Week 7: Manga, Music, & Mythology

(I’m running out of alliteration ideas for my titles)  

Hey everyone! Since my last few posts were more content heavy, I’ll try to keep this week’s post a bit more diverse: a brief update on this week’s work, some manga and mythology, personal progress and thoughts so far, my Medea playlist, and next steps.  

This week, I continued my (very long) journey into theories and read a significant portion of Homi K. Bhabha’s The Location of Culture. In addition to gaining a deeper understanding of his views, I began to apply his lessons of hybridity, mimicry, and liminality to The Hungry Woman as well as Euripides’ Medea. I’ve also started listing and looking into the following scholars for each of my main theories: Edward Said, a postcolonial scholar whose work Bhabha often references; Gayatri C. Spivak, for applying feminist insights into postcolonial scholarship; Toni Morrison for context in Salvage the Bones and feminist theory; and adding at least one more (maybe two) feminist theorists, perhaps one knowledgeable about Chicana feminist literary theory like Gloria Anzaldúa.    

Manga and Myth:

 While analyzing Bhabha’s theory of “hybridity,” I remembered a presentation applying this concept when comparing Tokyo Ghoul and the Odyssey. In the 2022 Antiquity in Media Studies (AIMS) conference, Sonja Overbeck’s presentation found parallels between Ishida Sui’s manga and Homer’s famed text, while referencing Bhabha’s theme of hybridity and an interstice between two worlds or identities. Quick disclaimer, I haven’t watched or read Tokyo Ghoul (though I probably will now) so I apologize in advance if I misunderstand the storyline, but I think Overbeck provided enough context to see the parallels between the two sources.  

The manga “establishes ghouls as the Oriental other” within Westernized Japan in the story, and the protagonist Kaneki Ken can be thought of as a representation of both Odysseus and the cyclops Polyphemus. Just as the mythological cyclops is famed for its one eye, Kaneki’s different colored eyes (one red, signifying ghoul and one natural, signifying human) are a manifestation of his hybridized identity where he walks the border between flesh-eating ghouls and humans. Another allusion to mythology is Kaneki Ken’s name: gold for “Kane,” wood for “ki,” and polish or sharpening for “ken,” giving his name a hero-like connotation and alluding to the stake that Odysseus used to blind Polyphemus.   

Overbeck also references Bhabha’s theory of “double vision,” meaning looking at self through the eyes of others or envisioning oneself as the “other.” She additionally draws comparisons to Said’s definition of Orientalism as Sui further represents the idea of “other” through difference in drawing style: ghoul characters are depicted in a typical manga style whereas CCG (a federal agency that hunts ghouls) characters are more Western-looking. A final note is that manga, itself, is a hybrid media which unites literature with digital artwork.    

Progress and Challenges:  

I thought I’d give a mini personal progress report on how the overall project journey has been so far. My goal when designing the project was to read more mythology and I soon became invested in Medea’s story after my internal advisor, Ms. Banga, recommended it to me. Medea’s journey captured a whirlwind of emotions ranging from wrath to heartbreak, and I personally loved the witty banter between her and Jason in Euripides’ play. While I accomplished my main aim (of doing a ton of reading separate from my STEM-based interests), I didn’t realize the challenges of essentially designing my own curriculum for the months of the project. Unlike any AP history or literature class I’ve been a part of, this project didn’t have a set reading list or a chronological order for which theories to review, which authors to look into and which to stay away from, or how plans may fluctuate based on the previous week’s progress.  

The scholarship and theory I’ve been exploring is pretty heavy reading (literally, I have too many books in my bag) and not only is there a lot to understand per author, but I’m also trying to connect back to either the original Medea or one of my contemporary texts. Sometimes this comes in a burst of realization where my fingers easily skip across the keys as I imprint all of my thoughts onto the digital page; other times it feels like my brain is melting from the beautiful (yet confounding) prose of a scholar and I stare at a tree for a solid five minutes. My main challenge was overcoming my fear of not understanding the texts; this initial fear (that I’m sure many others have experienced) led to my avoidance of the reading material and set me further behind. The only way to overcome this was by actually sitting down (with coffee, of course) and jumping into the reading headfirst. Last week, I was able to strengthen my foundations with each theory while this week was about understanding the meat of what I read and applying it to my sources instead of reiterating information or blindly moving it from one doc to another.  

While I’ve now regained some perspective and enthusiasm when reading the texts, I realize that it’s a lengthy process and I’m running short on time. Overall, every part of the experience (even the moments of frustration or staring out the window, head-empty) provided great lessons to learn from when doing any type of independent research (but it probably would have helped to learn this a few weeks earlier). Sic vita est, or “that’s just life.”   

My Medea Playlist: 

On another note, I compiled a short playlist with songs I associate with Medea or remind me of her unique journey. I tried to arrange them in a somewhat chronological order following the emotions she may have felt: starting with her initial betrayal by Jason, followed by moments of self-empowerment, a few fast paced songs for vengeance, and finally reconciling with her grief and leaving the scene triumphing over Jason and the Corinthians. Feel free to check out the songs and comment below if you think the recommendations are accurate! Also if you have any other songs to add.  

Wrap-up:  

I had fun finding connections between famed myths and pop culture, and hopefully any Tokyo Ghoul fans can let me know of any other allusions they noticed in the show (I’ll definitely try to watch it). In the next few days I’ll focus on diving deeper into works by specific feminist theorists focusing on Toni Morrison, Gayatri Spivak, and searching for one or two more to add to my list of scholars.  

Thanks for reading! 

Citations:

1. Disch, Lisa, And Mary Hawkesworth (Eds), The Oxford Handbook Of Feminist Theory, Oxford Handbooks (2016; Online Edn, Oxford Academic, 6 Jan. 2015), Https://Doi.Org/10.1093/Oxfordhb/9780199328581.001.0001, Accessed 20 Apr. 2023.
2. Sonja Overbeck’s Presentation, “Self And Other In Ishida Sui’s Tokyo Ghoul And Homer’s Odyssey” Presented In The Antiquity In Media Studies Conference, December 2022
3. Bhabha, Homi K. “The Location Of Culture .” Internet Archive, 24 May 2014, Https://Archive.Org/Details/TheLocationOfCultureBHABHA.