University of Tasmania, Australia

In the West manga and anime (Japanese comic books and animation) have gained an international profile as an innovative and diverse graphic art style and storytelling platform. Manga and anime artists and distributors have found an audience increasingly ready to engage with a diversity of titles and adopt the style and storytelling conventions as part of their own creative toolkit. 

Manga and anime's international spread has been greatly assisted by the active involvement of fans online and offline. Fans living outside of Japan have helped promote manga titles and artists through blogs, podcasts, news sites and offline by running manga reading groups, drawing classes and producing their own manga titles. These have helped make manga and anime more popular and accessible.

With the impact of the online social networks and web forums have come opportunities for fans to express and circulate new knowledge, and establish collaborative international communities. One increasingly visible community is those who are remapping real locations and landmarks through their connection to manga and anime. While this offers the possibility for new creative stories to emerge, nevertheless it also presents concerns around the distortions these locations may undergo as they are appropriated into different contexts. From the strange case of a giant Macross mecha storming the Winter Palace in Victoria's final year history exam to a Manga Library at Monash University this paper will explore the current entry points and potential distortions into Australia through the world of manga and anime and the role of particularly active fans to reshape the image of Australia through manga and anime.  

Speaker

Craig Norris is a lecturer in Journalism, Media and Communications and specialises in participatory media and popular culture. His current research interests include transnational media flows, media tourism and fan pilgrimages.

Venue: Room 586, Social Sciences Building, Sandy Bay campus

All welcome. No RSVP required.

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For further information, please contact the School: ph. 6226 2331; e: Social.Sciences@utas.edu.au