Week 7

What does Dick (1995), himself theorise about IChing?

Dick (1995), theorises IChing (the book of changes) in a very confusing and complex way. Dick (1995), relates IChing to synchronicity and involves the concept of Schizophrenic by relating it to IChing. Synchronicity, which Wolfgang Pauli as cited in Dick (1995, p. 176) called the “acausal connective principle”. Dick (1995), also states that IChing is also a device through which synchronicity can be handled. It would also be important to understand the term Synchronicity. Synchronicity it is related to psychological issues, meaning a coincidence of events that is somehow related but not caused by one another. Further, it is states that IChing is acausal connectivity or involves events that relate and occur outside of time.

Moreover, Dick (1995), explains that IChing can also be related to Koinos Koimos and can be scrutinized because the composer, composed it considering present time and was not interested in future. He was in prison and wanted to find out about what was happening outside ‘at that moment’. Dick (1995), also uses the term schizophrenic (contradictions) to theorise IChing (the book of changes). It appears that Dick (1995), suggest that if you are Schizophrenic, you should use IChing because that would help you in making the right decisions. Hence, Dick (1995), theorises IChing by relating it to Schizophrenic and Synchronicity.

Reference:

Dick, P.K. (1995).Schizophrenia and the IChing. In Sutin, L. (Ed.),The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick (pp.175-182). New York: Vintage.

Week Six

HOW DOES PRINCESS MONOKOKE AND OTHER MIYAZAKI FILMS ADDRESS THE HUMANITY/NATURE DIVIDE ACCORDING TO WRIGHT (2005)?

“Well, yes. I believe that children's souls are the inheritors of historical memory from previous generations. It's just that as they grow older and experience the everyday world that memory sinks lower and lower. I feel I need to make a film that reaches down to that level. If I could do that I would die happy” Hayao Miyazaki

We live in a material age. Across the globe, westernization is spreading and industrialism fuels our way of life. However, Hayao Miyazaki is synonymous with producing films that challenge such modern concepts. Although made with the Japanese market in mind, they are universal in appeal, and suggest an appreciation for the natural world.

Wright (2005) explains that Shinto, which predates Japanese history, is neither religion nor belief – it is the acceptance of humanity into the nagare (flow) of life. There is no monotheistic ‘God’ instead everything within the circle of life are ‘kami’, and this includes humans, grass, the sea etc. Shinto is defined as animalistic and contains no religious dogma. Miyazaki says that, “religion is a human construct and has nothing to do with nature.” (as cited in Wright, 2005, p.6) However believers are required to honor kami, respect nature and participate in purification rituals (Wright, 2005). A key element of Shinto is that it is inclusive of everyone and assimilates foreign elements, rather than limiting itself and ostracising its following. Its worldview regards the balance between nature and humanity as paramount (the concept of nagare), and the connections between kami and the natural world are everywhere. There are no boundaries between past souls/alive souls, material/spiritual, this world/another perfect world, even good/evil, and it is these ideas that are shared by Miyazaki in his films.

Princess Monokoke is set in the years of great change in Japan, when a metaphorical battle was being fought by industrialization and nature (also the era when guns were introduced to Japan). This is epitomized by the Tatara clan admitting to burning the forest down for ore and destroying the Shishigami, saying “Watch closely. This is how you kill a god” (Wright, 2005, p.12) This represents not only the death of a literal god but also the act of pillaging nature for industrial pursuits. Miyazaki adds afterwards, “I think we did kill the Shishigami … there was a boundary which humans should not enter” (as cited in Wright, 2005, p.12).

The film’s heroes are from the wild forests, symbolic of a time before “we began to tamper with the world” (Miyazaki, cited in Wright, 2005, p.12). The forest spirits are represented by all forest forms, conflicting with the ideas enforced by monotheistic religions today. For example, Christianity holds that God takes the form of a man, and if not, he is incomprehensible to mankind, whereas Shinto asserts that kami is accessible to all and takes no leap of faith to understand. This is further elaborated in Princess Monokoke by the availability of the divine, as seen when Ashitaka is told to rise and meet his fate (Wright, 2005). The villain of the story, Lady Eboshi (responsible for the acts mentioned above), laughs at the notion of “eyes unclouded by hate” (Wright, 2005, p.12) and instead furthers her tyrannies. However, as Shinto teaches, tsumi (evil) is merely goodness clouded by dust, something that can be wiped clean again (Wright, 2005). Miyazaki portrays good and evil in this way, his characters are people who cannot be classed in the rigid good/evil way traditionalism would allow, instead we witness his ‘villain’ caring for lepers and furthering her community during a perilous era. Rather, she appears a construct of modernity – a metaphor if you will – for mankind’s push for achievement and modernity at the cost of the planets well-being. It appears that evil is a natural form within all, and rather than one seeking to banish it – an impossibility - one must instead learn to better oneself. This is evident in Spirited Away, to which Miyazaki says “She manages not because she has destroyed the 'evil,' but because she has acquired the ability to survive." (taken from Wikipedia). We see the ‘stink spirit’ needing cleansing, rather than destroying.

