Event: Asian Studies Brown Bag Series

OTAKU subculture can be understood as media, which engages in anime, science-fiction, figurines and technology. Over the past fifty years OTAKU has spread from Japan across various developed nations and become part of not only East Asian popular culture, but globally. What is it about this subculture, and the media that it is constructed through, that allows viewers to become invested in it, to become otaku far from the original contexts of production? Utilizing Azuma Hiroki's OTAKU: database animals, this presentation will discuss certain elements of "postmodernism": the period following modernist movements, and usually understood as promoting elements such as hybridity, the rejection of grand narratives and irony. By discussing OTAKU culture and postmodernism in tandem, this presentation will attempt to explain how OTAKU is a regional manifestation of a greater global trend towards postmodernism, and the various elements within OTAKU media that reflect post-modernism. This presentation will seek to answer such questions as: how do the forms that construct OTAKU culture contribute to how we see media, each other, and the world - in other words, how is subjectivity different in post-modernity in comparison to modern times? How do these works of fiction inform (or reject) reality? How can we understand postmodern media in a postmodern?

All are welcome!
Light lunch will be served.