Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last Decade
In 2019 and 2020, Hong Kong experienced waves of anti-government protests, with millions participating both online and offline. The semiotic of transnational popular culture references, including film and music, played a crucial role in these protests. Japanese animation and manga were especially p...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2024-12-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Anime and Manga Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/article/view/1460 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849303756358811648 |
|---|---|
| author | Mateja Kovacic |
| author_facet | Mateja Kovacic |
| author_sort | Mateja Kovacic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
In 2019 and 2020, Hong Kong experienced waves of anti-government protests, with millions participating both online and offline. The semiotic of transnational popular culture references, including film and music, played a crucial role in these protests. Japanese animation and manga were especially prominent in online and offline communication, in the form of memes, slogans, videos, and activist art produced mostly by people under 29 years of age. Namely, anime and manga became not only the primary audio-visual language of the protests but also a transnational pop digital anarchist network between Hong Kong and the rest of the world. This article refers to this phenomenon as “Hong Kong’s anime” due to its unique transformation, adaptation, and sociocultural and political significance during these protests. Anime has a heterogeneous history as both institutional soft power and non-institutionalized fandom. While acknowledging the heterogeneous landscape of anime, this article focuses on its potential as a “transnational pop digital anarchist network” by analyzing its role in shaping people’s transnational cultural history and in writing people’s historiography. Based on interviews with the creators of protest art and the analysis of online and offline content, Hong Kong’s anime is revealed to be a new form of transnational historiography, emerging from transnational pop digital anarchist networks and connecting ordinary people in Hong Kong and worldwide through anime.
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e82fc5cf05ab40a0b2eb64d472214bb2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2689-2596 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Anime and Manga Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-e82fc5cf05ab40a0b2eb64d472214bb22025-08-20T03:55:58ZengUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignJournal of Anime and Manga Studies2689-25962024-12-01510.21900/j.jams.v5.1460Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last DecadeMateja Kovacic0Hong Kong Baptist Univeristy In 2019 and 2020, Hong Kong experienced waves of anti-government protests, with millions participating both online and offline. The semiotic of transnational popular culture references, including film and music, played a crucial role in these protests. Japanese animation and manga were especially prominent in online and offline communication, in the form of memes, slogans, videos, and activist art produced mostly by people under 29 years of age. Namely, anime and manga became not only the primary audio-visual language of the protests but also a transnational pop digital anarchist network between Hong Kong and the rest of the world. This article refers to this phenomenon as “Hong Kong’s anime” due to its unique transformation, adaptation, and sociocultural and political significance during these protests. Anime has a heterogeneous history as both institutional soft power and non-institutionalized fandom. While acknowledging the heterogeneous landscape of anime, this article focuses on its potential as a “transnational pop digital anarchist network” by analyzing its role in shaping people’s transnational cultural history and in writing people’s historiography. Based on interviews with the creators of protest art and the analysis of online and offline content, Hong Kong’s anime is revealed to be a new form of transnational historiography, emerging from transnational pop digital anarchist networks and connecting ordinary people in Hong Kong and worldwide through anime. https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/article/view/1460AnimeHong Kongtransnational historydigital activismpopular cultureprotest |
| spellingShingle | Mateja Kovacic Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last Decade Journal of Anime and Manga Studies Anime Hong Kong transnational history digital activism popular culture protest |
| title | Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last Decade |
| title_full | Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last Decade |
| title_fullStr | Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last Decade |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last Decade |
| title_short | Hong Kong’s Anime: A Cultural History of Anime in Hong Kong’s Last Decade |
| title_sort | hong kong s anime a cultural history of anime in hong kong s last decade |
| topic | Anime Hong Kong transnational history digital activism popular culture protest |
| url | https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/article/view/1460 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT matejakovacic hongkongsanimeaculturalhistoryofanimeinhongkongslastdecade |