Nausicaa was inspired by the pollution of Minemata Bay, whereby the fish thrived and humans died. This startling occurrence is portrayed in the movie, where a polluted world sees humans become the weaker force on the planet. Its heroine has definite ideals about how humanity should survive by respecting the natural world, and is labelled “magokoro” – sincere heart – a concept of valuing all natural life. To quickly summarise the film - the nagare is put back into balance by her attempts at amending the tsumi, the godlike Ohmu (who feel all the Earth’s pain) are not vengeful (unlike Christianity’s ‘jealous’ god) and we later learn that the ‘toxic jungle’ is ultimately purifying the planet (Wright, 2005).

Laputa is the final film we shall examine. Wright (2005) interprets the films setting as a metaphor for Japan’s past, which is governed by the spiritual force of a giant tree. There are strong links within this film to ancestry, and this is relevant to Shinto as there are no boundaries between the metaphysical or the past. It’s a belief solely focused on the now. Supernatural powers are evident also, and of course, in the world of Shinto, anything is possible.

Miyazaki is, in my humble opinion, one of the animation greats of Japan, as his films convey much deeper meanings. There are many layers to be found amongst each level of understanding within the stories, which spellbind not just their target audience of Japan, but a worldwide audience. His use of nature vs industry storylines may or not be influenced by Shinto (he has never admitted this fact) but they are ones mankind should consider regardless of their writer’s spiritual beliefs. Certainly, as we embark on this age of commercialism and greed, films such Miyazaki’s should give us pause for thought. Do we wish to continue down the path of Lady Eboshi, or will we one day see the day when “money and desire … will collapse…and wild green grasses are going to take over” (Miyazaki, as cited in Wright, 2005, p.1).

REFERENCE LIST

Hayao Miyazaki. Retrieved August 25, 2011 from Internet Movie Database website: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/

Syles and Themes of Hayao Miyazaki.(2011, July 6). Retrieved August 25, 2011, from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styles_and_themes_of_Hayao_Miyazaki

Wright, L. (2005). NatureSpirits, Giant Insects and World Trees: the nature vision of Hayao Miyazaki. In the Journal of Religion of Popular Culture.Volume X: Summer 2005.

Week Four

Why does the religious right in the US condemn fantasy, according to Cockrell

(2004)? On what grounds does Cockrell defend fantasy literature,

using Harry Potter as an example?

According to Cockrell (2004) the religious rights in the US condemn fantasy as

a corruption of young minds and has underlining messages of witchcraft and

satanism. Cockrell trys to defend the fantasy genre of literature especially

the works of Harry Potter which is a key target. Cockrell (2004) says

“What is it about Harry Potter?” (p.24). why not target a different film or novel.

Harry Potter is no different to many other fantasy works such as The Lord of

the Rings, The Wizard of Oz or The Wizard of Earthsea.

Cockrell (2004) tries to justify these religious rights claims by saying it could be

because Harry Potter is everywhere. That for its popularity there are consequences.

But Harry Potter is only everywhere because of huge marketing compaigns, not because

of satan. Certain views of fantasy believe that it will lead to bad behaviour in

children and that parents need to protect their children from the evils of the fantasy world.

And to the extreme that the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forward is instead an S for Satan.

Cockrell (2004) explains that perhaps these groups are targeting Harry Potter as it feels to close to home. Unlike other fantasies which have their separate worlds Harry's character was brought up in England and almost like the basis of science fiction they can convince the reader that it is possible to have these two worlds England and Hogwarts. Cockrell (2004) mentions the views from demonbuster.com whos views are that Harry Potter exposes children to rebellious ideas of going against their parents and questioning their authority by putting spells on them. Just like when Harry Potter goes against his muggle Aunt and Uncle who could also been seen as portraying the role of the religious community.

