News release

Japanese pop culture scrutinized by scholars

Concordia University’s President’s Conference Series draws international experts to Montreal to discuss Experiencing the Media Mix: Anime, Manga, Video Games

Montreal, January 31, 2012 – The Japanese experience of what’s commonly referred to as media convergence will be the focus of discussion and debate by academics from Japan, the United States and Canada at Concordia University’s President’s Conference Series (PCS), February 4 to 6. Under the title Experiencing the Media Mix : Anime, Manga, Video Games, the three day program will provide these scholars with the opportunity to look at Japanese pop culture from a variety of angles as well as participate in several free public events.

A keynote speech by noted Japanese scholar and creator of manga and anime, Eiji Otsuka will kick things off on Saturday, Feb 4. Scholars and students participating in the event will be able to meet and discuss their research with this respected creator of manga and anime. The academic portion of the PCS will then centre around two day-long events. At a symposium on Sunday, February 5, the spotlight will be on scholars presenting their latest research findings. On Monday, February 6, 17 graduate students will, in turn, outline the thrust of their academic work before the symposium participants. The master class brings graduate students from Québec universities together with graduate students from Duke, Harvard and the University of California in the United States, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan and Japan’s Sophia and Kobe Design universities. The students participating in the master class will also be able to meet and discuss their research with Otsuka. The master class is not open to the public or members of the media.

The following PCS events are open to the public and free of charge:

WHAT: Keynote address by Eiji Otsuka - in Partnership with the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ)
WHEN: Saturday, February 4, at 5 p.m.
WHERE: Grande Bibliothèque - Auditorium
475 De Maisonneuve Blvd. East

“The Unholy Alliance of Disney and Eisenstein: The Wartime Origins of Manga, Animation and Otaku Culture”

A leading Japanese cultural figure and critic, Eiji Otsuka is the author of more than two dozen books, including novels and the acclaimed manga series The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. Otsuka is also the creator of the anime Mah? no Rouge and is a professor of Media Arts at Kobe Design University. Otsuka will discuss the roots of anime and manga forged during Japan’s Pacific War as an amalgamation of Eisenstein’s style of montage and Disney’s character aesthetic.

In Japanese with English/French simultaneous translation

Free admission – tickets by reservation at banq.qc.ca

WHAT: Symposium
WHEN: Sunday, February 5, 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Concordia University - J.W. McConnell Building –
Cinema J.A. De Sève
1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. West

Ian Condry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will examine the phenomenon of Miku Hatsune, Japan’s number one virtual idol whose voice was created entirely by users of a software program. Beyond Miku, Condry will also look at the dynamics of social media in the aftermath of last year’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis

Mia Consalvo from Concordia University will discuss her research into a new form of video game playing that is expanding the history of games, rewriting histories and transforming cultures and expectations. Consalvo tracked the activities of a group of video game players who “hack” older Japanese games to translate them and release their new creations for a wider audience to enjoy.

Thomas Lamarre from McGill University expands the definition of “transnational storytelling” beyond the current interpretations of the “Media Mix” as the phenomenon of either telling stories through various media or the successful Japanese model of multimedia franchising. Lamarre looks instead at how stories are transmitted across nations demonstrating various models of serialization.

Thomas Looser from New York University (NYU) considers new claims being made about video gaming including the notion that they go beyond the simple pleasure of play to put forth a real-world value system. Looser goes on to lay out some of the implications of such claims.

Margherita Long from the University of California, Riverside proposes the need for a new view of nuclear power and its impact to emerge from Japan’s cinematic and visual art in the wake of last year’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Long advances her idea by scrutinizing the existing projections of a nuclear future in the creations of Takashi Murakami and Hayao Miyazaki.

Matthew Penney from Concordia University introduces non-fiction works to the discussion of the “Media Mix” through examples of manga adaptations of history texts including a recasting of Nazis as bikini girls and a popular cartoonist’s take on the Communist Manifesto. Penney then considers what those works have contributed to more traditional presentation of historical events.

Marc Steinberg from Concordia University lays bare the origins of the term “Media Mix” and explores its current meaning in marketing lingo as the descriptor for Japanese media franchising. Steinberg advances a view of the current “Media Mix” that demands a rethinking how media are currently experienced as making up an inherently cross-platform and multisensory ensemble

Toshiya Ueno from Wako University, Tokyo examines how images from Tezuka Osamu’s monumental manga, Phoenix (Hi no tori), inspired the album art of the British ambient techno band, System 7. Ueno goes on to consider other representation of the dog in Japanese pop culture including Oshii Mamoru’s recent manga, Bow wow Meiji Restoration (Wan wan Meiji Ishin).

WHAT: Mixcade Games Arcade
WHEN: Sunday, February 5, 4 p.m. - 9 p.m.
WHERE: Concordia University – Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts
Integrated Complex (EV) building - Lobby
1515 Ste-Catherine St. West (corner Guy St.)

Concordia’s research centre in Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) is collaborating with indie gaming group the Mount Royal Game Society to bring Montrealers a roundup of the most original experimental creations that exist purely for the love of making games. Many of the top game designers from Montreal’s independent gaming community will be on hand at the Mixcade, inviting Montrealers to play their latest creation as well as some of the most original indie games from around the world.

The various soundtracks of the games themselves will provide the evening’s ambiance as gamers and neophytes alike try out full-body games, the group play of the Arcade Royale cabinet and games where the dazzling visual elements will be projected on huge screens that can be viewed from outside the building.

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