Kayson Carlin
25 April 2017
Bowling Green State University
Building A Genre Using Magic and Love
Over the past century, film has gained incredible momentum, from audiences watching a 46 second reel of workers leaving a factory, to multimillion dollar blockbuster hits that employ cutting edge technology. Auteurs were made, genres were discovered, and technology advanced. Throughout all these years, film has been intertwined with history, economics, societal expectations, cultural customs, religion- everything you can think of. The result is somewhat like a family tree; each movie, director, genre, etc is connected in some way or another, either directly or somewhere far down the line. Of course, the same can be said for everything in this world. But in this paper, I will look at a specific genre of animation, and how it connects to the bigger picture of film’s overarching genealogy, with an emphasis on Japan.
Animated movies have been made in nearly every major country with a film industry. Dating back to the early 19th century, animation has been used to not only create spectacular visuals but to tell a narrative, or story as well. The technique of moving drawn images progressed differently in parts of the world, but none quite as uniquely as Japan. It even has its own name, to which everyone knows exactly what is being described – anime. Unlike the common western idea that all animated pieces are meant for children, anime is intended for any age group whether it be housewives or salary men, and is widely accepted. From emulating Walt Disney’s early cartoons to exploring modern socio-economical issues, anime has evolved to become the most popular medium used today in Japan. Anime contains many different genres and sub-genres, but one of the most prominent is a genre known as “mahou shoujo” or magical girl. This genre originated in Japan in the early 60s, and although it has found footing in other countries, it is still uniquely Japanese. Though there are girl superhero films in the west, magical girl anime films feature elaborate transformation sequences and characters with more girlish, feminine appeal (Saito). These films are generally produced for a younger female audience, and features a “feel good” atmosphere. Themes of magical girl films tend to include love, friendship, magic, and happiness. There are, of course, later magical girl films that challenge not only the common ideas, but the entire construction of the genre.
In order to understand the history of the magical girl genre, first one must look back to World War II. The origins of this genre started in manga– a form of Japanese comic that came about during the war to provide some relief to citizens. Directly after the war, books and magazines boomed because they could be published with minimal labor, and used cheap material which was often recycled (Prough). Children rapidly consumed popular manga because it captured the whimsical life that they longed for, but couldn’t fully have. As the children grew up, publishing companies continued to churn out titles to match their consumer’s age. Eventually by the early 60s, those same kids were old enough to begin creating manga of their own (Prough). Initially it was mostly men authors who enlisted the help of their wives, but in the late 60s and early 70s there was a surge in female authors. This was because of influence from the feminist movement, which promoted female empowerment. Since these women had spent years working in the background of their male counterpart’s shadow, they too were skilled at creating manga and were finally making their way into the light of day. Encouraged by pro-female ideology, women authors began writing girl-centered manga, and one way to express their independence was giving the girl characters some sort of magical power. This was used as a metaphor for how “powerless” women felt under male oppression. By giving the character magical powers, they were literally giving them power to be strong on their own. By this time, anime began to adapt manga to capitalize on it’s popularity, which included the magical girl genre.
Prior to 1960, a vast majority of artists, writers, and filmmakers were men, and featured heavily on male-centric narratives. It wasn’t until the mid 1960s that positive female-centric stories were widely available, created by women themselves (Saito). A major contributing group to female visibility and empowerment, which later lead to the start of the magical girl genre, were the members of the all-female, Showa 24. The Showa 24 (named so because most of the members were born in 1949, the 24th year of the Showa era according to the traditional Japanese calendar) created numerous manga with female protagonists, and female character driven plots which garnered the attention of women readers, who could identify with not just the characters, but the themes as well. Their artwork and layout was inspired from film, treating each panel as if it were a frame from a camera, adding diverse views of characters (Newitz). One creator in particular, Moto Hagio, is considered the “founding mother” of modern female manga, due to her unprecedented take on female-centric characters at the time, presenting them as complex human beings (Lunning). Later in the decade, the work of the Showa 24 would intersect deeply with the feminist movement, and come to be accepted as the original influence on magical girls, whose core values are empowerment, femininity, and friendship.
