Week 10 reading questions

Here are some things to think about as you read Lonely Hearts Killer.

Click here if you'd like to learn a little more about Hoshino Tomoyuki, the author of the novel.

1. The novel consists of three sections, each narrated by a different character. Are the three narrators distinct? Do they offer different points of view?

2. How does Iroha's account comment upon Shôji's? How does Mokuren's account comment upon Iroha's?

3. Does the use of multiple narrators result in an evolving interpretation of the events recounted?

4. Are these reliable narrators?

5. Does it make a difference that Shôji and Iroha intended to circulate their accounts on the net?

6. How would you describe the written style of the novel? Does it reflect and/or comment upon writing in the age of the internet?

7. Is the novel primarily a social/political critique of contemporary Japan? Or does it offer a wider commentary on the first-world societies in general?

8. The death of one emperor and the ascension of another are catalysts for the much of the action in the novel. How does Hoshino utilize these plot devices in his social/political critique. Do these references to the imperial system necessarily limit the relevance of the novel to a Japanese context?

9. What do you make of the fantastic elements in the novel? What is their function?

10. How would you characterize the genre of the novel: magical realism, science fiction, alternative reality, or something else?

11. In her introduction, the translator mentions the humor of the text. Do you agree that there are humorous elements?

12. One of the key terms in the novel is love suicide (shinjû). How is the term used? How does its meaning change over the course of the story? Are there any connections to the more traditional representations of the practice that we've studied in this class?

13. "Love suicide" rapidly devolves into indiscriminate and widespread violence. What role do these violent actions play in the narrative?

14. The title of the novel and the titles of the individual chapters all evoke strong associations with desire, love, and intimacy. What role do these feeling states play in the narrative? How are they integrated into the political issues explored in the text? How do these evocations of desire, love, and intimacy reflect upon the lives of the main characters?

15. The ascension of a female emperor is a central plot point in the novel. Is this part of a larger commentary on gender? What does the novel have to say about the place of women in contemporary Japan? For that matter, what does it say about men?

16. How does the novel comment upon contemporary trends in Japanese/first-world society: e.g., declining birthrates, infantilization of adult population, prevalence of social networking, etc.?

17. How in general does the novel depict the new culture of the internet? How does this technology affect the way the characters view and present themselves? How does it shape their interactions with each other? How does the novel present the viral spread of images, text, and information?

18. More conventional media (newspapers, TV, etc.) also play an important role in the novel. Does the novel distinguish between traditional media and new media?

19. Both Shôji and Iroha are filmmakers who feature prominently in their own independent productions. What does the novel suggest about the responsibilities inherent in the creation/circulation of video and other media. How does mediation through these media affect content and message?

Week 9 images

Here are the images from this week's lecture.


Homeless in Tokyo


freeter at work


salaryman


NEET writer, Kanehara Hitomi


office lady


parasite single


Dolly type


Forest girl


kogyaru


contemporary housewife


First-wave feminist


Second-wave feminists


Third-wave feminist, Matsuura Rieko


Tezuka Osamu's Princess Knight, 1954-68


Ikeda Riyoko's Rose of Versailles, 1973, 1979


Hagio Moto's Thomas's Heart, 1974


boy-love comic book June


Participants of Comic Market


Yaoi version of Gundam Seed

Week 9 questions

1. Look at the first-meeting scene (pp. 25-30). How does the artist, Murakami Maki, manipulate the drawing style? Why do you think there are so many panels without written text? Why does the artist employ the chibi or "super deformed" style in some of the panels? Is there anything significant about the page layout?

2. Look at the kiss scene (pp. 124-127). How does the artist manipulate the layout and size of the panels? How does she exploit the so-called "gutter" or space between panels? Is there anything significant about the style of drawing?

3. Gravitation exhibits some other distinctive features of Japanese comics. For example, Murakami Maki directly addresses the reader on p. 17. The comic makes a meta-commentary on the boy-love comic phenomenon on p. 31. And on p. 65 the artist conspicuously breaks down the fourth wall. How do these touches affect your experience of the material?

4. Below you'll find the first episode of the animated series. Obviously we are dealing with two distinct media, so they are bound to be different. But what does the animated version do that the comic version can't? And vice-versa? Which one did you find to be more satisfying?

5. How does the comic present the story of Yuki and Eiri? What kind of information is conveyed to the reader? How is it presented? What details and events are emphasized? What is left out or underplayed? Is the story told from a particular point of view? How does the point of view affect our response to the material?

6. How are Yuki and Eiri represented through their thoughts, words, and actions. In other words, how are they represented through the written text?

7. How are the two characters represented visually? What are the main identifying visual features of each character? How are they differentiated from each other pictorially? Are they depicted as feminine, masculine, or androgynous? Or is there some better way to describe the visual style used to represent these two characters?

8. How would you describe the relationship between Yuki and Eiri? Is it romantic or erotic? Does it mimic a typical boy-girl relationship or does it conform to an entirely different pattern?

9. Given that the audience for these comics is purported to consist almost exclusively of women, what role do the gay aspects of the story play? Do they allow for a departure from conventional male-female romantic scripts? Do they allow the story to operate in the realm of pure fantasy? Do they contribute to objectification/sexualization of the male characters? Do they in any way challenge conventional notions of gender and sexuality?

