Visual Culture

AnimationFilmTV

Japanese Animation: A Worldwide Culture

Ken Wynne

Devilman: The Birth (1987)Japanese anime has become a global worldwide culture for many reasons. Becoming popular in Japan after the second world war, anime provided an alternative format for storytelling. The common misconception in the west is that animation is primarily aimed towards the children, but this is not the case in Japan.

“For most Japanese consumers of anime, their culture is no longer a purely Japanese one (and indeed it probably hasn’t been for over a century and a half). At least in terms of entertainment, they are as equally interested by Western cultural influences as they are by specifically Japanese ones.”

PRESS PLAY ►

DramaFilmHorrorSci-FiThriller

Dark Cinema: Horror from Japan and Korea

Ren Zelen

Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)

When a new era of Asian horror films entered mainstream Western cinema with Hideo Nakata’s ‘The Ring’, Asian horror movies were soon perceived to be chasing Hollywood’s more hackneyed horror efforts into the shadows.

“This kind of thing… it doesn’t start by one person telling a story. It’s more like everyone’s fear just takes on a life of its own.”

PRESS PLAY ►