Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I DIFFERENT ANIMISMS
- Part II DWELLING IN NATURE/CULTURE
- Part III DWELLING IN LARGER-THAN-HUMAN COMMUNITIES
- Part IV DWELLING WITH(OUT) THINGS
- Part V DEALING WITH SPIRITS
- Part VI CONSCIOUSNESS AND WAYS OF KNOWING
- Part VII ANIMISM IN PERFORMANCE
- 35 Nature in the active voice
- 36 Animist realism in indigenous novels and other literature
- 37 The third road: Faërie in hypermodernity
- 38 Objects of otaku affection: animism, anime fandom, and the gods of … consumerism?
- 39 The Dance of the Return Beat: performing the animate universe
- 40 Performance is currency in the deep world's gift economy: an incantatory riff for a global medicine show
- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- Bibliography
- Index
38 - Objects of otaku affection: animism, anime fandom, and the gods of … consumerism?
from Part VII - ANIMISM IN PERFORMANCE
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I DIFFERENT ANIMISMS
- Part II DWELLING IN NATURE/CULTURE
- Part III DWELLING IN LARGER-THAN-HUMAN COMMUNITIES
- Part IV DWELLING WITH(OUT) THINGS
- Part V DEALING WITH SPIRITS
- Part VI CONSCIOUSNESS AND WAYS OF KNOWING
- Part VII ANIMISM IN PERFORMANCE
- 35 Nature in the active voice
- 36 Animist realism in indigenous novels and other literature
- 37 The third road: Faërie in hypermodernity
- 38 Objects of otaku affection: animism, anime fandom, and the gods of … consumerism?
- 39 The Dance of the Return Beat: performing the animate universe
- 40 Performance is currency in the deep world's gift economy: an incantatory riff for a global medicine show
- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Japan, to modify slightly a title of a book by Bruno Latour (1993), has never been modern. The indigenous folk beliefs and practices of Shintoism, or kami no michi (way of spirits), continue to permeate the fabric of everyday life, and although most Japanese profess neither to personal religion nor to belief in the spiritual, this cultural legacy provides a rich creative resource fuelling the country's cultural industries. Indeed, Japanese animism is everywhere in the textual contents of anime (animation) and manga (comic books), so it perhaps comes as no surprise that Japan is also the country which gave the world the otaku. The definition of otaku varies but is typically understood as a hardcore fan of popular culture, especially anime and manga. He (and yes, the stereotypical otaku is male) is characterized by his passionate devotion to the objects of his fandom affection and proportionate absence of social grace. The otaku, in short, is a suspicious, socially awkward character who is more comfortable around two-dimensional cartoons than real, three-dimensional people.
But is that all he is? Simply by adjusting slightly one's perspective on this commonplace understanding of the word, it is quite easy to argue that the otaku is in fact an animist, investing a devotion of genuinely spiritual proportions to the objects of popular culture fandom. Thus, instead of revering the moon which waxes and wanes in the sky, he reveres Sailor Moon whom he watches in perpetual rerun. Instead of placing sacred totems around his home, he collects and displays his favourite action figures.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Handbook of Contemporary Animism , pp. 479 - 490Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2013