Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate how exactly Thomas Lamarre reads movement, plot, and characters in The Anime Machine (2009), as defined to an extent, yet not completely determined by the concept of the animetic machine. Mimicking the first part of Lamarrefs book, it approaches Miyazakifs last work, The Wind Rises (Kaze tachinu, 2013). What Lamarre sees in Miyazakifs manga eiga is a new way of gaining "a free relation to technology" as idealized by Heideggerian philosophy, but, of course, "in animation" (Lamarre 62). This free, critical relation seems to be most noticeably depicted in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Kaze no tani no Naushika, 1984) and Castle in the Sky (Tenkū no shiro Rapyūta, 1986). But does the same kind of criticality that Lamarre finds in Miyazakifs prior works also apply to the latest one, and if so, to what extent? This again leads to the question whether the conclusions Lamarre arrives at actually capture the critical potential of his theory. In the discussion of these issues, anime is viewed not as a text, but a hub of interrelations, including those between audience groups. Finally, the argumentation arrives at the plurality favored by the medium itself, suggested by Lamarre himself, but not ultimately prioritized.


Keywords

animetism/cinematism, anime research, Heideggerian philosophy of technology, media studies, structures of movement and depth

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Kritika Kultura
Department of English
School of Humanities
Ateneo de Manila University

The Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) declares Kritika Kultura as a CHED-recognized journal under the Journal Challenge Category of its Journal Incentive Program.

International Board of Editors

Jan Baetens
Professor
Faculty of Arts
Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium)

Joel David
Professor of Cultural Studies
Inha University (South Korea)

Michael Denning
Professor of American Studies and English
Department of English
Yale University (US)

Faruk
Faculty of Cultural Sciences
Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia)

Regenia Gagnier
Professor of English
University of Exeter (UK)

Leela Gandhi
John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English
Brown University (US)

Inderpal Grewal
Professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Professor of South Asian Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration Studies
Yale University (US)

Peter Horn
Professor Emeritus and Honorary Lifetime Fellow
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Honorary Professor and Research Associate in German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

Anette Horn
Professor of German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

David Lloyd
Distinguished Professor of English
University of California, Riverside (US)

Bienvenido Lumbera
National Artist for Literature
Professor Emeritus
University of the Philippines

Rajeev S. Patke
Director of the Division of Humanities
Professor of Humanities
Yale NUS College (Singapore)

Vicente L. Rafael
Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor of History
University of Washington (US)

Vaidehi Ramanathan
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Davis (US)

Temario Rivera
Professorial Lecturer
Department of Political Science
University of the Philippines

E. San Juan, Jr.
Philippines Studies Center (US)

Neferti X.M. Tadiar
Professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Barnard College (US)
Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
Columbia University (US)

Antony Tatlow
Honorary Professor of Drama
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)