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Cinema Anime

Collection of Essays on Anime edited by Stephen T. Brown

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Giving Anime its Props

Jun 30, 2009

by sniffcode

Rating:

While not light reading, this three part book is comprised of extended essays by a group of writers who have given a great deal of academic consideration to animé art and history. This is a good thing since it can be difficult to convince older academia on the intellectual merit of some animé. Susan Napier does this right from the start with her 20 page contribution on spectatorship and the feminine form, specifically in the work of Kon Satoshi. It was nice to see his work put in such a perspective since as of this writing his monograph is still pending. Brian Ruh was also a noticeable name, since he has written an excellent book on the works of Mamoru Oshii. He weighs in on issues of adolescence and maturity in the cyborg culture, a position he asserts as relevant since, as he states in his first paragraph, "modern humans have become cyborgs." Though such assertions are driven more by an eagerness for the future than the reality of it, the article is still engrossing. Anyone who has read Hughes' "Citizen Cyborg" would enjoy this book, since the over zealous writers often seek to prematurely fit future politics into a society still working out past politics. But in this case, it works. Especially since they all take their cue from an art form that is very convincing in its dichotomous worship and angst of the future.