Animation is booming in the 21st century. Japanese manga and anime are popular around the world and Japanese government policy is focused on developing the industry as a source of “soft power.” Computer-generated animation is now a basic tool not only for cinema, but for the rapidly growing game industry. Cartoon mascots now represent police departments and other government bureaus, cities and small towns, NGOs, ethnic groups, etc..
This class will explore an anthropological approach to animation. We will look at animation as a medium, and industry, and a youth culture. Readings will include recent ethnographies of the contemporary Japanese animation industry and animation fandoms in Japan, Taiwan, and elsewhere. We will also be placing contemporary animation practices in the context of historical traditions of “bringing objects to life.” These traditions include animation in analog media, such as puppetry. More importantly, we will be looking at how contemporary animation may (or may not) build on culturally specific ways of dividing the world between the material and the immaterial, objects and subjects. Thus, we will explore what some classic anthropological concepts – animism, fetishism, performativity, etc. – have to offer the study of 21st century digital culture, and vice versa.