Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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While studying in Japan, I became fascinated by the variety shows my roommates would watch. These shows featured a flexible format with comedians and other entertainers participating in a wide variety of activities. For my senior creative project, I decided to determine what features were essential to Japanese variety shows, and to then use these features to create my own program.
In order to determine the essential features of Japanese variety television, I watched a total of 22 episodes of three popular Japanese variety shows: Gaki no tsukai ya arahende (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで! Usually abbreviated as ガキの使い), London Hearts (ロンドンハーツ), and Utaban (うたばん). I chose these three shows because of their differing styles, popular comedic hosts, and impressive longevity, with a combined 58 years of runtime. Through my research, I was able to assemble the analyses of basic and technical features found in the next section of this document in addition to several pages of my own notes used to design my original program.
My own program, American Joke (アメリカンジョーク), is meant to be filmed in America featuring an entirely Japanese cast. The main idea of the show is to capitalize on the comedic potential of cultural differences by having Japanese comedians interact with American people and traditions.
In order to showcase the show, I filmed a short “sizzle reel” video featuring Japanese exchange students as the cast. Segments filmed included our “comedians” learning the high jump from ASU track athletes, bringing Japanese fermented soybeans to campus for American students to taste, and participating in an American-themed quiz show.
In order to determine the essential features of Japanese variety television, I watched a total of 22 episodes of three popular Japanese variety shows: Gaki no tsukai ya arahende (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで! Usually abbreviated as ガキの使い), London Hearts (ロンドンハーツ), and Utaban (うたばん). I chose these three shows because of their differing styles, popular comedic hosts, and impressive longevity, with a combined 58 years of runtime. Through my research, I was able to assemble the analyses of basic and technical features found in the next section of this document in addition to several pages of my own notes used to design my original program.
My own program, American Joke (アメリカンジョーク), is meant to be filmed in America featuring an entirely Japanese cast. The main idea of the show is to capitalize on the comedic potential of cultural differences by having Japanese comedians interact with American people and traditions.
In order to showcase the show, I filmed a short “sizzle reel” video featuring Japanese exchange students as the cast. Segments filmed included our “comedians” learning the high jump from ASU track athletes, bringing Japanese fermented soybeans to campus for American students to taste, and participating in an American-themed quiz show.
ContributorsAmkraut, Elliott R. (Author) / Chambers, Anthony (Thesis director) / Wilson, Bradley (Committee member) / Maday, Gregory (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The paper analyzes Eiichiro Oda's One Piece and its depiction of sexuality and LGBT characters. The author puts forth that this representation is not only a positive representation, but is also important for the representation of LGBT in future anime and manga. In the first chapter, the author describes the history of male-male sexuality in Japan, starting from its recorded inception in writing, continuing into its proliferation in the Tokugawa period, and its declining in the Meiji period. This section highlights the major changes of male-male sexuality in Japan. The second chapter focuses on the latter half of the twentieth century, as LGBT began to take a new identity and a different kind of scrutiny by the public. The chapter continues through the decades as new terms are introduced and popularized to describe LGBT people. The chapter also describes some of the genres of male-male sexuality that became popular at the time. The third chapter is a focus on the title work: One Piece. In this chapter, the author analyzes several LGBT characters and their roles within the story. The author finds that the characters are developed thoroughly in contrast with most stereotypes in other works and in some ways reflect on Japanese society's treatment of LGBT. In the paper's conclusion the author examines another popular work directly influenced by One Piece that also contains LGBT characters. These characters also diverge from common stereotypes of LGBT characters, indicating a trend in popular works of depicting LGBT characters in a positive manner. The paper ultimately comes to the conclusion that this trend will continue in the future of anime and manga.
ContributorsTitus, Martin Paul (Author) / Hedberg, William (Thesis director) / Wilson, Bradley (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Boy’s Love (BL) and yaoi are a subculture that originated in Japan that refers to sexually explicit male-to-male romantic fantasies in Japanese popular culture (Martin, 2012, p. 365). The term fujoshi, a belonging term of BL and yaoi, refers to females interested in male-to-male romantic relationship fantasies (Suzuki, 2013). In the early 2000s, cultural consumption and artistic communication between China, Japan, and Korea became more frequent (Oh, 2009). A large number of Japanese animations and television series have been imported to China for national communication and cultural sharing. Since then, various genres of Japanese popular culture, including BL (relating to intimate relationships) and yaoi (relating to sexual content), have become widespread in China. Globally, the public understands BL and yaoi as a subordinate portion of the otaku culture that heavily relates to Japanese anime, games, and manga (or comics in English); and a broader homosexual subculture with a deep connection to sexual desires (Bai, 2022). However, in China, the focal point of BL and yaoi is relatively different from the fujoshi communities elsewhere. This project explores BL and yaoi’s development in China, introducing perspectives of what, how, and why the Chinese fujoshi form their community within the public digital spaces shared by the mainstream media culture.
Additionally, through anonymous personal interviews, this project brings Chinese fujoshi’s consumer views on their past and current BL and yaoi consumption within and outside of the fujoshi community (see detailed interview process and interviewees’ information in Appendix C-E). Eight Chinese females who have self-identified as fujoshi or had similar practices were selected for the interviews. The chosen participants’ age is from twenty-two to mid-thirties. All of them have had at least five years’ access to BL and yaoi and received higher education. Each participant had at least two interviews answering questions regarding their attitudes as fujoshi and their viewpoints on consuming BL and yaoi products. This thesis analyzes the Chinese fujoshi community’s uniqueness in making BL content visible and yaoi content invisible in China. Consequently, they are forced to have a limited preference for BL and yaoi content, adapt the shared space with other popular cultures on mainstream social media, and utilize alternative communication methods to avoid violating China’s law and censorship. These factors indicate the need for specified classifications or designated digital spaces for BL, yaoi, and even the greater homosexual culture.
ContributorsLi, Yishu (Author) / Kroo, Judit (Thesis director) / Robert, Tuck (Committee member) / Wilson, Bradley (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
After traveling to Spain to study abroad, I noticed a large amount of shops selling goods related to Japanese anime, which helped inspire the topic of my honors thesis. In this paper, the cultural impact of Japanese animation and comics on Spain is explored. The history/origin of anime in Spain, the early reception of these works in Spain, the importance of the anime fandom, the intersection between Spanish and Japanese culture in anime and anime-inspired films, and the positive representation of Spain in these works are all relevant topics that constitute the argument of this document. Sources in both English and Spanish are utilized.This paper explores the surprising connections between the two countries. The way in which their cultures interact through the consumption of this form of media was quite fascinating to look into.
ContributorsMalinski, Joseph (Author) / Walton-Ramirez, Anne (Thesis director) / Wilson, Bradley (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2024-05