UNIT 4Media and Identity Formation

Does media influence society?Does media influence society?Does society influence the media?Does society influence the media?

LilnaBeth P. Somera, Ph.D.University of Guam

126.9M people, 100M TV sets, 120.5M radios, 73M mobile phones, 99% literacy rate86% read a newspaper daily, down from 91% fifteen years agoJapan’s 49M households bought about 47M newspaper subscriptions in 2003The Japanese spend about 21 minutes/day on average reading the newspaperOnly 29% of the Japanese believe that “mass media generally reports the truth”40% of the Japanese watch TV more than 4 hours/day Some 20% of the Japanese feel “uneasy without the TV on”

How much media exposure does the Japanese audience have?Japan Media Review Statistics, June 24, 2004:

Will the real Japanese teenager please stand up?

THE STEREOTYPE The teen years in Japan are intense years full of long school

days followed by hours in cram schools preparing for exams which will allow them to enter Japan’s elite universities

Japanese teens exemplify values which reflect1. adherence to Confucian ideals of filial piety, family, etc. 2. the cultural focus on achievement and “catching-up” with the rest of the world3. conformity with cultural norms and expectations

CONTRASTING MEDIA IMAGES

self-absorbed teenagers whose main preoccupations are fashion, music, anime,video games and other products of gratification.

These images are assumed to be results of “Western influence,” and have been evident since the Elvis impersonators in the 1950s.

New media have projected these images more pervasively to increasingly larger audiences.

1. What do these media images suggest about the identity of Japanese teenagers in the context of economic challenges, changes in social structure, and the emergence of new technology?

2. How different are they from American teenagers?

3. Are the images in the media reflective of typical teenagers, or “fringe” groups which, by sheer notoriety, gain media attention but do not necessarily provide representations of typical Japanese teenagers?

4. To what extent do these media images influence other teenagers, both in Japan and in other places?

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

THE COUNTER-STEREOTYPES

Fringe? Fad? Foretaste of the future’s “typical Japanese teenager?”

1. Kawaii2. Ganguro3. Fruits4. Otaku5. Others – e.g., kogal

1. KAWAII – From the Japanese term which means cute or adorable, it refers to the look represented by Hello Kitty, Sanrio, and other similar labels preferred by the ‘cheenayja,’ the term used to refer to the consumer market of people who are not adults, yet not children, which emphasizes trends and follows a current fashion.

 2. GANGURO literally "face-black," a fashion trend among Japanese girls, which was an outgrowth of chapatsu hair dyeing. (Some sources say that the "gan" syllable in ganguro is actually from the term "gan-gan", a vulgar emphasis word somewhat like the British use of "bloody.“) The basic look is bleached- blond hair and a deep tan, produced by tanning beds or makeup. The intent is to produce the tanned, blond California beach girl look. .      Accessories include high platform shoes or boots, purikura photo stickers, and cellular phones. It goes against the grain of the usual Japanese standard of female beauty, which calls for skin as white as possible. The roots of the trend are said to be in the mid-1990s, starting with a popular tanned Okinawan singer named Amuro Namie and black British fashion model Naomi Campbell.

3. FRUITS – the street fashion image featuring outrageous combinations of color and form which challenges all traditional concepts of coordination, symmetry, and style

 

4. OTAKU In contrast to the other groups, otaku are not fashionistas the term is associated with fans of manga and anime, and suggests a

disregard for personal appearance and a preoccupation with technology, the

collection of bizarre data.According to Karo Greenfield,

OTAKU are part of Japan’s “speed generation” and a society “in symbiosis with the machine,” “where grandmothers in kimonos bow in gratitude to their automated banking machines, young couples bring hand-held computer games along for romantic evenings out, and workers on a Tokyo assembly line vote their robot coworkers into the Auto Workers Union.”

5. Other groups have emerged in recent years, such as the KOGYARU or KOGALl, which are typically girls and young women in urban areas “characterized by high disposable incomes and unique tastes in fashion, music, and social activity.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kogal

  References to KEITAI culture has acquired a

negative connotation because of the association with mobile-enabled prostitution.

ELEMENTS OF SIMILARITY AND/OR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JAPANESEAND AMERICAN TEENAGERS’ IDENTITYAS REFLECTED IN MEDIA IMAGES

Television commercials Movies Print ads

DIRECTION OF INFLUENCEWestern influence – American images in Japanese mediaEastern influence – Kawaii, Fruits, and Otaku in the U.S. http://www.otakon.com/default2.asp

Otakon 2004, Baltimore, MD, July 30-Aug.1, 2004http://fruits.meetup.com/ (site lists 168 groups worldwide)

International Meetup on July 17, 2004

Unit Project

Study the concept of identity by focusing on a specific image of Japanese teenagers in the media, FRUITS.

Join a meet-up online Collect a variety of media images Look for patterns in the images, Examine possible relationships with traditional Japanese elements

FRUITS!

Styles for girlsPlatform shoes, like the Ganguro

Not just for the girls…

Even for thoseclearly not in theirteens anymore!

Fruity andkawaii at thesame time!

The goal is to challenge traditional forms –Mohawks (has that become a tradition?) areonly for men!)

MEDIA PRESENCE (degree of pervasiveness, ease of access, type of media, etc.)

validates and reifies group identity variations in types of access, cross-over to other communication channels (e.g., from print to television, to interpersonal interactions

Results of Kyoto FRUIT competitionMay, 2004

125,000 yenFirst place winner, too

44,000 yenFirst place winner

44,400 yen2nd place

14,400 yen2nd place, too 46,900 yen

3rd placePearls not included!

But maybe some things haven’t changed. Netsukes and obis?

FRUITS

A street fashion fad?

Nothing more than the product of a shrewd marketing strategy?

Youth’s expression rebellion against tradition?

A symptom of broader changes in identity?

Ultimately, the question is …

If you’ve been a fruit, can you still wear the kimono?