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A tetrad analysis of anime (Japanese Animation)

I've recently read some more about Marshall McLuhan, whose work has interested me since my third year of high school about six years ago. Below, I attempt to analyze anime according to his four Laws of Media that apply to all media (and technology, of which media is a subset): What does it extend? What does it retrieve? What does it reverse into? What does it make obsolete?


Anime

(In no particular order!)
Extends our ability to experience hyper-realistic, fantastic, and impossible images beyond what is possible with live-action motion pictures. Retrieves our ability to comprehend and process non-literal visual codification systems (as in manga/comics).
Reverses in function when it tries too hard to portray "reality," especially when unnaturally artificial computer graphics disrupt the non-literal codification scheme. Makes obsolete most Disney animated motion pictures.

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Last updated on November 7th, 1998
Lawrence Eng
leng@cjas.org