Kawaii Japan: Defining JRPGs through the Cultural Media Mix

Auteurs-es

  • Douglas Schules Rikkyo University Auteur-e

Mots-clés :

écologie créative, jeux de rôle japonais, kawaii, jrpg, média mix, soft power

Résumé

Malgré de fréquentes références au genre vidéoludique connu sous le nom de JRPG (Japanese role-playing game ou jeu de rôle à la japonaise) dans les travaux académiques et des fans, très peu de recherches rigoureuses furent dédiés à comprendre comment conceptualiser ce genre. Fréquemment, les JRPGs sont présenté comme une curiosité culturelle, le « J » opérant comme annexe culturel vers le genre du RPG lui-même établi et bien définit. La coordination entre gouvernement et industrie, centrale au « soft power », offre, par contre, un aperçu de la construction de ce genre en mettant l’accent sur le rôle joué par le marché au niveau de la promotion de la culture. S’inspirant de la représentation et du discours relié au sexe dans le programme Cool Japan du MEXT, cet article propose que le JRPG doit être comprit comme une partie élémentaire d’une écologie créative plus vaste qui vient à définir le Japon et sa culture outre-mer.

Biographie de l'auteur-e

  • Douglas Schules, Rikkyo University

    Douglas Schules is an Assistant Professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, where his research interests focus on the intersections between the creative industries, fandom, and new media networks. He is currently working on a book about the network logic of anime fansubbing, and wishes he had more time to play JRPGs for fun.

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Publié

12/01/2015