Interpreting Anime

Anime has a long history spanning a wide range of directors, genres, and styles. Christopher Bolton's Interpreting Anime is a thoughtful, carefully organized introduction to Japanese animation for anyone eager to see why this genre has remained a vital, adaptable art form for decades. It applies multiple frames, such as queer theory, psychoanalysis, and theories of postmodernism, to give readers a thorough understanding of both the cultural underpinnings and critical significance of each film.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 20 February 2018
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

For students, fans, and scholars alike, this comprehensive primer on anime employs a diverse range of critical approaches. Widely recognized through hit movies like Spirited Away, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell, anime has a rich history spanning various directors, genres, and styles. Christopher Bolton's Interpreting Anime offers a thoughtful and meticulously organized introduction to Japanese animation for anyone eager to explore why this genre has remained a vital and adaptable art form for decades.

Interpreting Anime is accessible and structured around individual films and a broad array of critical approaches. Each chapter focuses on a different feature-length anime film, juxtaposing it with a particular medium, such as literary fiction, classical Japanese theater, and contemporary stage drama, to reveal what is unique about anime's way of representing the world. This analysis is aided by a suite of questions provoked by each film, along with Bolton's insightful responses.

Throughout, Interpreting Anime applies multiple frames, such as queer theory, psychoanalysis, and theories of postmodernism, providing readers with a thorough understanding of both the cultural underpinnings and critical significance of each film. What emerges from the sweep of Interpreting Anime is Bolton's original, articulate case for what makes anime unique as a medium: how it simultaneously engages profound social and political realities while also drawing attention to the challenges of representing reality in animation's imaginative and compelling visual forms.

Weight: 412g
Dimension: 143 x 216 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517904036