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Japan
Organized Panel Session
Despite the commodified image of isomorphic nationality, media studies have placed Japanese TV programme within the context of global economy by analyzing the transnational networks based on the capitalistic cycle among production/distribution/consumption (Iwabuchi 2002; Yoshimoto et al. 2010). Furthermore, as Thomas Lamarre has argued (2015), a new materialistic approach can shed light on invisible power flows within industrial media structures and affect transcending borders between individuals, regions, medias etc. Recently, calling the network fabricated from these elements’ dynamic interrelation 'ecology', Lamarre's argument on TV animation (2018) goes on to reexamine a historical condition of the television environment from the industry’s groundbreaking period of the 1960s to the present ‘post-network era’. Building upon these arguments, this panel will trace entangled transnational dynamism of televisual contents and negotiations arising via the network to explore television's extensive media ecology and history from multifaceted viewpoints of various genres in different eras.
Dogase investigates television documentaries on Minamata incident epitomizing the 1960s’ broadcasting emvironment and complicated politics. Casiello analyzes the adaptation of Japanese robot anime programs for the U.S. children’s market in the 1980s. Nakayama examines the production and global circulation of two variety programmes of the 1980s/1990s. Finally, Joo discusses distribution, the interconnecting side of televisual infrastructure networks, by looking into Japanese online streaming services of Korean television dramas. Through our arguments on media environmental issues, a genealogy of Japanese television ecology will emerge, which is not only delineated as a historical line but filled with diverse and contradictory relations.
Masato Dogase
Nagoya University, Japan
Woojeong Joo
Nagoya University, Japan
Masato Dogase
Nagoya University, Japan
Yuki Nakayama
University of Michigan
Caitlin Casiello
Yale University