The Liberation of Japanese Ladies through Pop Culture - Essay Example

The Liberation of Japanese Women through pop culture Introduction Due to the fact that Japanese women were lowly regarded in the society, this particular essay explores how the Japanese women used the pop culture to liberate themselves from the oppressive society which viewed them as sexual objects that had to role in the social, political and economic well-being of the society (Joanne 138). The essay points out the impact of pop culture and in particular the role played by the Hollywood movies in liberating the Japanese women. The tradition of Japan was not affected by pop culture and western customs even though the pop culture encouraged both men and women to associate freely in dinner parties, balls and other social functions (Joanne 138). This is because the Japanese considered it inappropriate for wives and daughters from the affluent society to mingle in the public domain and hence there was segregation in the society. Kissing portrayed in the pop culture Pop culture enabled the Japanese woman to embrace kissing in the public which involved kissing on either the cheeks or the lips. This behavior was not initially acceptable in the Japanese culture whether it was between lovers, marriage couples, parents to their children and among close friends (Joanne 137). The term abekku was used widely in the pop culture have been widely used to in the Hollywood films and glorified by the Japanese women (The Chicago Defender on 3 September). Japanese women took new forms and depicted that Japanese women have been liberated from sexual oppression whereby they were perceived as sexual objects by their male counterparts. The Japanese women in the Hollywood screens were referred to as sirens or the vamps. These women portrayed in through the Hollywood movies that Japanese women have attained their sexual woman as these were not only desiring and sensual but also sexually active just like their male counterparts. These images further transformed the attitude of Japanese towards Japanese women (The Chicago Defender on 3 September). . Furthermore, it is important to point out that episode in the censorship history too impacted on the liberation of the Japanese women from the oppressive society. The producers of the Japanese movies included kissing schemes in the productions for example the first ever produced depicting the same was hatachi no seishun which was screened in 1946. These movies depicted two young Japanese youths choosing their marriage partners against the will of their parents (The Chicago Defender on 3 September). The art of kissing depicted in the Japanese movies were as a result of pop culture which was gaining its roots in the Japanese society. It’s a means through which the Japanese women went ahead and adapted American fashions and the techniques portrayed in the movies resulted into imitation of the western culture from all aspects. Moreover, the pop culture resulted into techniques of lovemaking being discussed freely without any set-back (The Chicago Defender on 3 September). Writings on pop culture and the impact of the same in liberation of Japanese women Some writers in the Japanese society argued that indeed the pop culture not only impacted positively on the Japanese society but also negatively by interfering with the morals and manners of Japanese women at the pretence of liberating them. The pop culture in the Japan society has a number of features that associate it with the Amaterasu which was the goddess for sun in Japan. The goddess was a symbol of female mystical power an aspect that Japanese have applied in pop culture. Moreover, through the ginyu force the Japanese woman has strived to gain liberation and attain equality as men. The ginyu is a point of reference and resemblance to teams such as Sentai which exhibited some elements of super power. The work exhibits elements of warriors, supernatural powers and the tendency to participate actively in the battles just like their male counterparts. Through Ginyu force Japanese women proven that they too have an active role to play in the battle fields and their roles was not to sit back and watch as Japanese men battled. Additionally, in this particular popular pop culture, the artist Akira Toriyama featured parody by assigning the magical girl supernatural powers in the Ginyu force. It is evident that the members of the Ginyu force who were particularly women follow dragon ball tradition and all the elements that are associated with it. Through this particular works of popular pop culture, women are portrayed as powerful and very elite. They actively took part in defeating Vegeta in addition to attaining the dragon balls during the actions of the captain Ginyu and Namek saga which in one way or the other attempted to regroup and correct the previous failure of both Dodoria and Zarbon. Regarding culture within the societies Furthermore, every culture and society believes that both men and women have different roles and responsibilities to play and Japanese culture is not an exception. Buddhism which is practiced in Japan has granted women a sense of empowerment and most of the popular pop cultures in japan are drawn from this particular field. As a result of pop culture highlighting the freedom of that the women characters had for instance the freedom to give public lectures, pay pilgrimage and even be group leaders made the Japanese women to adapt the same through depicting the concepts in various pop culture in which they were the designers of the same. Moreover, in Japan the concept of Confucianism was evident in pop culture of the day in which women used it as a means of liberating themselves and taking active roles in social, economic and political developments of Japan society. Even though the concept did not directly denigrate women but in valued them less by pointing out that they belonged at the extreme end of the patriarchal society. This is what Japanese women highlighted in these works with an aim of using the pop culture to liberate themselves from the oppressive society which was particularly dominated by men (Carol 25). Additionally, women were not allowed to take part in any form of work an aspect the women were against and thus they start to be involved in pop culture as a means of rebelling against the norms of Japan society (The Housewife Debate of 1955). The concept of Confucian and the concept of pop culture and Japanese women liberation Finally, in Japan the impact of Shintoism decreases the initial effects of neo Confucian on the lives of women as a result of women adapting the pop culture and using it to liberating themselves from the oppressive nature of neo Confucian in Japan. In the shintoism which is portrayed in most of the pop culture in the Japan society, women were mikos which is a form of shaman that has divination power (Carol 23). As a result of the pop culture most women believed and made the society to believe that they had powers similar to those of shaman. In conclusion, it can be pointed out that the pop culture made Japanese women to actively take part in the key developments in the society in addition to fighting for their sexual rights which was initially dominated by men. Pop culture further brought with them new forms of dressing that made the Japanese woman to be sensual and desirable an aspect that made them to take control of their lives (Carol 23). The art of seduction is no longer practiced by the Japanese men only but also by Japanese women. Works cited Carol Gluck, “The ‘End’ of the Postwar: Japan at the Turn of the Millennium,” Public Culture10, no. 1 (1997): 1-23, 4. Joanne Izbicki, Scorched Cityscapes and Silver Screens: Negotiating Defeat and Democracy through Cinema in Occupied Japan, PhD. dissertation, Cornell University, 1997, 137. Shunya Yoshimi, “‘America’ as Desire and Violence: Americanization in Postwar Japan and Asia during the Cold War,” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 4, no. 3 (2003: 433-450), 438. Supplement no. 16 (1999): 3-47, 4. The Chicago Defender on 3 September 1921, 6, “Japan Bans Movie Kissing: 120,000 Feet of American Films Edited Out by Censor.” The Housewife Debate of 1955,” US-Japan Women’s Journal English Read More