Four-Color Creatures: Japanese Monstrosity in American Comic Books, Manga, and Popular Culture, 1938-1970

Fujioka, Brent Akio

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Year:: 2015
Contributor:: Fujioka, Brent Akio (creator); Lee, Robert (Director); Rodriguez, Ralph (Reader); Shibusawa, Naoko (Reader); Brown University. American Studies (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Comic Books; Cultural Studies; Monstrosity; Comic books, strips, etc.; Graphic novels; Culture--Study and teaching; Japanese Americans
Extent:: XV, 394 p.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0765CQ5

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Abstract:: This dissertation examines the role of monstrosity in the construction of Japanese identity within the American cultural imagination. It asserts that a discursive formation founded on a constellation of established historical, literary, and theoretical knowledge about the “East” defines Asia as an exotic locale for Americans, populated by monstrous others. Monstrosity complicates our understanding of race, theoretically breaking down binaries by showing that monsters are in actuality a mixture of self and other that unsettles established boundaries. To interrogate this subject, this study analyzes representations within American comic books and Japanese manga. As one of the most popular visual mediums of the twentieth century, comic books are a predominant form of working class visual culture, built on an established narrative tradition that often reflects dominant representational modes and social values. By examining them, we see how ideas about the Japanese are shaped by monstrosity, particularly during World War II, and how these notions have been reinforced, refined, and recrafted in a variety of ways over time. It also shows how the Japanese themselves have engaged with this discourse, shaping it through the exercise of cultural agency in filmic and manga production, functioning as active agents within the representational process. This project doubles as a transpacific history of comic books, demonstrating how a series of dynamic cultural influences and exchanges between the United States and Japan have shaped the output of these industries. The first of its kind, this study links the evolution of popular genres and archetypes in comics, like contemporary superheroes, with transnational cultural flows between these two countries, illustrating how these ubiquitous elements of the medium are not simply a product of American origin, but are an outgrowth of a much larger global culture. By tracing the evolution of the comic form through space and time, this project contributes to our understanding of the complex processes of adaptation, appropriation, and reinscription that define the cultural relationship between the United States and Japan.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2015)

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Rights: In Copyright
Restrictions on Use: Collection is open for research.

Citation

Fujioka, Brent Akio, "Four-Color Creatures: Japanese Monstrosity in American Comic Books, Manga, and Popular Culture, 1938-1970" (2015). American Studies Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0765CQ5

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American Studies Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the American Studies department.
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