CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Kovach, Anastasiia |
|---|---|
| Title | Alchemists, Warriors, Soldiers: Re-Imagining Militarism through Shounen Manga |
| Summary | Manga and anime are considered one of the main cultural exports of Japan, attracting a considerable international audience due to their relatability. This thesis project is dedicated to pinpointing how manga informs its readership on militarism and state violence. It focuses on the analysis of shounen manga, i.e., a genre of comics targeted towards young male audiences and exploring a variety of topics connected to the International Relations scholarship, such as war and peace, ethnic grievances, political functioning of the military etc. In this project, the genre is represented by Fullmetal Alchemist (2001) and Attack on Titan (2009) – critically acclaimed bestsellers. The thesis aims to broaden the academic debate on the so-called “military-entertainment complex” and engages with scholarly literature on the Aesthetic Turn in International Relations and Critical Military Studies. Representations of militarism in the cultural artifacts are assessed based on the definition of militarism coined by Anna Stavrianakis and Jan Selby (2012). Methodologically, this research relies primarily on Critical Discourse Analysis and Visual Analysis. While following the tragedies of the characters in the manga, this thesis deconstructs not only how militarization and militarism are portrayed in manga on a surface level, but also points out the more subtle and personal consequences of these phenomena. |
| Supervisor | Strausz, Erzsebet |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/kovach_anastasiia.pdf |
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