Cockrell (2004) gives an examples of these anti fantasy views from the Fundamentalist Chrisitan Parents Association and up to exposingsatanism.org which people say they were involved in witchcraft and can identify it when they see it. It seems with each example Cockrell gives she is making fun of their ridiculous claims (or perhaps this is just me). Surely people realise that there is no such thing as magic and that there is only illusions and peoples imagination.It seems to me that these groups of people are worried that the young generation is so captivated by the Harry Potter series that it must be brainwashing children into wizards and witches.

What is well put by a Chrisitian Libriarn Kimbra Wilder Gish that Cockrell (2004) quotes "when you believe that witches and occult practises are real, and contrary to God's laws, those books are quite different from what the authors probably intended." (p.26).

And therefore no matter what the authors intentions are, their work be it fantasy will always be seen as dangerious or works of satan if those are the views of such people.

References:

Cockrell, A. (2004). Harry Potter and the Witch Hunters: a social context for

the attacks on Harry Potter. The Journal of American Culture, Vol 29, No 1

Week Three

How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn?

Looking at different sources opinions of the difference between science fiction
and fantasy - Attebery (1980) says that “Science fiction spends much of its time
convincing the reader that its seeming impossibilities are in fact explainable if
we extrapolate from the world and the science that we know of” (p. 3).
This would be an example of the film The Matrix which is clearly a true test
for the protagonist Neo himself to understand what is real or not.

Tax (2002) breaks down Le Guin’s work of Science fiction and Fantasy as
“Le Guin’s science fiction is about social and political life; some reads like
ethnographies or imaginary societies, some deals with revolution.
Because of its social themes, it appears more political than her fantasies,
which deal with inner life.” (p.16).

Le Guinn’s (2005) own idea's of science fiction in Plausibility Revisited is that it can be either present or past and then it is told as truth as “the future is a blank page, and the imagination can write anything it likes on it”. Le Guinn (2005) also notes that science fiction can be just as realistic as fiction as it needs to meet the rules of how people generally act and avoids events that the reader may find ‘improbable’ but if they do use these events they will need to plausibly explain them. This is done for the reader to connect to the story without feeling
completely removed. She quotes “It's often said that science fiction is the
modern mythology”.

Le Guinn (2005) also expresses that we cannot write myths but the nearest we can
come to writing myths is fantasy. Was was confused by that remark as it contradicts what she said previously that science fiction is modern mythology but then says the closest to writing myths is fantasy so which one is it? When looking at fantasy Le Guinn (2005) says that “fantasy is far more direct in its fictionality” that there is no need for the story to take on any real life circumstances, places, events, people etc. Le Guinn (2005) says “there is no agreement to pretend this story happened, might have happened or might ever happen”. She also says that in fantasy human character's behaviours generally meet the normal expectations of in the real world and even if the characters are not human they may have human emotions which relate to the real world. But as far as that goes for relating to the reader, fantasy does not necessarily need to be relatable as fantasy; as I quote from the Collins dictionary, Fantasy is “an imagination unrestricted by reality.” (p.213).

In short fantasy is the impossible but may have familiarities to reality so that
reader can relate to the story or characters in some ways. The impossibilities
in fantasy although they are impossible they are treated as if they were real and
so are not forbidding to the reader. Science fiction however is making the
impossible sound possible as it could be described as a myth in the past or as a
future we do not know yet and throughout the story the reader is trying to be
convinced that this could be a possible reality.

References:

Attebery, B. (1980) The fantasy tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guinn. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1980.

Collins mini Dictionary (4th ed.). (2010). Glasgow, UK: Collins

Le Guin, U. (2005) Plausibility Revisited. Retrieved August 24, 2011, from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html

Tax, M. (2002) Year of Harry Potter, Enter the Dragon. In The Nation.

Week Two

What does Baetons (2001) mean by ‘monstration’, ‘graphiation’ and the ‘graphiateur’?

