MCLC: television war on Japan (2)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: sean macdonald <smacdon2005 at gmail.com>
Subject: television war on Japan (2)
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Thanks for these posts. I think this is an important topic, not just for
the implications of militaristic propaganda. The representation of
Japanese culture in Chinese culture is complex. The representations of
Japan and Japanese culture are certainly not without differences in the
PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong where historical markets varied. But even on
the mainland, Japanese manga and anime begin to be an important part of
mass market entertainment by the 1980s, with TV series (anime and soap
operas) and popular music and manga. And since the 1990s at least,
Japanese manga and anime have found a very receptive audience amongst
college aged students. Gauging the dominant ideological discourse in any
society is a tricky call, and I certainly do not want to contradict the
importance of TV markets. But we know that in the PRC nowadays, just as in
the US and Europe, many spectators leave their TV's off to watch on their
own devices, so to speak. Market share gathering is still catching up to
the audiences they are supposed to be describing, even in so-called
post-industrial countries. In a curious twist, apparently one
anti-Japanese series even saw fit to "borrow" a main theme from an anime
soundtrack. Who can blame them? The selection of online comments regarding
the new series, while limited, is still interesting. Counter-discourse
needs to be appreciated in its multiplicities.

 
http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1394087/anti-japanese-war-dr
ama-takes-soundtrack-japanese-anime