Representations of environmentalist and anti-consumerist discourse in Japanese and American animated works of fiction in the period 1992-2008

The past several decades have seen the rapid popularization of environmentalist movements. These movements have had a strong influence on popular entertainment, and have spawned a myriad of books, films and TV series.During the same time period the art of animation has also emerged as one of the most profitable media genres and as a powerful means for reaching millions of young children and their families. These representations of environmentalism have received attention from academia, however coverage of productions lying outside of the mainstream films from Disney, Pixar and the Japanese Studio Ghibli remains rather scarce. Furthermore, previous studies have primarily focused on the environmentalist discourse manifested in singular films, which does allow for an in-depth analysis of the work itself, but does not permit for more widely applicable conclusions to be drawn, such as through a comparative analysis of Western and Japanese animation.Thus the research question that this...Show moreThe past several decades have seen the rapid popularization of environmentalist movements. These movements have had a strong influence on popular entertainment, and have spawned a myriad of books, films and TV series.During the same time period the art of animation has also emerged as one of the most profitable media genres and as a powerful means for reaching millions of young children and their families. These representations of environmentalism have received attention from academia, however coverage of productions lying outside of the mainstream films from Disney, Pixar and the Japanese Studio Ghibli remains rather scarce. Furthermore, previous studies have primarily focused on the environmentalist discourse manifested in singular films, which does allow for an in-depth analysis of the work itself, but does not permit for more widely applicable conclusions to be drawn, such as through a comparative analysis of Western and Japanese animation.Thus the research question that this thesis attempts to provide an answer to is “how do approaches to environmentalist discourse in Japanese and non-Japanese animated films/television series compare to each other and what are the implications for the entertainment industry as a tool to disseminate such discourses?”For this purpose it analyses the contemporary state of environmentalism in the West and in Japan. Afterwards several case studies are performed and conclusions are reached that there are specific ways in which nature and environmentalist discourse are portrayed in the West and in Japan, and that they have significant implications for the industry.Show less

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Representations of environmentalist and anti-consumerist discourse in Japanese and American animated works of fiction in the period 1992-2008