"Set the game ablaze, I'm an arcade fire”
-Childish Gambino
The literature review is an integral part of paper, it gives the reader a picture of not only what you will be talking about, but also, what the academic conversation surrounding your topic is. For my paper, specifically, I will be looking to use my subtopics to contextualize the spread of Japanese culture/anime to America as a part of the much larger globalization of culture (specifically regarding to America). The reader can then understand the importance of my paper. Beyond showing my topic’s importance, I will need to establish the academic conversation behind my topic. This is what the subtopics are responsible for. I will be using the subtopics I mentioned last week to show the important facets of Japanese animation in America, and the localization of anime in America. My goal for the literature review, and most likely a goal for basically every other literature review, is that by the end the reader will come to the same question that I will be answering in my paper.
A paper that will be instrumental in my research, a tier one resource is "Celebrating Two Decades of Unlawful Progress: Fan Distribution, Proselytization Commons, and the Explosive Growth of Japanese Animation.” This research paper, written by Professor Sean Leonard of MIT in 2005, looks specifically at the copyright infringement behind the rise of fansubbed anime in America. Fansubbed anime is anime that is illegally downloaded, translated by fans (via. subtitles), and distributed across anime fan communities throughout America. This paper conducts a very in-depth review of the actual history of fansubbing and anime in America. The paper also compares the rise of animation in America and Japan. It is nearly 80 pages and contains a lot of useful information for me to use in my literature review.
In short, what this paper found was that the fansubbing did not infringe on any copyright laws, since it helped and profited the anime industry in America, rather than hurt it. Fans in America, from the 1950’s to 1990’s, craved original Japanese animation, not the heavily “sanitized” dubbed versions legally distributed by companies in America. Since fansubbers were the only ones that were able to provide translated, original anime shows from Japan, the rise of fansubbers really lead to the increased American consumption and consumer interest in anime. This is the main argument of the paper, however there is still a lot more information I will be able to use to put into my literature review.
For next week, I looking forward to continuing the John Oliver project. Outside of class, I am still aiming to add at least one paper to my resource list. I feel like this is really coming along and I can already (somewhat) see what my research question will delve into.
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| Gambino's new project. |
Gursajan, I really like your analysis of the source. I want you, though, to consider more how you'll use it and how you'll build upon it. As in, you don't want this source to be the be-all-end-all of your literature review, as that should be your question. So you need to figure out how to converse with the source so YOUR voice and YOUR research are the most prominent aspects of the literature review.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mrs. Haag that right now you sound like you entirely agree with the source. What gaps did this source present? What nuances did you want to explore in your research? I think you have a really good understanding of the literature review and your research, and I am happy to see you are confident in your work. Keep it up! But also remember you need to create your own argument.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, love the new blog theme. My question is how does fansubbing connect/interact with dubbing and/or subtitles? Is fansubbing still prevalent or are companies now doing the dubbing/subtitles themselves? What category are you going to count this under or are you just going to talk about it to describe anime fans? I also agree with Mrs. Haag and Grace. You can't rely solely on this paper. You need to find other sources that back up its analysis as well as the downfalls of the authors arguments. You also are going to need to add information to this authors arguments as the paper was written over 10 years ago. You seem to fully understand the literature review so thats good. Have fun researching.
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