These three terms are part of the semiotic study of the breakdown of enunciation in comics by distinguishing the narrative or narrator. Baeton (2001) looks at who is responsible for this act as comics are a form of narrative by words, pictures, layout and space. Looking at the act made by the narrator as a message instead of the work itself; by what the narrator is trying to bring across with their original ideas instead of what the comic itself says, and it looks at what the narrator is trying to say in regards to it as an art form. Each of these three terms have a specific role in comics. Graphiation is said by Baetons (2001) as the ‘graphic and narrative enunciations of comics’(p.147). Otherwise meaning in a whole the messages or expressions shown in the visual or narrative aspects of the comic. Therefore a Graphiateur is the person / agent responsible for betraying these messages in the comics. Monstration has been described as the narration of comics which is shown through the drawings / illustration and not by the words / spoken narrative as the story is narrative by itself through the images and events in the story said as by Baetons (2001) ‘neither narrated nor shown’(p.149). So the difference between Graphiation and Monstration in short would be that; Graphiation looks at the messages brought across and Monstration looks at the narration.

References:

Baetons, J. (2001). From Enunciation to Graphiation. Revealing Traces. A New Theory of Graphic Enunciation. (146 -149)

Week 6

According to Napier, how does this anime problematise traditional (or conservative) constructions of gender, class and race?

Napier (2005), calls the anime of Princess Mononoke, a film that mixes facts and fictions which is also an important element of this film. This film mainly involves two aspects. One; the female characterization and two; the “supernaturalization” of nature. (Napier, 2005)

In regards to these two aspects Napier (2005), states that the female characters being dominant in this film are evident that “in Princess Mononoke Miyazaki not only undermines a plethora of female stereotypes from conventional Japanese culture and from the anime world itself but also moves away from his own previous female creations. (Napier, 2005, p. 237-238)

Miyazaki (2006), emphasises on the female characters of the film, as the three main characters are all female. Eboshi, the leader of tatara, San, the human girl who joined the wild nature and Moro San’s adoptive wolf mother. Napier (2005, p.238), states that the “female characters have traditionally been of great importance throughout Miyazaki’s work”. However, in this film the female characters departs from his more typical heroines. This is due to the fact that while Miyazaki’s other films like Nausicaa or little girls of Totoro the female character present in these films are shown to be independent and self possessed creations but they still have female gender aspects like sweetness and cuteness. As Napier (2005, p.238), states that “cuteness is such as important part of contemporary Japanese culture”. However, this cultural construction is not present in all these main female characters of Princess Mononoke, which problematizes the traditional constructions.

In Princess Mononoke the female characters possess a gender-neutral or ambiguous characterization which differs from the traditional female stereotype. Moreover, Napier (2005), suggests that Miyazaki might have been playing with genders by taking in account both culture and nature. By analysing the characteristics of the female characters of Princess Mononoke, it is apparent that all these female possess traditional characteristics of a male as there are no male heroes in the film with the exception of Ashitaka.

Napier (2005, p. 240), affirms that “by making the character a woman and one who can both destroy and rebuild, the film problematic facile stereotyping of technology, armaments and industrialized culture as evil”. Also, when such negative connotation or element would be disturbing to see in a male wild child, when seen in an attractive young female, it would be even more disturbing and surprising (Napier, 2005).

It is not so much of race and class issue in this anime of Princess Mononoke. However, Napier (2005), states Miyazaki’s notion that he and perhaps “other Japanese are the spiritual decendants of the glossy leafed forests” (Napier, 2005, p. 242) before Japan was dominated by the “rice culture”. It shows that once the rice culture arrived, it started to destroy the wilder nature and by 20^th century it was completely gone. Moreover, Miyazaki still believes that these forests still exist, spiritually.

Furthermore, by acknowledging Eboshi’s humanity the film connotes cultural positions where technology and industry are shown to be wrong. Miyazaki problematizes the issue “by making Tatara not just a site of industrial production but a site of weapons manufacturing” (Napier, 2005, p. 246). In addition these weapons also includes tatarigami (boar) which has long lasting curse on humanity.

Princess Mononoke challenges the traditional history of Japan and also the genre relationship of the Japanese society. In comparison to the Japanese history which is masculinist, but when only authoritative guidance comes from a female wolf and the female leader of weapons manufacturing community it could create problems. Further, these independent female characters have not been given typical happy endings; instead they are busy in prioritising their own worlds such as San with her natural world and Eboshi with her industrializing community.

According to Napier (2005), Miyazaki’s strategies problematize many of accepted myths of Japanese culture. Miyazaki blends the concept of real with fantastic. Hence it is clear that the main aspects in Princess Mononoke which problematize the traditional construction is mainly gender and some historical aspects also come into play.

Reference:

AUT Screening: Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2006). Princess Mononoke. Tokyo: Studio Ghibli Productions.

Napier, S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.