Today, 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam represents robot anime’s biggest hit, a success to the point where it has become a genre unto its own. Although it debuted in 1979, it wasn’t until the following year that the plastic models based on the series became hits, or until the release of the three-part theatrical edition in 1981 that the series itself achieved truly massive success. For this reason, this report treats Gundam as an Eighties phenomenon.
The early 1970s marked another stage in the evolution of robot animation. The turning point came in 1972, with the broadcast of the television series “Mazinger Z” (based on a comic by Go Nagai).
The show marked the dawn of the robot anime era. The robot characters of these shows differed from their Sixties counterparts in three main ways. 1970s robot anime
characters are defined by:
1) Their giant size
2) The fact they were piloted rather than controlled externally
3) Their ability to transform and/or combine
These characteristics led to a new development: the shows acting as vehicles for toy sales. It also occurred in parallel with the trend of “motorization” – the spread of personal car and motorbike ownership in Japan. This image of robots as drive-able vehicles proved irresistible to a new generation of young viewers.
Origin of robot animation-Astro Boy
January 1, 1963 marks the birth of serialized TV anime in Japan. That is the day when the first thirty-minute episode of Osamu Tezuka’s “Tetsuwan Atom” (literally “Mighty Atom,” aka “Astro Boy”) was broadcast. An instant hit, it kicked off the era of mass-produced televised animation in Japan, with a great many production companies both new and old jumping into the fray. At this point, shows generally centered on human-sized heroes that were actually more like hybrids of man and machine than true robots. This trend came to play a major role in shaping the development of Japanese anime culture.
Animators designed robot characters with sleek, gleaming bodies, evoking the clean new roadways, the speeding bullet trains, and shining skyscrapers that were rising up all around them.
Early robot shows were deeply influenced by a “modern-day folklore” of limitless scientific potential. The televised anime of this era was a perfect fit for this moment in Japanese history, portraying a future where science would make life better for everyone. Unlike manga, printed in black and white on rough paper, anime was painted on plastic sheets called cels, giving it a bright luster. When projected on the sheet of glass used as the display for a cathode-ray tube, it accentuated the robotic gleam of the characters all
the more.
For the largely still impoverished children of Japan, this “clean look” glimmered like an arrow pointing to the future. Among the generation who grew up watching the shows in realtime, the first thing that inevitably comes to mind isn’t the actual storylines but rather the merchandise. Specifically, the “magic” rub-off transfers packaged with Marble Chocolates. The shiny, smooth transfers perfectly mimicked the texture of the images on the television screen, and their “robotic” appeal kicked off a fad among
children. In other words, among children of the era, these broader qualities in and of themselves were perceived as “robotic,” and connected to the changes in the cityscape around them.
1.What did you learn?
I have learned a lot, because I never did critical research before, so this is a new thing for me. I have learned a complete process of studying and understanding the system. I know from which channels to learn information and search for literature. Then draw a mind map. And it happened that yoga was also a topic I had never covered before. With the help of teachers and classmates, I went through it from beginning to end and gained very valuable experience.
2.What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?
I have received many feedbacks. The most impressive thing is Monika’s feedbacks to me. I often pay too much attention to the form, but the most important thing is the point. Danni also stressed that if too much emphasis was placed on form, it would be technical exercise rather than critical research. I think my final is still more formal, so I will pay more attention to it in the next topic.
3.What might you do differently in terms of process or content?
Maybe I will add some interactive parts? Or turn it into a physical book?
4.What was inspiring? What parts?
I found that art and religion are inextricably linked. I never noticed this before, because now many arts are very commercialized and have little to do with religion. But my research found that early art is basically bound with religion, which is the case all over the world.
5.Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…
I mainly focus on the topic of Yoga. I may not fully express the umbrella topic space.
6.How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from
Research is more difficult for me. Experimentation is not particularly difficult for me, and I enjoy the process. But sometimes research is painful for me, especially when I don’t know what to do.
