Full Description
Just pronounce the word "manga" and conflicted representations of media reception emerge: either passive teenagers immersed in Japanese fictional worlds, or hyperactive fans. To understand what drives a variety of teenagers to read manga, we conducted empirical research among French readers enrolled in secondary schools. Manga is part of a whole constellation of interests, including music and digital technology. It is also the object of analytical, ethical or concrete appropriations. Reading then becomes a way to deal with past experiences and to connect with others, to learn how to express emotions and to assert (or contest) age and gender norms.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Tables and Graphs
Introduction
1 What Is Manga?
1 "One Thousand Years of Manga" or "Sixty Years of Manga"? Definitions and Search for Origins
2 Production Process and Manga Specificities
2.1 The Effect of the Production Process
2.2 The Categorization of Readers
2.2.1 Targeting Readers
2.2.2 Age and Gender Group: Segmentation and Hybridization
2.3 The Rise of the Manga Cultural Industry in Japan
2.4 Manga Spread and Reception in France: From Media Panic to Recognition
3 Mapping the French Manga Market
3.1 Field Structuring
3.1.1 Today's Publishers
3.2 Outcome
2 A Reading Practice Embedded in the Youth Culture
1 A Reading Embedded in Teenagers' Schedules
1.1 Reading Easy and Practical
1.2 Reading in Various Contexts
1.3 Reading and Rereading
2 A Reading Practice Embedded in the "Youth Culture" Constellation
2.1 Cartoons
2.2 The Digital Era
2.3 Music
2.4 The Fantastic and the Sentimental
2.5 Reading and the Book
3 Friendship Networks
3.1 Exchange Networks
3.2 Discussing Manga
3.3 A Way of Connecting with Others
4 Manga-Related Hobbies
4.1 Drawing: A Mixed-Gender Activity
4.2 Girls: Cosplay and Fanfiction
4.2.1 Cosplays
4.2.2 Fanfictions
4.3 Anime Music Videos and Role Playing Games (amv and rpg)
4.4 Blogs
5 Readers' Careers
5.1 Discovering Manga
5.2 High School as a Confirmation
5.3 Turning Points and Career Endings
3 Reading Manga
1 Entertainment
1.1 Enjoyment
1.2 Escapism
1.3 Laughing: A Serious Matter
1.3.1 Burlesque and Situational Comedy: A Comic Pattern of "Degradation"
1.3.2 Nonsense and Absurd
1.3.3 Comedies in a School Setting: Satire and the Subversion of Authority
1.3.4 Humor in Coming-of-Age Comedies: Comical Variations on Romantic and Sexual Relationships
1.3.5 Plays on Words
1.4 ... and Crying
2 Relatability
2.1 The Various Facets of Identification: Admiring
2.2 Recognizing Oneself
2.3 Ethical Receptions
2.4 Seeking Comfort
3 Right Age, Right Gender, Right Manners
3.1 The Role of Age and Generations
3.2 Age Matters
4 Getting One's Gender Straight: Boys, Fist Fights and Little Nana Girls
4.1 Boys and "Beating"
4.2 Diverse Models of Masculinity: Intelligence, Psychology, and Emotions
4.3 The Little Nana Girls
5 Growing Up with Manga: Practical Uses
5.1 Seeds of Knowledge
5.2 Seeds of Life
4 In Search of Lost Legitimacy
1 Conflicted Dispositions
1.1 Parents, Teachers and Friends
1.2 Internalization
2 Fans in Their Own Words: Self-Portraits
2.1 Not Being a Fan
2.2 Being a Fan
3 "Scholarly" Readings
3.1 Reading as a Meticulous Task
3.2 Reading Skills
Conclusion
Appendix 1 Glossary: The Manga and Japanese Animation Universe
Appendix 2 The Manga Readers Interviewed and Their Characteristics
Appendix 3 Summaries of Some Manga Titles by Those Who Read Them
Appendix 4 Graphs and Tables about Manga Publishing in France
Bibliography
Index
