Please write your essay on one of the following topics. Indicate on your paper which topic you have chosen. Your essay should not exceed five double spaced pages and should not be shorter than four double-spaced pages.
(Font size: 12, Font type: Times New Roman, Margins: 1" on all sides) The references are not included in the page length. Please see below the criteria that will be used to grade your paper.
Questions for final essay:
1) Read any of the following books some of which we have already read during the semester (Anne Allison: Precarious Japan, Akiko Takeyama:
Staged Seduction, Merry White: The Japanese Educational Challenge, Gabriella Lukacs: Scripted Affects, Branded Selves, Sawa Kurotani: Home Away from Home) and assess whether the authors succeed in steering clear from an Orientalist portrayal of Japan. In your essay,
(1) give a short overview of the book,
(2) provide a brief description of what makes a portrayal of another culture Orientalist, and
(3) assess whether the book's portrayal of Japan is Orientalist or not. Bring examples to support your claim. If your assessment concludes that the book is not Orientalist, explain why.
2) Watch Suo Masayuki's Shall We Dance. Make sure to watch the Japanese version and not the film's American remake. Analyze the film in light of our readings on gender, sexuality, family, and white-collar employment.
(Rohlen, Borovoy, Takeyama, Alexy) For example, Alexy argues that marriage counseling did not exist in Japan until recently and married couples did not discuss problems in their marriages.
How does this relate to the male protagonist's (Sugiyama's) attraction to ballroom dancing in Shall We Dance?
3) Watch Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Tokyo Sonata. Discuss the film in dialogue with Anne Allison's Precarious Japan. According to the film how has the economic recession affected gender roles in the family?
4) Japanese video games, manga (comic books), anime (animation), and cute characters have become part of global culture in the past two decades.
Describe the reception of a particular Japanese popular cultural genre in the United States and explain what accounts for the popularity of this genre.
Address the question of how the popularity of this program or commodity reflects the changing perception of Japan in the world.
Use readings from the class to support your argument.
Papers will be graded according to the following three criteria
1. Is your argument clearly stated? Is it an original argument?
2. Did you use concepts and theories (you were introduced to in this class) to make your argument?
3. Has the paper been carefully proofread? Are there interesting transitions, roadmaps, a catchy opening and conclusion? Does the paper length match the assignment? (4-5 pages double-spaced, 12-point font, Times New Roman)
Citation and References
Remember to cite the texts you are using. It is important that you make it clear for your reader what ideas you borrowed (and from where) and what ideas were your own. Citations serve this function.
It is also important that you cite your sources accurately so that your reader can find them if she wishes to confirm something you claim in your paper. You can follow any standard format of citation such as MLA or Chicago. Below is a sample format you can follow.
1) In-text citation when you quote someone word by word: "xxxxx" (Allison 1996: 125)
2) In-text citation when you just summarize someone's argument: Allison argued that (...) (Allison 1996). You have to include Allison's work in your list of references in the end of your paper.
3) REFERENCES ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE REQUIRED PAGE LENGTH.
Format for References
Allison, Anne. 1996. "Transgressions of the Everyday: Stories of Mother-Son Incest in Japanese Popular Culture." In Permitted and Prohibited Desires. Boulder: University of Colorado Press. pp. 123-145. (IF IT IS AN ARTICLE)
Richards, Amy and Jennifer Baumgardner. 2000. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. (IF IT IS A BOOK)
The Seattle syndrome, TVE International; BBC Worldwide; Written and directed by Steve Bradshaw, Oley, PA: Bullfrog Films, c2000. (IF IT IS A FILM)