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West above the rest? – Investigating the depiction of Caucasian western characters in Japanese Cinema

Halse, Loui (2018) ACET35
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Abstract
The primary aim of this thesis is to analyze and uncover stereotypes concerning Caucasian westerners among Japanese citizens. This is done by looking into recent Japanese cinema in order to analyze how Caucasian westerners are displayed in the movies in which they appear. A semiotic approach as defined by Jonathan Bignell is used in order to gather data from the selected movies, and the findings discovered in this process is analyzed using a theoretical framework primarily relying on labelling theory as defined by Erving Goffman. Upon conducting the data collection the thesis furthermore engages in a larger analysis where the way of using foreigners in Japanese cinema is compared to the way it is being done in Hollywood. Ultimately the... (More)
The primary aim of this thesis is to analyze and uncover stereotypes concerning Caucasian westerners among Japanese citizens. This is done by looking into recent Japanese cinema in order to analyze how Caucasian westerners are displayed in the movies in which they appear. A semiotic approach as defined by Jonathan Bignell is used in order to gather data from the selected movies, and the findings discovered in this process is analyzed using a theoretical framework primarily relying on labelling theory as defined by Erving Goffman. Upon conducting the data collection the thesis furthermore engages in a larger analysis where the way of using foreigners in Japanese cinema is compared to the way it is being done in Hollywood. Ultimately the thesis displays how the roles of foreign actors are clearly distinguished from that of Japanese actors, as well as how Caucasian western foreigners tend to be treated more favorable than minorities of other ethnicities when they appear in Japanese movies. (Less)
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author
Halse, Loui
supervisor
organization
course
ACET35
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Foreigners in Japan, Nihon-jinron, Japanese cinema, Minorities, Media Semiotics, Labelling theory, Stereotypes, Discrimination
language
English
id
8990019
date added to LUP
2019-07-04 13:26:23
date last changed
2019-07-04 13:26:23
@misc{8990019,
  abstract     = {{The primary aim of this thesis is to analyze and uncover stereotypes concerning Caucasian westerners among Japanese citizens. This is done by looking into recent Japanese cinema in order to analyze how Caucasian westerners are displayed in the movies in which they appear. A semiotic approach as defined by Jonathan Bignell is used in order to gather data from the selected movies, and the findings discovered in this process is analyzed using a theoretical framework primarily relying on labelling theory as defined by Erving Goffman. Upon conducting the data collection the thesis furthermore engages in a larger analysis where the way of using foreigners in Japanese cinema is compared to the way it is being done in Hollywood. Ultimately the thesis displays how the roles of foreign actors are clearly distinguished from that of Japanese actors, as well as how Caucasian western foreigners tend to be treated more favorable than minorities of other ethnicities when they appear in Japanese movies.}},
  author       = {{Halse, Loui}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{West above the rest? – Investigating the depiction of Caucasian western characters in Japanese Cinema}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}