Gender and Passing in the Anime Ouran High-School Host Club
Presented by Nadine Kosmann, Katharina Jüttner, Deniz Yilmaz Table of Content
• Introduction • History of Anime • Techniques • Classification • Deconstruction of gender binaries • Gender in Japanese Anime: Comedy and visual decoding • The Third Space • Ouran High School Host Club • Video analysis • Conclusion Hypothesis
Within the narrative of the Anime Ouran High School Host Club a “third space” is created in which normative gender roles are deconstructed. Definition of Anime
“A style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children.” (oxforddictonary)
“A style of animation originating in Japan that is characterized by stark colorful graphics depicting vibrant characters in action- filled plots often with fantastic or futuristic themes.” (merriam-website) History of Anime
• earliest commercial Japanese animation: 1917 • Osamu Tezuka works inspired the characteristic anime art style in the 1960s (mecha theme) • more acceptance in the mainstream in Japan: 1980s • television and internet broadcasting; majority of Japanese DVD sales
(nippon.com) Animation Technique • emphasis on art quality and still images • cel animation and computer animation (since 1990s) • attention captured by backgrounds and stills in expository scenes
(washiblog.wordpress.com)
Classification
• classified by target demographic (kodomo, shoujo, shounen…) • numerous genres: comedy, science-fiction, drama etc. • Subgenres: magical girl, shounen-ai “boy´s love”, harem, cross- dressing etc. Shoujo Genre
“A genre of Japanese comics and animated films aimed primarily at a young female audience, typically characterized by a focus on personal and romantic relationships.” (oxforddictionary) o For ten to twenty year olds o Strong focus o Since mid-1970s: almost exclusively created by women (Darlington2016) Gender in Japanese Animation Gender in Japanese Anime: Comedy and visual decoding
• Harem Anime- unique set of codes and conventions (audio & visual cues) • comedic in nature-not limited by rules of realism and normalcy • visual cues characteristic for harem genre: e.g. bleeding noses (as visual pun) • Anime Archetypes- representation of male & female
Deconstruction of gender binaries in Japanese Animation—The Third Space
• concept of cultural spaces
• first space: structures & concepts; • second space: symbolic & personal; • third space-a space of hybridity First Space Second Space
• third space-deconstructs ideas of “fixity” of gender binaries • new, hybrid identities—>understanding & performing Third Space gender • within the imagined world of Japanese Anime: • allowing more open, inclusive, and hybrid conception of gender; not limited by rules of realism and normalcy
Bhabha, Homi K. (2004). The Location of Culture. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 55.
Hypothesis
Within the narrative of the Anime Ouran High School Host Club a “third space” is created in which normative gender roles are deconstructed. Conclusion
Even though there is a third space created in Ouran High-School Host Club wherein Gender Binaries are deconstructed, at the end the female male (heterosexual) relationship is reinstated. The represented ideal (the normative relationship) is an indicator for a prototypical fairy tale ending. Bibliography
• https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/anime 21.12.2016 • https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anime 21.12.2016 • https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/manga • http://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00043/ • https://washiblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/anime-production-detailed-guide-to-how-anime-is-made- and-the-talent-behind-it/ • https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shojo • Darlington, Tania. "The Queering of Haruhi Fujioka: Cross-Dressing, Camp and Commoner Culture in Ouran High School Host Club." . ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. 4.3 (2009). Dept of English, University of Florida. 21 Dec 2016.