Published: 2020-02-191

Summer Wars: Inter-Generational Anime

Agnieszka Kamrowska
Media - Culture - Social Communication
Section: Articles
https://doi.org/10.31648/mkks.5148

Abstract

This article analyses the motive of generational conflict as a part of the broader opposition of Japanese tradition and modernity in anime film by Mamoru Hosoda. The director presents a multi-generational, Japanese extended family whose doyenne is about to celebrate her 90th birthday. The preparations for the celebration are interrupted by an attack on the virtual social platform Oz. The effects of the attack are also perceptible in the real world. In the face of danger, the family unites and together they fight the virtual enemy. In his film, Mamoru Hosoda confronted two worlds: Japanese tradition, which is slowly fading away, and the contemporary world merged with cyberspace. To visualize the virtual world, the director used elements from Superflat – the Japanese art movement. He also presents in detail the structure of the traditional Japanese extended family, composed of the main line and collateral branches, tangled in mutual
relations. Hosoda’s film proves that even in the digitalized contemporary world there
is still room for traditional values and inter-generational solidarity.

Keywords:

anime, Superflat, virtual world, Artificial Intelligence, Japanese tradition

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Citation rules

Kamrowska, A. (2020). Summer Wars: Inter-Generational Anime. Media - Culture - Social Communication, 3(15), 45–53. https://doi.org/10.31648/mkks.5148

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