Classes have begun and we have registered on a third online teaching platform in one year, as well as a third video conference system. I don’t feel inspired about the courses and I am very critical to the fact that the Qualitative Methods course has been discontinued, just because the lecturer quit. Qualitative Methods was described to us as the backbone of the programme, so what does it say about the programme that they decided to ditch it?
However, I am extremely excited about my own research. I’m immersing myself in relevant anime to literally watch the history of shota, as it is described in Watanabe’s essay, which I continue to decode, one page at a time:
As we saw last week, the “turning point” for shota was Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru (Sunrise, 1988).
Wataru’s “heirs” were Sunrise produced robot animes aimed at children: Madou King Granzort (Sunrise, 1989), Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh (Sunrise, 1991), Chou Dendou Robo Tetsujin 28-gou FX (1992), and Super Bikkuriman (Toei Animation, 1992).
In 1994, three important works added male shota fans to the previous female core: Akazukin Chacha (Gallop, 1994), Yuusha Keisatsu J-Decker (Sunrise, 1994), and Yamato Takeru (Nippon Animation, 1994). The shota characters in these works were more feminine.
Shota’s momentum can be seen in hits like Neon Genesis Evangelion (Gainax, Tatsunoko Production, 1995).
On Tuesday I and S went to the Einstein lecture at FU, where Catherine Heymans talked about dark matter and dark energy.
And tonight we went to a concert where S’s friend D played the violin.
I read another chapter in Eddo-Lodge’s book:
We don’t live in a meritocracy, and to pretend that simple hard work will elevate all to success is an exercise in wilful ignorance.
– Reni Eddo-Lodge, p. 56 (“The System”)
I googled why there are so many reaction gifs with black people in them, and found out that the phenomenon has been dubbed “digital blackface”:
There’s the “hilarious” Auto-Tuned neighbour meme, which plays into the stereotype of black people as natural-born, always-on performers and/or “welfare queens” (the fact that many of these clips – Charles Ramsey in Cleveland, Ohio, or Antoine “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife” Dodson – originated as local news interviews with witnesses to horrifying incidents, seems to get lost somewhere in the process of meme-ification).
– Ellen E Jones in The Guardian
I had quite a dramatic work week.
And on Friday I had a couple of beers at Südblock with some of my classmates: L & C, K & M. J and his boyfriend O dropped by very quickly.
Anime
- 1988: Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru. E2–3. Now with English subtitles.
- 1989: Madou King Granzort. E1–4. Loved this one! (Ep. 4 raw.)
- 1991: Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh. E1–2. Too childish.
- 1992: Super Bikkuriman. E1–2 (raw).
- 1992: Chou Dendou Robo Tetsujin 28-gou FX. E1.
- ↓ ↓ ↓
- 1994: Akazukin Chacha. E1.
- 1994: Yuusha Keisatsu J-Decker. E1. Very sweet.
- 1994: Yamato Takeru. E1–2 (raw, youtube). Key to understand male and female shota types.
- ↓ ↓ ↓
- 1995: Neon Genesis Evangelion. E3–4 (Netflix). Masterpiece, not least cinematographically.
Articles
- Wired:
- The Globe and Mail: Who still hangs out on Second Life? More than half a million people (2017)
- The Guardian/Ellen E Jones: Why are memes of black people reacting so popular online? (2018)
- Teen Vogue/Lauren Michele Jackson: We Need to Talk About Digital Blackface in Reaction GIFs (2017)
Book chapter
- Eddo-Lodge, Reni. 2017. Why I’m Not Talking to White People About Race.
- 2: “The System”, pp. 44–59.
Lecture
- 19th Einstein Lecture, Prof. Dr. Catherine Heymans: Seeing the Invisible – The Dark Side of the Universe.
Concert
- 20 Jahre concentus alius (Emmauskirche)
Video
- Zoe Glatt: LSE Digital Ethnography Collective NVIVO WORKSHOP
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Walter Murch: Making the Right Editing Choices & Switching to Adobe Premiere Pro CC
- Sven Pape/This Guy Edits:
- Studiobinder: How Kubrick, Spielberg, and Inarritu Stage their Scenes
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