Upcoming Events of possible interest....

November 11, 2010, Denver, CO at 7:00PM Shutter Shift
Panel Discussion on Contemporary Photography with Albert Chong and others.

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Friday, November 19, 3 p.m., CAS Speaker Series Event: "The Prehistory of Soft Power: Godzilla, Cheese, and the American Consumption of Japan," a lecture by William Tsutsui, Professor of Japanese History and Dean of Humanities and Science at Southern Methodist University. Humanities 1B90.

Today, manga, anime, fashion, food and other forms of popular culture have created the image of "cool Japan" internationally.  But Japanese "soft power"—the global appeal exerted by culture rather than the threat exerted by force—is a relatively recent development. This lecture will explore the reception of Japanese pop products abroad in the decades before Japan was cool.  Focusing on the editing and dubbing of Japanese films and television shows for American audiences, it will also reveal how Japan has regularly been framed as a laughable, cheesy, and inferior place in the American imagination since World War II.