jennywri
Asian Object
Upon further reflection, the choice of picture on the cover seems odd to me. It is normalizing. The heels, the dress, the expression. “I am a domesticated, harmless woman who would never think of blowing up a plane.” It seems a marked difference in marketing strategy than the one I think an American publishing house would take—as in, for example, the case of OJ Simpson’s book, If I Did It. On that cover, the “if” appeared in tiny letters couched inside the giant “I”, such that a casual glance at the cover would read “I Did It.” On this side of the ocean, we play up the violent aspects of written criminals. We as consumers are not interested in their path to gods or peace or reform. We want to see the gears in their minds that turned as they committed, or allegedly committed, or even just plotted, their crimes.
Here, though, in its Japanese format, Kim Hyun Hee’s story appears as one of normalization. The visual message the book sends the consumer is one of reassurance. “She has changed.” “She would never do it again.” And, more broadly: “Even people enmeshed in plots like she was can reform and become upstanding citizens.” What I want to know is: Why? The publication date reads 1991. At this time, Aum Shinrikyo has not committed its gas attack upon the Tokyo subway system. 9/11 has not happened yet. The Cold War has just ended! Why did the publishers feel they had to reassure their public, instead of feed their desire for drama?
It must be a cultural difference. I am too young to know the cultural climate of the time in the United States, much less in Japan. Literarily speaking, at least from Murakami Haruki’s perspective at that time, what seems foremost in the minds of 1991 fictional Japanese characters seems to be the failed student riots of the 1960s. Those who lived during that time are now getting older and looking for some sort of meaning in their lives. Perhaps the publishers of Kim Hyun Hee’s book meant to reassure people looking back disdainfully to that time that if terrorists could be brought around to normality, surely those punk kids could. I do not know. This seems like too much of a shot in the dark to be anywhere near the truth.
Asian Object
Upon further reflection, the choice of picture on the cover seems odd to me. It is normalizing. The heels, the dress, the expression. “I am a domesticated, harmless woman who would never think of blowing up a plane.” It seems a marked difference in marketing strategy than the one I think an American publishing house would take—as in, for example, the case of OJ Simpson’s book, If I Did It. On that cover, the “if” appeared in tiny letters couched inside the giant “I”, such that a casual glance at the cover would read “I Did It.” On this side of the ocean, we play up the violent aspects of written criminals. We as consumers are not interested in their path to gods or peace or reform. We want to see the gears in their minds that turned as they committed, or allegedly committed, or even just plotted, their crimes.
Here, though, in its Japanese format, Kim Hyun Hee’s story appears as one of normalization. The visual message the book sends the consumer is one of reassurance. “She has changed.” “She would never do it again.” And, more broadly: “Even people enmeshed in plots like she was can reform and become upstanding citizens.” What I want to know is: Why? The publication date reads 1991. At this time, Aum Shinrikyo has not committed its gas attack upon the Tokyo subway system. 9/11 has not happened yet. The Cold War has just ended! