
- Peer Review Writing Workshop
- Robots, Gender, and Sexism in 21 st Century Japan (cont.)
- Anime and Collaborative Creativity
- Anime and Collaborative Creativity (cont.)
- Either Attend Class or Attend Harvard University Professor Theodore C. Bestor ’s lecture “Washoku on the World Stage: UNESCO and the Promotion of Japanese Cuisine.”
- Gender and Performance
- Host Clubs, Masculinity, and Seduction
- Onnagata
- Idols and Celebrity Culture
- Gender and Games (featuring Kyrie)
- Final Presentations
- Conclusions and Future Questions
Readings
- [C] = Condry, Ian. The Soul of Anime: Collaborative Creativity and Japan’s Media Success Story . Duke University Press Books, 2013. ISBN: 9780822353942.
- [G] = Graeber, David. Debt: The First 5000 Years . Melville House, 2014. ISBN: 9781612194196.
- [J] = Jackson, Stevi, ed. Women’s Studies: Essential Readings . New York University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780814742150.
- What is “popular” culture, and how might it differ from traditional culture, high culture, and mass culture?
- What are some “gender issues” related to Japanese popular culture?
- Overview of the syllabus
- [J] Chapter 1: Feminist Social Theory.
- [J] Chapter 3: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women’s Lives.
- 4 · Women and Media + “Rotten Girls” ( fujoshi ) Manga
- [J] Chapter 14: Representations of Women in the Media.
- 5 · “Rotten Girls” ( fujoshi ) Manga (cont.)
- Adorno, Theodor, and Max Horkheimer. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” Chapter 2 in The Cultural Studies Reader . 3rd ed. Edited by Simon During. Routledge, 2007. ISBN: 9780415374132.
- Benkler, Yochai. “Introduction: A Moment of Opportunity and Challenge.” Chapter 1 in The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom . Yale University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780300125771.
- Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections . Edited by Hannah Arendt. Schocken Books, 1969. ISBN: 9780805202410.
- Christakis, Nicholas A., and James H. Fowler. Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives . Little Brown and Company, 2008. ISBN: 9780316036146.
- Negus, Keith. “Rethinking Creative Production Away From the Cultural Industries.” Chapter 13 in Media and Cultural Theory . Edited by James Curran and David Morley. Routledge, 2005. ISBN: 9780415317054.
- Lamarre, Thomas. “Otaku Movement.” In Japan After Japan: Social and Cultural Life from the Recessionary 1990s to the Present . Edited by Tomiko Yoda and Harry Harootunian. Duke University Press Books, 2006. ISBN: 9780822338130.
- [G] Chapter 1: On The Experience of Moral Confusion.
- [G] Chapter 2: The Myth of Barter.
- Piketty, Thomas. “Acknowledgements.” In Capital in the Twenty-First Century . Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Belknap Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780674430006.
- Robertson, Jennifer. “Gendering Humanoid Robots: Robo-Sexism in Japan.” Body and Society 16, no. 2 (2010): 1–36.
- [C] Chapter 2: Characters and Worlds as Creative Platforms.
- [C] Chapter 3: Early Directions in Postwar Anime.
- [C] Chapter 7: Love Revolution: Otaku Fans in Japan.
- Robertson, Jennifer. “Introduction.” In Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan . University of California Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780520211513.
- [T] Chapter 2: Commodified Romance.
- [T] Chapter 3: Entrepreneurial Attraction.
- 17 · Onnagata · Mishima, Yukio. “Onnagata.” In Death in Midsummer and Other Stories . New Directions, 1966. ISBN: 9780811201179.
- Glasspool, Lucy. “From Boys Next Door to Boys’ Love: Gender Performance in Japanese Male Idol Media.” Chapter 5 in Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture . Edited by Patrick W. Galbraith and Jason G. Karlin. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. ISBN: 9780230298309.
- McLelland, Mark J. “Japan’s Queer Cultures.” Chapter 11 in Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society . Edited by Victoria Lyon Bestor, Theodore C. Bestor, et al. Routledge, 2013. ISBN: 9780415709149.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: 21G.504 or permission of instructor U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-10 units. HASS-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2015
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.