Islands of eight million smiles : idol performance and symbolic production in contemporary Japan / Hiroshi Aoyagi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aoyagi, Hiroshi, 1963- author.

Series:

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 252.

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 252

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Popular music--Social aspects--Japan.

Popular music.

Music and youth--Japan.

Music and youth.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London : Harvard University Asia Center, [2005]

Summary:

Since the late 1960s a ubiquitous feature of popular culture in Japan has been the "idol," an attractive young actor, male or female, packaged and promoted as an adolescent role model and exploited by the entertainment, fashion, cosmetic, and publishing industries to market trendy products. This book offers ethnographic case studies regarding the symbolic qualities of idols and how these qualities relate to the conceptualization of selfhood among adolescents in Japan and elsewhere in East Asia. The author explores how the idol-manufacturing industry absorbs young people into its system of production, molds them into marketable personalities, commercializes their images, and contributes to the construction of ideal images of the adolescent self.Since the relationship between the idols and their consumers is dynamic, the study focuses on the fans of idols as well. Ultimately, Aoyagi argues, idol performances substantiate capitalist values in the urban consumer society of contemporary Japan and East Asia. Regardless of how crude their performances may appear in the eyes of critics, the idols have helped establish the entertainment industry as an agent of public socialization by driving public desires toward the consumption of commoditized fantasies.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

Introduction

The Ethnography of Idol Production: An Overview

The Making of Japanese Adolescent Role Models

Idol Performances and Gender Identities

Explorations in the Field of Competing Styles

Following the Trajectory of an Idol Superstar

Idol Fans and the Adoration Cult

The Spread of Idol Performances in New Industrial Economies

Capitalizing Adolescence

Works Cited

Index

Harvard East Asian Monographs.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-68417-418-X

OCLC:

607184385

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9781684174188 DOI