Ōtomo’s exploding Cities. The Intersection of Class and City in Ōtomo Katsuhiro’s Works Before, During, and After the Bubble Economy in Japan

Description

In one of Ōtomo Katsuhiro’s interviews held during the sponsoring events for Metropolis (2001) he described the city itself as a driving force behind his initial concept. Ōtomo wanted a city that felt „alive“ on the one hand, but that he could joyfully „completely destroy“ on the other. Although the artist is neither a stranger to „exploding cities“ in a figurative (i. e. exploding population) nor in a literal sense, the ways he imagined these cities changed bit by bit. Considering the essential position held by the apocalypse as a key-image in both political and pop-cultural discourses during the Lost Decades (time of recession) Ōtomo’s works open up the possibility to examine how the image of cityspace and its destruction are interconnected with discourses on class in Japan during the 1980s and 1990s. By looking at the manga Dōmu (1980-1981), the anime Akira (1988), and Metropolis, one can not only approach the image of the city as Japan and its change over time, but further the shift in discussion of class in the once called „classless society“.

Period	03 Jun 2016
Event title	18th Annual International Conference of the English Department. Literature and Cultural Studies Section: ‘Cultural Representations of the City’
Event type	Conference
Location	RomaniaShow on map