Megan
Teian (Proposal)
Intro/Statement of Topic
My proposal for my research project will be to analyze and understand the role of women in manga and anime. I will discuss the importance of how women characters were and are being portrayed, the changes women have made in society that might have been influenced by the depictions of women characters, as well as certain stereotypes that have been associated with female manga and also the effect that these “new” images of women in manga and anime have on their fan base.
Since anime and manga have come to the United States, its fan base has increased and women have now almost taken over its audience. I want to answer the reason behind this shift-what makes women so attracted to these types of manga and anime? Why would anyone want to read or watch them?
Through the use of a webpage, I as well as my research collaborator Angel Crawford, will answer these questions and more. We feel that using a webpage, we can not only provide our audience with insightful texts, but also pictures and maybe some video to go along with our arguments. Manga and anime are not just text based literature, but through the use of pictures/video, they tell a whole story-one that hopefully our research will incorporate and pull off.
Our website, done through Weebly, will highlight our arguments since there will be visuals and actual examples of videos and pictures to go along with our research. This will allow our audience to really see what we see and understand our point we are trying to make. It also goes along with the women anime and manga style-when reading a manga or watching an anime that’s for a female audience, whether it’s dark and depressing or happy-go-lucky, the colors are always vibrant (in manga, the cover and a few pages inside are only colorful, the rest are in black and white) and every scene is usually so full of energy. With our website, we hope to fulfill that same type of vibrancy and energetic feeling, almost as if we have created a manga or anime just for our audience to enjoy.
Discussion of Importance
Why is researching the role women play in manga and anime important? These manga were created in order to change the traditions of modern society as well as to give women a gateway into a fantasy away from these traditions. When manga was created, women were usually portrayed through the eyes of men’s fantasies-with big breasts, small waists, domicile, and always stood behind the scenes of the main male characters and even some of the minor ones as well. Now however, the roles are reversed. Instead of the women being the secondary, less noticeable characters, they are now the ones on the covers defeating the bad guys or overcoming odds to be with the ones they love. They not only play more of a male leading role, but they do it with a feminine style that captures the hearts and dreams of its audience. Though most of the public might not know it, manga and anime have given women more life in their everyday lives-whether it’s re-evaluating relationships or just working on their inner selves. Both manga and anime have opened up a new world of hope and dreams for the average, everyday woman that they never had before.
Literature Review
There have been many studies on the role of women within manga and anime, and though most had the same type of viewpoint-how women in manga and anime have now changed to match or keep up with real women and these characters are now influencing the new generations. However one article in particular
caught my eye and made me take a step back. Yes, it mentioned how much female characters have changed, but it also went against the idea that women in manga and anime have gained empowerment, and instead have just continued with some of the stereotypical ways in which men think women should and do act.
Joe Geary mentions in his article, “Young Women (and More) in Anime, that though women in manga and anime have come a long way, there are still strides they could make in order to gain more empowerment within the male-dominated society. He states that though women have gained the use of power in the stories, they still hold true to the male idea that women are nonsensical, boy crazy, and sometimes a little full of themselves. His article goes against my views and those of most of the other sources I have found, but I think his point of view will be an excellent contribute to my research.
Another article, that by Cathy Camper, describes women’s “obsession” with a manga genre called Yaoi and how through the use of “boy love”, women are now enamored with the idea of a male dominated love story. This is interesting though, considering women have made all these strides to get the female character to have more exposure and yet women will still gravitate more to a male dominated character story. These Yaoi manga, hardly if ever, have female characters. Her research shows that in most cases, the reason for woman reading a Yaoi could be brought on by motherly feelings, i.e. comfort or nurturing tendencies.
Plan for Further Research
Although there are tons of research that states how the role of women came about in manga and anime and the strides it has made for the past few decades, there is still research to be done on why exactly women read manga. Is it the imagery? The story line? I’m still not quite sure why that is and can say the reason why I read them.
My proposal for my research project will be to analyze and understand the role of women in manga and anime. I will discuss the importance of how women characters were and are being portrayed, the changes women have made in society that might have been influenced by the depictions of women characters, as well as certain stereotypes that have been associated with female manga and also the effect that these “new” images of women in manga and anime have on their fan base.
Since anime and manga have come to the United States, its fan base has increased and women have now almost taken over its audience. I want to answer the reason behind this shift-what makes women so attracted to these types of manga and anime? Why would anyone want to read or watch them?
Through the use of a webpage, I as well as my research collaborator Angel Crawford, will answer these questions and more. We feel that using a webpage, we can not only provide our audience with insightful texts, but also pictures and maybe some video to go along with our arguments. Manga and anime are not just text based literature, but through the use of pictures/video, they tell a whole story-one that hopefully our research will incorporate and pull off.
Our website, done through Weebly, will highlight our arguments since there will be visuals and actual examples of videos and pictures to go along with our research. This will allow our audience to really see what we see and understand our point we are trying to make. It also goes along with the women anime and manga style-when reading a manga or watching an anime that’s for a female audience, whether it’s dark and depressing or happy-go-lucky, the colors are always vibrant (in manga, the cover and a few pages inside are only colorful, the rest are in black and white) and every scene is usually so full of energy. With our website, we hope to fulfill that same type of vibrancy and energetic feeling, almost as if we have created a manga or anime just for our audience to enjoy.
Discussion of Importance
Why is researching the role women play in manga and anime important? These manga were created in order to change the traditions of modern society as well as to give women a gateway into a fantasy away from these traditions. When manga was created, women were usually portrayed through the eyes of men’s fantasies-with big breasts, small waists, domicile, and always stood behind the scenes of the main male characters and even some of the minor ones as well. Now however, the roles are reversed. Instead of the women being the secondary, less noticeable characters, they are now the ones on the covers defeating the bad guys or overcoming odds to be with the ones they love. They not only play more of a male leading role, but they do it with a feminine style that captures the hearts and dreams of its audience. Though most of the public might not know it, manga and anime have given women more life in their everyday lives-whether it’s re-evaluating relationships or just working on their inner selves. Both manga and anime have opened up a new world of hope and dreams for the average, everyday woman that they never had before.
Literature Review
There have been many studies on the role of women within manga and anime, and though most had the same type of viewpoint-how women in manga and anime have now changed to match or keep up with real women and these characters are now influencing the new generations. However one article in particular
caught my eye and made me take a step back. Yes, it mentioned how much female characters have changed, but it also went against the idea that women in manga and anime have gained empowerment, and instead have just continued with some of the stereotypical ways in which men think women should and do act.
Joe Geary mentions in his article, “Young Women (and More) in Anime, that though women in manga and anime have come a long way, there are still strides they could make in order to gain more empowerment within the male-dominated society. He states that though women have gained the use of power in the stories, they still hold true to the male idea that women are nonsensical, boy crazy, and sometimes a little full of themselves. His article goes against my views and those of most of the other sources I have found, but I think his point of view will be an excellent contribute to my research.
Another article, that by Cathy Camper, describes women’s “obsession” with a manga genre called Yaoi and how through the use of “boy love”, women are now enamored with the idea of a male dominated love story. This is interesting though, considering women have made all these strides to get the female character to have more exposure and yet women will still gravitate more to a male dominated character story. These Yaoi manga, hardly if ever, have female characters. Her research shows that in most cases, the reason for woman reading a Yaoi could be brought on by motherly feelings, i.e. comfort or nurturing tendencies.
Plan for Further Research
Although there are tons of research that states how the role of women came about in manga and anime and the strides it has made for the past few decades, there is still research to be done on why exactly women read manga. Is it the imagery? The story line? I’m still not quite sure why that is and can say the reason why I read them.