At the beginning, I didn’t know anything about yoga, or even about any relationship between yoga and religion. Then with my preliminary investigation, I found that yoga is actually a very, very broad discipline, involving religion, fitness, communication and other aspects. I interviewed yoga enthusiasts, philosophy students and ordinary people. Their understanding and views on yoga are quite different.
Finally, I combined their views and searched a large number of papers on the Internet, and obtained my own critical topic：Different stakeholders and groups will have their own interpretation and development in using yoga as a tool, but it will not alter the original intention of yoga, which is integrating body and spirit to achieve a state of peace and relaxation.
I found that there are many, many different stakeholders, and the following are the obvious ones:
Hinduism: Because yoga can teach us to control our own desires to keep us in a peaceful state, many religions like Hinduism use yoga to preach.
Health (both mental and physical): Yoga can correct posture and promote exercisers’ cardiopulmonary function. And meditation can make people jump out of the stressful life and troubles
Business: The global spread of yoga has brought new opportunities to various industries (clothing, books, videos, equipment factories, holidays, classes), just like a huge golden stomach bag with hundreds of billions
Diplomacy: Unlike other religions, yoga is not exclusive. The characteristics of self-cultivation and all-embracing are very suitable for India government to build diplomatic friendship.
In fact, there are many others. For example, yoga is also widely used in the education of primary and secondary schools, and yoga also has some help for sexual function. However, because of the religious background of yoga itself, yoga education is still controversial, and the help for sexual function also needs to be further demonstrated by medical science. Therefore, this research will not be carried out from these two aspects.
For the form, I want to make a popular science brochure. The audience and application scenarios may be distributed as promotional materials in similar international yoga days, so that more people who know nothing about yoga or have misunderstandings about yoga can have a better knowledge of yoga.
As for metaphor, I thought we should use something that is easy to understand and everyone knows, so I finally chose blood. Yoga is like blood. It carries innumerable nutrients (peace, meditation, self-discipline, inclusive spiritual culture),
and delivers these nutrients to different organs (stakeholders, governments, religions and organizations). These organs use these nutrients to play their own different functions and thrive in various fields.
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga
Michelle Star Yoga Part 1&2 : mind and body https://bobcat.library.nyu.edu/permalink/f/ci13eu/nyu_aleph004891011
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I hope to use the “武功秘籍” （Kung Fu secrets）to express yoga movements.
This guide will be very easy to understand.
I plan to talk about 12 to 18 actions, and then each action will use different models, the elderly, children, adults, women, etc. to express the wide audience of yoga.
It can be used as a beginner’s yoga pose introduction manual, so that beginners can learn yoga at the first time.
At the same time, I can also add some religious murals in the background to reflect the religious value of yoga.
In fact, Kung Fu secrets are a metaphor. Practicing yoga, like connecting with kung fu, can actually play a role in strengthening the body.
I interviewed a very good friend of mine. She graduated from the philosophy department and has many years of yoga experience.
Q: Have you ever heard of yoga? Have you ever done yoga yourself?
A: Of course I’ve heard of yoga, and I’m also a yoga lover myself.
Q: When you are practicing yoga, what is your physical and mental feeling? For example, physically or psychologically?
A: Yoga actually talks about a process of integration, allowing people to completely immerse themselves in the present. When I take a very rhythmic breath with the teacher, I feel that the whole person’s essence and spirit have reached an unprecedented pure state. I like the yoga teacher’s words very much: breathe out worry and pressure, and breathe in health.
Q: What do you think people have wrong understanding of yoga?
A: I think many people practice yoga with a wrong mentality of comparison. They always want to challenge a very difficult position. I think it is totally unnecessary. Because position is not the most important place of yoga since ancient times. And the core of yoga is to focus on yourself. It is better to compare yourself with yourself as long as you do better today than you did yesterday, or keep it. Another mistake I think is that everyone thinks yoga can help you lose weight, but generally speaking, yoga may help you to correct your posture at most. The main reason for practicing yoga may be that yoga helps you improve your usual attention to healthy diet and keeping a good rest, rather than directly losing weight through yoga.
