Manga Cultures and the Female Gaze (East Asian Popular Culture)

"The female gaze is used by writers and readers to examine narratives from a perspective that sees women as subjects instead of objects, and the application of a female gaze to male-dominated discourses can open new avenues of interpretation. This book explores how female manga artists have encouraged the female gaze within their work and how female readers have challenged the male gaze pervasive in many forms of popular media. Each of the chapters offers a close reading of influential manga and fancomics to illustrate the female gaze as a mode of resistant reading and creative empowerment. By employing a female gaze, professional and amateur creators are able to shape and interpret texts in a manner that emphasizes the role of female characters while challenging and reconfiguring gendered themes and issues."-- Provided by publisher Manga Cultures and the Female Gaze Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction: Interrogating the Text from the Wrong Perspective My Life in Shōjo Manga A Brief Overview of Shōjo Manga History From Sailor Moon to Steven Universe References Chapter 2: Short Skirts, Superpowers, and the Evolution of the Beautiful Fighting Girl Consuming Bishōjo, Consuming Narrative Fighting for Love and Justice: The Female Fans of Sailor Moon It Can’t End Like This: Breaking the Bishōjo Mold in Magic Knight Rayearth References Chapter 3: The Maiden and the Witch: CLAMP’s Subversion of Female Character Tropes Pure Hearts and Sparkling Eyes: The Rise of the Shōjo Taking Back the Shōjo: Innocence and Experience in Tsubasa and xxxHolic Postfeminism and Posthumanity in Chobits References Chapter 4: Queering the Media Mix: The Female Gaze in Japanese Fancomics Shōjo Manga and the Female Gaze The Uke/Seme Dynamic Performing Textual Masculinity, Inscribing Textual Femininity Fujoshi and the Power of Female Fans References Chapter 5: Beautiful War Games: Transfiguring Genders in Video Game Fancomics Big Swords and Sexy Boss Battles: Homosocial Rivalries in Final Fantasy VII Transcultural Fandom and Video Game Character Designs “Linkle Is Not Enough” References Chapter 6: Link Is Not Silent: Queer Disability Positivity in Fan Readings of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Ability, Disability, and Gaming Queering the Link to the Player Links Between Subcultural Narratives A Link to a Wider World References Chapter 7: The Cultural Cross-Pollination of Shōjo Manga Forging a Female Audience: The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of Tokyopop The Potential of Female Homotextuality References Index