Millennial monsters [[electronic resource] ] : Japanese toys and the global imagination / / Anne Allison ; foreword by Gary Cross

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910783667003321
• Autore: Allison Anne <1950->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2006
• ISBN: 1-282-77192-2; 9786612771927; 0-520-93899-2; 1-60129-029-2
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (355 p.)
• Collana: Asia--local studies/global themes ; ; 13
• Classificazione: 02.01
• Disciplina: 688.7/20952
• Soggetti: Toys - Japan; Games - Japan; Animated films - Japan; Video games - Japan; Consumer goods - Japan; Toy industry - Japan; Toys - Japan - Marketing; Philosophy, Japanese; Japan Social life and customs
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Enchanted Commodities -- 2. From Ashes To Cyborgs: The Era Of Reconstruction (1945-1960) -- 3. Millennial Japan: Intimate Alienation And New Age Intimacies -- 4. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The First Crossover Superheroes -- 5. Fierce Flesh: Sexy Schoolgirls In The Action Fantasy Of Sailor Moon -- 6. Tamagotchi: The Prosthetics Of Presence -- 7. Pokémon: Getting Monsters And Communicating Capitalism -- 8. "Gotta Catch 'Em All": The Pokémonization Of America (And The World) -- Epilogue -- Notes -- References -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: From sushi and karaoke to martial arts and technoware, the currency of ; made-in-Japan cultural goods has skyrocketed in the global marketplace during the past decade. The globalization of Japanese "cool" is led by youth products: video games, manga (comic books), anime (animation), and cute characters that have fostered kid crazes from Hong Kong to Canada. Examining the crossover traffic between Japan and the United States, Millennial Monsters explores the global popularity of Japanese youth goods today while it questions the make-up of the fantasies and the capitalistic conditions of the play involved. Arguing that part of the appeal of such dream worlds is the polymorphous perversity with which they scramble identity and character, the author traces the postindustrial milieux from which such fantasies have arisen in postwar Japan and been popularly received in the United States.