Historical Fan Fiction

02/10/19 17:18


Sungmin's Reflections on Being an Object of Fantasy

02/10/19 10:17
Sungmin was generous to share their strong and compelling essay about what it feels like to be an object of fantasy.

Their essay is here.

Raise the Red Lantern

30/09/19 10:24
This is the trailer for the film I mentioned in our class discussion today. I brought it up because the "crazy" character (Hatsumoto) in Memoirs of a Geisha is played by Gong Li, an amazing Chinese actress who became famous partially because of her incredible performance in Raise the Red Lantern (大红灯笼高高挂). It feels very clear to me that Memoirs is trying to capitalize on the energy and power of her performance from that other film.

Examples of National Character in Action

19/09/19 16:24
Here are the wonderful examples of Japanese "National Character" in American media representations. Notice, please, all the problematic, reoccurring tropes.

The top 10 words to describe Japanese people (according to foreigners) from Izabel

JAPAN: A COUNTRY FULL OF INTROVERTS? from Ceciel

The honne and the tatemae from Sungmin

Japanese Obsessions from Jessica

Phineas and Ferb from Bella




Why is racism so big in Japan? from Sarah

JAPAN HAS ATTRACTED THE SYMPATHY OF THE WORLD from Kassandra

Do Stressed-Out Japanese Really Stage Elaborate Disappearances? On the Trail of the Johatsu or 'Evaporated People' from Brooks

Japan obsessed with cleanliness Phobia: In a nation where the word for "beautiful" also means "clean," the populace is exceptionally hygiene-conscious and anything touted as anti-bacterial will sell. from Lise

Why Were Japanese Fans Cleaning Up After Themselves at the World Cup? from Lise

Yukio in Deadpool 2 from Gabe





“The world’s most polite country?” It’s so well mannered that even the toilet seat stands to attention when you enter the bathroom. from Ceciel






Another example?

09/09/19 18:44
As she mentioned in class, Ceciel sends in this example of Japanese women's sense of modesty being represented in American media. What do we think?

Full story here.

burger



New Japanese Face Masks Let You Chow Down on a Burger While Maintaining Your Dignity
Give me liberation wrappers or give me death
By Melissa Locker @woolyknickersNov. 05, 2013
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Hey ladies, want to go town on a giant bacon double cheeseburger and maintain your dignity? A Japanese burger chain has you covered. .
Freshness Burger, a national fast food chain in Japan, realized that they had a problem: Due to cultural beliefs, some women wouldn’t eat the restaurant’s large-sized Classic burgers in public. “Ochobo,” or the belief that small mouths are the pinnacle of beauty paired with the fact that it is considered well-mannered to cover one’s mouth while eating, was getting in the way of women chowing down on a giant burger.
So Freshness Burger came up with a plan: A sneakily designed burger wrapper that covers the diner’s face and printed with an “ochobo” mouth. The so-called “Liberation Wrapper” means that female diners can dig in to a Classic Burger with all the fixings without being rude or forsaking their beauty standards. According to the video posted above, the scheme worked: Just one month after its implementation, sales of the Classic Burger to women were up by 213%.
Now if someone could just design a way to eat an entire bag of chocolate covered potato chips with dignity.