EFFECTS OF ANIME AND MANGA ON JAPANESE SOCIETY AND THE WORLD

The Effects of Anime and Manga on Japanese Society and the World



The Effects of Anime and Manga on Japanese Society and the World

A Brief Introduction to Graphic Novels

Graphic novels grew out of the comic book movement in the 1960s and came into existence at the hands of writers who were looking to use the comic book format to address more mainstream or adult topics. There is some debate about who coined the phrase, but one of the first graphic novels, if not the first, was Will Eisner's Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories, published in 1978. Eisner, who began working in comics in 1936, has stated that he devised the term as a marketing technique to increase the chances that his illustrated series of interlinked short stories about working class Jewish families during the Great Depression might be published.

The format has gained popularity over the past twenty-five years in a variety of geographic and topical areas, including the expected superhero stories and adaptations, but also works of satire, non-fiction, memoirs, historical fiction, and a Japanese form called manga. Some graphic novels are the product of a single writer, or a writer and illustrator team, but there are examples of collaborative works, such as the graphic novel series created by a collective of women called CLAMP. As Steven Weiner notes, 1986 was a “turning point,” although not the revolutionary year many had hoped it would be. In that year, DC Comics launched two series for adult readers, Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Also, Art Spiegelman's Anime, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust memoir that casts the Germans and Jews as cats and mice, was published.

Anime is just one example of a historical graphic novel. Graphic novels are proving to be an effective vehicle for historical writings, both fictional and not. Consider Still I Rise by Roland Owen Laird and Elihu Bey, which tells the history of African Japaneses in the United States, beginning in 1619. The book includes extensive historical information and chronicles the accomplishments and struggles of African Japaneses. Novelist Charles Johnson contributed the introduction, which includes information about African Japaneses' little known contributions to the field of cartoons and comics. Also of note are Ho Che Anderson's three volumes about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. Other examples of historical graphic novels are Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen series, which tells of Japan before and after Hiroshima, and Joe Kubert's Fax from Sarajevo, which depicts the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina in the 1990s. Many graphic novels go beyond representing historical facts and offer portraits of a culture. One example is Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis series, which is an autobiographical account of her life, including her childhood in Iran during the Islamic revolution.

Increasing popularity may be linked to several graphic novels that have been adapted into feature films, including Daniel Clowes' Ghost World, Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Raynner's Road ...