 |
 |
National Imagination |
Excerpt from Harrison Mackler's '07 and Laurel Polumbaun's '06 Visual Culture Project
|
The Dialogical of Japan
While Japan expends much effort visualizing themselves through the lens of the West, the West continually attempts to interpret Japan. This is specifically elucidated in American television production about the Japanese, and, in turn, Japanese cultural production about the United States.
|
 Click to enlarge |
|
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is a satire about American society as a whole. In “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo,” the family takes a trip to Japan and experiences exotic Japanese culture. This episode is presented as the microcosm of the macrocosm; the images depicted represent the average American’s stereotypical views of Japan, mostly shaped by Unites States cultural production.
Lisa sees Japan’s magnificence, commenting on some of the main tourist attractions from her hotel window. The Hello Kitty factory presentation adds humor about a well known Japanese line of products sold in America.
The following clip satirizes some typical Japanese stereotypes, as well as presents American’s view of Japanese aesthetics.
|
 Click to enlarge |
|
Sterotypes
The traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony is a sacred ritualistic performance exemplifying the order and aesthetization characteristic of the Japanese. These two clips satirize this cultural stereotype.
|
 Click to enlarge |
|
Most Extreme Elimination Challenge
Almost as if it were a response to American satirical productions of Japan, the Japanese seemed to have embraced these images when they created their own outlandish game show, Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, here dubbed in English. The show is truly most extreme, featuring bizarre challenges that contestants must complete… with minimal bruising.
|
 Click to enlarge |
|
Anime
A final example of the Japan and the United States’ playing off of each other in the dialogical game of give-and-take is an American amateur music video. In this video, an English song is conveyed through clips from the Japanese anime show Sailor Moon. This represents one of the most compelling evidences of the dialogical: the use of large, Western eyes in Japanese anime. The eyes are exaggeratedly circular in order to resemble characters from Walt Disney movies. What we now consider purely Japanese is actually based on the American/Japanese dialogical.
|
 Click to enlarge |
|
Conclusion
The Japanese dialogical is a conversation between themselves and the outsiders. American popular television production presents the Japanese with an idea of how the US perceives Japan. In turn, Japan borrows the archetypes, dissolves boundaries, reinvents them, and then injects them into the ongoing dialogue.
|
 |
|
