Title Information
Title
The Emergence of the Anime Media Mix: Character Communication and Serial Consumption
Name: Personal
Name Part
Steinberg, Marc Aaron
Role
Role Term: Text
creator
Origin Information
Copyright Date (encoding="w3cdtf", keyDate="yes")
2008
Physical Description
Extent
x, 382 p.
digitalOrigin
born digital
Note
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Brown University (2009)
Name: Personal
Name Part
Doane, Mary Ann
Role
Role Term: Text
director
Name: Personal
Name Part
Rosen, Philip
Role
Role Term: Text
reader
Name: Personal
Name Part
Lamarre, Thomas
Role
Role Term: Text
reader
Name: Corporate
Name Part
Brown University. Modern Culture and Media
Role
Role Term: Text
sponsor
Genre (aat)
theses
Abstract
Representative of the phenomenon of media convergence felt across the globe, the state of contemporary Japanese animation (or anime) is characterized by the proliferation, interrelation and intercommunication of media texts. This dissertation challenges existing assumptions about media convergence by providing one of the first accounts of anime that charts the historical emergence of its cross-media connections. Arguing that the very specificity of anime lies in the connections it forms with other media, this dissertation provides an account of the media transformations attendant to the emergence of Japanese anime with the first television animation series, Tetsuwan Atomu (1963-1966). It was this series and the media connections it developed that laid the groundwork for what is now known in Japan as the "media mix." This dissertation begins by examining the stylistic debt anime owes to manga (comic books) and other forms of popular Japanese media. It then considers the types of relations created between anime characters and the candy industry, which played a key role in anime's sponsorship structure, targeting children as an increasingly prominent consumer group. Following on this, this dissertation develops a theory of trans-media communication through an analysis of the emergence of the anime character toy known in the 1960s as the "mass media toy." Through these analyses this dissertation shows how the emergence of anime establishes a pattern of character-based media connectivity that is later taken up in other domains (such as film, video games and novels) and that informs the media mix both as it is practiced in Japan, and as it has been exported to media spheres across the globe. In focusing on the emergence of a new kind of media "seriality" and its importance for understanding late capitalism's unique forms of consumption, this account of the anime media mix also points towards larger transformations in the media environment, and in the nature of commodities themselves.
Subject (Local)
Topic
Japanese anime
Subject (Local)
Topic
consumer culture
Subject (Local)
Topic
seriality
Subject (Local)
Topic
Tetsuwan Atomu
Subject (Local)
Topic
media mix
Subject (Local)
Topic
media theory
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1202346")
Topic
Character merchandising
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/877195")
Topic
Convergence
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/869952")
Topic
Communication
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/854835")
Topic
Children
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1010167")
Topic
Marketing
Record Information
Record Content Source (marcorg)
RPB
Record Creation Date (encoding="iso8601")
20091218
Language
Language Term: Code (ISO639-2B)
eng
Language Term: Text
English
Identifier: DOI
10.7301/Z0NZ85XT
Access Condition: rights statement (href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/")
In Copyright
Access Condition: restriction on access
Collection is open for research.
Type of Resource (primo)
dissertations