Questions

For Bleach (due 5/7)

1) Use Wikipedia and Google to get some basic background information on Manga. Create a short list of 5 ways in which Manga differs from the traditional literature we've read this term. Be sure to explore style and content.

2) As you read Bleach, notice that the importance of the words and the images varies from page to page. Choose a page that consists almost entirely of images and discuss how image use affects your understanding of the story. What can images do that words cannot?

3) Research and define two religious or mythical concepts from Bleach that relate to a) Christianity, and b) Japanese mysticism

4) What do you think is Bleach's main lesson? Provide page references for your peers to verify your argument.

Princess AI (due 5/12):

1) Do some research on Courtney Love--based on your findings, how "biographical" is this manga?

2) How are women portrayed in this text relative to women we encountered in other readings this semester?

3) Costume and body shape plays an important role in manga - provide a brief list of the cultural impressions you receive when looking at these elements in this text. Provide page references to support your argument.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Princess Love

On reading Princess AI and the biography of Courtney love it is obvious that there are similarities in the characters. Courtney love experienced a troubled childhood. According to Entertainment weekly her father gave her LSD when she was just three. Similar to Courtney Love, Princess AI too experienced similar hardships. She never really knew who her biological parents were, and at the beginning of the comic she wakes up tattered in a dump. Kent was the first to help AI and give her shelter. There is a deep relation to Kent and Kurt Cobain who Courtney Love loved and married in reality. In Princess Ai the heart-shaped box is the one thing she can identify with. This same heart-shaped box links Courtney Love to Princess Ai. Heart-shaped box is a song that Nirvana performed and Courtney Love claims it was dedicated to her by Kurt.

The kinds of women we have read about this semester have been extremely vulnerable. They have always needed someone to take care of them or look after them. As we have witnessed in Little Red and The Pretentious Young Ladies. As compared to these women Princess Ai is strong and courageous. She is capable of standing on her own two feet and facing the world with everything it has to offer. Even though most of the women portrayed in Princess Ai seem extremely trashy it seems like no one understands them and why they are the way they are. Unlike The Pretentious Young Ladies who were trying to be something they were not just so that people accepted them.

Princess AI as seen in the comic is extremely fashionable. In page 3 we see women dressed in skimpy dresses much like the fashion in Toyko. The costumes seem to have a rock meets punk kind of look. Princess Ai is often seen cladded in extravagant accessories and laced garters and clothing. These Costumes describe the characters. Manga as we know it is all about pictures, thus it is by these pictures that the viewers interpret the meaning behind the comic. Manga being Japanese represents a large proportion of Japanese fashion. This not only incorporates a culture into the comic but describes the characters too. For example, a character dressed in fishnet stockings and a short skirt with a low v-neck symbolizes someone who wants to be different, a character that refuses to live by the norms and break free.

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