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living fandom through work
Dec. 9th, 2012 03:50 pmFor one of my classes (which is in general the most useless class ever) I have to do a presentation and write some kind of essay on the topic of Aum Shinrikyô and Japan's cult problem in general. Research so far has been rather interesting -- though not really fun since it's too stressful for that -- and I am making progress.
But there are some rather strange things about Japanese new religions you can find. Some of those are... weird. And I quote: "Among those that disappeared was Denshinkyo, which worshipped electricity as their main deity and Thomas Alva Edison as one of four lesser deities (...)”
That's pretty damn hilarious.
On a more serious topic, since Aum was "important" from the eighties into the nineties -- with the subway gas attack happening in 1995 -- I am of course reading a lot about Japanese society and the general "mood" of the people.
And then I think, hey, I know most of that stuff.
Because I read Tokyo Babylon.
I think it's very fascinating how well a comic managed to capture the spirit of an era (let's just call it that, okay?). This is hardly news of course -- TYOB was always very obviously critical of social issues (duh) and I've often seen it praised for mirroring the society of it's time...
But it's just been beating me over the head those past few days: The cult Subaru is sent to investigate, the girls that think they are chosen to fight against the end of the word... it's all there. Just one more reason to love it, I guess. ♥
But there are some rather strange things about Japanese new religions you can find. Some of those are... weird. And I quote: "Among those that disappeared was Denshinkyo, which worshipped electricity as their main deity and Thomas Alva Edison as one of four lesser deities (...)”
That's pretty damn hilarious.
On a more serious topic, since Aum was "important" from the eighties into the nineties -- with the subway gas attack happening in 1995 -- I am of course reading a lot about Japanese society and the general "mood" of the people.
And then I think, hey, I know most of that stuff.
Because I read Tokyo Babylon.
I think it's very fascinating how well a comic managed to capture the spirit of an era (let's just call it that, okay?). This is hardly news of course -- TYOB was always very obviously critical of social issues (duh) and I've often seen it praised for mirroring the society of it's time...
But it's just been beating me over the head those past few days: The cult Subaru is sent to investigate, the girls that think they are chosen to fight against the end of the word... it's all there. Just one more reason to love it, I guess. ♥
