定本 物語消費論

by Eiji Otsuka, 大塚英志

1980年代の終わりに、子供たちは「ビックリマンチョコレート」のシールを集め、「人面犬」などの都市伝説に熱狂した。それは、消費者が商品の作り手が作り出した物語に満足できず、消費者自らの手で物語を作り上げる時代の予兆であった。1989年に於ける「大きな物語」の終焉を出発点に、読者が自分たちが消費する物語を自分たちで捏造する時代の到来を予見した幻の消費社会論。新たに「都市伝説論」を加えて、待望の文庫化。

342 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2001

About the author

大塚英志

Social anthropologist and novelist. Graduated from college with degree in anthropology, women's folklore, human sacrifice and post-war manga. In addition to his work with manga he is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and “otaku” sub-cultures. One of his first animation script works was Maho no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA. Otsuka was the editor for the bishojo lolicon manga series Petit Apple Pie.

In the 80s, Otsuka was editor-in-chief of Manga Burikko, a leading women's manga magazine where he pioneered research on the “otaku” sub-culture in modern Japan. In 1988 he published "Manga no Koro" (The Structure of Comics), a serious study of Japanese comics and their social significance. Also as critic, Otsuka Eiji, summarized the case of the Japanese red army's 1972 murders as a conflict between the masculine and the feminine principles as they were both embodied by women and against women (Otsuka,1994).