Q: What do you know about traditional religious yoga
A: I know yoga comes from India. I think yoga may be the same to India as Tai Chi to China. Yoga is actually a concrete manifestation of Indian religion. I don’t know much about the specific teachings of yoga.
Q: If you have a chance, would you like to know more about traditional religious yoga
A: Of course! Because yoga is a very good exercise, I am certainly very interested in understanding its origin.
Lakoff + Johnson give several examples throughout the text of linguistic metaphorical systems. Are there any you found odd, outdated, or different from metaphorical systems that you use, either personally or in your language, culture, or social sphere? For instance, do you speak about conversation as battle, or use orientational metaphors the same way the authors describe?
I think “UNKNOWN IS UP; KNOWN IS DOWN” is very strange to me. Because UP is an upward performance, I have gained knowledge, so I am very happy (HAPPINESS IS UP). My knowledge reserves have increased (MORE IS UP), so I think it is better that the two should be the opposite.
Can you identify a metaphorical system that you commonly use? What do you think is the motivating rationale (“experiential basis”) behind that system – or is there one? Have you ever intentionally (or unintentionally) changed the metaphorical system that you use to speak about a certain subject, to reflect a different experience or worldview?
When I make money, I will say that my wallet is bulging. When I have no money, I will say that my wallet is flat. This is actually a very vivid metaphor system. I also use the obvious physical basis. Because the more money you put in your wallet, the bigger your wallet will be. Although people now use electronic wallets, this view has been inherited.
In China, when a person is uncomfortable, we often say drink more hot water and more plain water. In fact, let him have a good rest. But this is not applicable in other countries. You may not have the habit of hot water, so I may directly say let him have a good rest without metaphor.
What metaphors/systems of metaphor are commonly used when discussing your topic? If “the essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (5), what other kinds of metaphors might be useful for discussing your topic, or an aspect of your topic?
I think that in the theme of yoga, the cultural basis and physical basis will be used more. Because yoga is about inhaling and exhaling. In fact, it represents UP and exhaling represents DOWN. Inhale health（MORE IS UP）, exhale worry（LESS IS DOWN）.
From the map, I find that ancient Indian yoga is actually quite different from modern yoga. Ancient Indian yoga mainly focuses on practice, and there are many different branches in ancient yoga, but its core idea is to achieve the goal of harmony between heaven and man and secularization. However, modern yoga has basically shifted its focus to physical exercise and added many modern fitness poses. Gradually, it has become a commercial sport. Yoga has developed into a business worth billions of dollars worldwide, involving courses, teacher certification, clothing, books, videos, equipment and holidays. The United Nations General Assembly designated June 21 as the International Yoga Day. On December 1, 2016, yoga was listed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?
I find my own understanding of GMOs most aligned with the system of ecosystems and contaminants that weaken them. Because I am not the scientist or businessman. I live in Shanghai, and I don’t worry about food shortage. I also doubt that GM will affect the ability of the global agricultural system to withstand the impact of climate change. So, for me, what I can feel is the threat of alien species or new species to the existing local ecosystem. When I was young, China introduced many snails. As a result, the snails multiplied in large numbers. Many Chinese local field snails were squeezed. As a result, the snails could not be eaten because they would carry many parasites. Finally, the government spent a lot of time, energy and money to eliminate them. It has caused very bad consequences.
Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating?
My research topic is yoga. I think there are three types of yoga stakeholders. One is missionary, the other is fitness related practitioners (such as clothing manufacturers, fitness bloggers, fitness coaches), and the other is fitness enthusiasts. The missionaries can better spread the teachings of yoga through the fitness effect of yoga, so that more people can understand yoga. For fitness related practitioners, yoga is a relatively simple exercise, which can attract a lot of people to participate and obtain a lot of income and traffic. For the majority of fitness enthusiasts, because of the low threshold, many actions can be done at home with videos, and it does not require too much core training. Moreover, yoga has really improved the body and mind. Therefore, these three systems are complementary. Fitness related practitioners make great efforts in marketing, which just helps missionaries preach, and the enthusiasm of the majority of fitness consumers also makes fitness related practitioners profitable. The three systems complement each other and form a positive cycle.