Anne in Japanese Popular Culture

Authors

  • Judy Stoffman

Abstract

Résumé: Anne Shirley est, au Japan, une vedette de la culture populaire. Personnage littéraire à l'origine, elle est devenue un symbole de la culture occidentale dans les manga, les dessins animés, la publicité, etc. Akage no An a même deux clubs d'admirateurs. Toutefois, la version nipponne du personnage, plus conservatrice, est perçue comme une initiatrice aux valeurs familiales à l'occidentale. Sa très grande popularité vient du fait qu'elle semble réconcilier l'individualisme nord-américain et l'idéal japonais de l'harmonie sociale. Summary: Anne Shirley is a star of Japanese popular culture. There she has made the transition from a purely literary character to a symbol of western life exploited in manga comics, cartoon shows, advertising and in the names of shops, travel agencies and language schools. Akage no An even has two fan clubs. But the Japanese An is a more conservative figure than the one her Canadian readers know, valued in large part as an instructor in homemaking, western style. She demonstrates for the Japanese that the western ideal of individualism can be reconciled with the Japanese ideal of social harmony. This may be the key to her immense popularity.

Downloads

Published

1998-12-01