Japanese mythology in film : a semiotic approach to reading Japanese film and anime / Yoshiko Okuyama.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Okuyama, Yoshiko, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mythology in motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Semiotics.

Motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Japan--History.

Animated films.

Japan.

History.

Animated films--Japan--History and criticism.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xvii, 243 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham ; Boulder ; New York ; London : Lexington Books, [2015]

Summary:

A cyborg detective hunts for a malfunctioning sex doll that turns itself into a killing machine. A Heian-era Taoist slays evil spirits with magic spells from yin-yang philosophy. A young mortician carefully prepares bodies for their journey to the afterlife. A teenage girl drinks a cup of life-giving sake, not knowing its irreversible transformative power. These are scenes from the visually enticing, spiritually eclectic media of Japanese movies and anime. The narratives of courageous heroes and heroines and the myths and legends of deities and their abodes are not just recurring motifs of the cinematic fantasy world. They are pop culture's representations of sacred subtexts in Japan. Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime take a semiotic approach to uncovering such religious and folkloric tropes and subtexts embedded in popular Japanese movies and anime. Part I introduces film semiotics with plain definitions of terminology. Through familiar cinematic examples, it emphasizes the myth-making nature of modern-day film and argues that semiotics can be used as a theoretical tool for reading film. Part II presents case studies of eight popular Japanese films as models of semiotic analysis. While discussing each film's use of common mythological motifs such as death and rebirth, its case study also unveils more covert cultural signifiers and folktale motifs, including jizo (a savior of sentient beings) and kori (bewitching foxes and raccoon dogs), hidden in the Japanese filmic text. Book jacket.

Contents:

Semiotics for film analysis

Introduction: what is semiotics?

Reading film: the nature of interpretation

Mythology in film: why study mythology in popular film and anime?

Storytelling : what is in the story?

Visual literacy: what do we get from watching film?

Application: case studies of Japanese film analysis

Taoism and Shinto symbolism: Onmyji I (2001) and Onmyji II

Classic literature motifs in Spirited away (2001) and Princess Mononoke

Motifs of Buddhism and folklore in Dororo (2007) and Departures (2008)

Eclectic myths in Mushi-shi (2006) and Ghost in the shell 2: innocence

Conclusion: social usage of mythology.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739190920

073919092X

OCLC:

901386065