Interpretative negotiation with gender norms in shōjo manga adaptations of The Changelings. (1st December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Oshiyama, Michiko; Watabe, Kohki
• Is Part Of: Journal of adaptation in film & performance. Volume 12:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 179
• Page End: 193
• Publication Date: 2019-12-01
• Subjects: Film adaptations -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Motion pictures and literature -- Periodicals; 791.43605
• DOI: 10.1386/jafp_00005_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1753-6421

Abstract

AbstractThe Changelings is a classic work of traditional Japanese literature. In the modern era, it has been adapted into Japanese comics repeatedly. This article examines three shōjo manga, or girls' comics, adaptations of The Changelings published between 1984 and 2018. Taken together, the three manga evidence the different situations in which women were embedded in the 1980s and the 2010s and provide different interpretative alternatives to female readers. Manga adaptations of The Changelings crystallized gender norms in Japanese society and women's responses to and struggles with those norms by taking advantage of the gender-switching plot that originated in the twelfth century.