An interesting fact that should be known is that while the magical girl genre is uniquely Japanese, it was actually an American television series that planted the idea of adding magical powers. Bewitched (1964-1972), which featured a witch using magic in everyday situations, became a surprising hit in Japan. The popularity of this show largely contributed to the rise of magic appearing in creative works, especially with female characters. As stated previously, women with magical powers intersected with the feminist movement, as these characters were given control over their lives, as opposed to previously male-dominated positions.
In more recent history, the roots of the magical girl genre has been prevalent in the works of Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon (1992-1997). Inspired by the shows of the 60s and 70s, Takeuchi revolutionized the magical girl genre in the mid 90s (Newson). She combined aspects of male-oriented film, with female-oriented ideology. For example, a popular genre in the 1980s and 90s was super sentai– basically a team of mostly male superheroes that fought together for the common good, such as Power Rangers. Takeuchi took her individual magical girls and turned them into a sentai team, while adding more action not typically seen in girl’s films (Kotani). This broadened the audience demographic, putting the magical girl genre in the spotlight as it’s popularity exploded among male and female viewers. Not only did it create a worldwide boom, it’s effects can still be seen decades later.
Today the influence of the magical girl genre can be seen in western productions, mostly animation. Those who were initially introduced to Sailor Moon as children, were slowly exposed to more “mahou shoujo” works as Japanese companies could capitalize on the globalization. As a result, those children are becoming adults who work in the film, television, and media industry. More and more you see the influence of this genre spring up, especially in television shows. Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe (Sugar 2013), an insanely popular series on Cartoon Network, credits magical girl anime such as Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena (Ikuhara 1997) for her influences on everything from style to characters, visuals and plot devices. This is incredibly evident as there are scenes that directly pay homage to various magical girl films. The Disney Channel is currently airing Star vs the Forces of Evil (Nefcy 2015), which can be considered the first fully western magical girl series. The show comes complete with transformations, sparkles, and magical attacks. In fact, the creator has been reported as modeling the main character after Sailor Moon herself (Lunning). It can also be argued that Disney has taken cues from magical girls, such as in Frozen (Buck & Lee 2013). Elsa is the only female character to have supernatural and/or magical powers, while her sister Anna is without. While singing “Let It Go”, Elsa is seen transforming into a different outfit using her snow powers, akin to typical magical girl transformations. The overall theme of Frozen is love, friendship, and female empowerment, traits shared by the mahou shoujo genre. As time goes on, it’s clear this genre will continue having an impact on film, television, and media.
Overall, the magical girl genre is extremely fascinating. There are so many aspects and cultural conditions which brought about this unique genre. During my research, I could easily see each stepping stone that made it into what it is today. I believe that magical girls can go beyond anime, because of its core values and themes of empowering women. It can even be used as a tool to promote gender equality. Slowly but surely its influence is spreading across the globe, making its way into film, television, art, even literature. Not just the magical girl genre, but all anime has the potential to cross cultural lines to bring about new perspectives, just as western film has influenced the rest of the world. It really is a two-way street, or perhaps a multi-directional street, in terms of what the world can achieve by bringing their ideas together in a display of astounding creativity.
References
Kotani, Mari. “Metamorphosis of the Japanese Girl: The Girl, the Hyper-and the Battling Beauty.” Mechademia, Vol. 1, Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga (2006): 162-169.
Lunning, Frenchy. Women Who Changed Free Expression. 31 March 2015. 17 April 2017.
Newitz, Annalee. “Magical Girls and Atomic Bomb Sperm.” Film Quarterly (1995): 2-15.
Newson, Victoria Ann. “Young Females as Super Heroes: Super Heroines in the Animated ‘Sailor Moon’.” Femspec (2000): 57-81.
Prough, Jennifer S. “Straight from the Heart.” University of Hawai’i (2011): 25-56.
Saito, Kumiko. “Magic, Shoujo, and Metamorphosis.” Journal of Asian Studies (2014): 143-164.
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