10. In section last week, someone offered an interesting response to Akira's question about gay male panic. In essence, she said that straight men are uncomfortable with being the object of another male's desire because they don't want to be treated like a woman. Of course, one can debate this theory, but it does offer an interesting window through which to consider the appeal of BL comics like Gravitation. Do the female consumers of these materials enjoy the spectacle of men being treated like women? Is that part of what is at play in this phenomenon?

11. In lecture I will talk about different schools of feminist thought. Does it make sense to treat this material as empowering/liberating for female readers? Can we reconcile the absence of women from the main action of the story with any kind of serious/meaningful feminist agenda? Can you think of a comparable phenomenon in the US?

12. A comparison to HUSH! might also be enlightening. How is the film different from the comic? Would you describe the film as a cinematic version of a boy-love comic? Or does it seem to be targeting a different audience?

13. Gay men in Japan often criticize boy-love comics as inauthentic and naive. In your opinion does this amount to a legitimate criticism? Why or why not?

14. To give you a sense of Gravitation fan culture, click here for a useful overview of the Gravitation fan culture phenomenon. Click here to see an example of a typical fan site with pictures and stories. What is the function these sites? How do the members/posters interact? What kind of material do they submit? What pleasure do they seem to derive from their participation?

And finally take a look at Episode 1 from the animated version of Gravitation. Here is a link to the site I mentioned in my email.

Week 8 images

Here are the images from Week 8 lecture.


Showa Emperor, r. 1926-89


Heisei Emperor, r. 1989-present


Hentai image


Online ad targeting gay male tourists


Three Treasures of the 1950s


Nikkei Index, 1970-2010


Negative image warrior, 1871


“Hard faction” higher school students, c. 1930


Gay writer, Mishima Yukio


Erotic illustration from “perverse press,” mid 1960s


Shinjuku Station at rush hour


Shinjuku red light district, mid 1960s


“Gay boy,” mid 1960s


Ptotograph of “gay boy” celebrity, Peter, mid 1960s


Cover of “homo” magazine, Barazoku


Erotic illustration from “homo” magazine, mid 1970s


“Where Are You?” personal column from “homo” magazine


Tokyo Gay Pride parade, sponsored by activist group OCCUR


Gay TV personality, Uematsu Kaji


New-half TV personality, Carrousel Maki


Prewar lesbian


Representation of lesbian in perverse press


Yuri (lily)


Lesbian magazine, Anise


Staff of onabe bar

Week 8 questions

1. Pick a scene or two and consider how editing, cinematography, sound, and mise-en-scene elements shape your response to the story and the characters. (For quick explanations of these and other film terms, click here.)

2. Does the film's director exhibit a signature style? Are there formal elements of the film that strike you as particularly noteworthy?

3. The film's narrative contains many ellipses. Large sections of the story are left unnarrated. How does this technique affect your response to the characters and their experiences?

4. The film seems to mix comedic and dramatic elements. How do these two elements fit together? Do the comical passages detract from the seriousness of the main plot or the issues confronted by the characters?

5. How does the film represent gay life in 21st-century Japan? What is the gay scene? How do Katsuhiro and Naoya participate in this world? How do they define their gayness? How do they challenge assumptions about what it means to be a gay man in Japan?

6. Does the film trade in gay stereotypes?

7. One of the main points of Hall's rather convoluted argument is a critique of the way that Western gay activists evaluate gay identity politics in Japan and East Asia. What is Hall's point? Does the film contribute to that perception? Is this a fair or useful way to think about gay subcultures outside the US?

8. Does it make sense to think about this film as an example of queer cinema? If so, how does it conform to this cinematic trend?

9. Hall also comments upon the prominence of straight female characters in many Japanese "gay boom" films. How does Hall characterize the function of these female characters?

10. Does the depiction of Asako conform to the patterns that Hall outlines? Or is there a better way to describe her role in the film?

11. How would you categorize Asako's quest to have a child?

12. How are the other women in the film depicted?

13. Is the film more about family than sexuality? What does the film suggest about the state of the conventional family unit in 21st-century Japan? Does the film distinguish between urban families and rural families?

14. What are the defining features of the family unit created by Asako, Katsuhiro, and Naoya?

15. Is this an assimilationist vision of family or a challenge to the institution?

Week 7 images

Here are the images from lecture.


First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)


Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)


Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45)


Pacific War (1941-45)


Karayuki prostitutes in Saigon


WWII "Comfort Women"


Occupation-era RAA brothel


Occupation-era pan-pan prostitutes


Women's Society for the Security of Greater Japan


Shell-shocked civilians after the war


Fraught encounter between US GI and Japanese war vet


Gift of democracy raining down from the heavens


Female candidate for political office


Postwar pulp magazine


Postwar leaflet illustrating old and new family systems


GHQ endorsed marriage manual


GHQ approved "kissing movie," A Young Man of Twenty, 1946


Schematic drawing of modern couples


Satirical image of co-educational classroom


Cover of postwar pulp magazine with femme-fatale


Kabuki villainess Kirare Otomi


Meiji-era femme-fatale, Takahashi Oden


Femme-fatale, Abe Sada


Occupation-era femme fatale, Higa Kazuko


Illustration from 1950s SM story


1950s housewives


1950s salary-men


Lurid visions of the domestic sphere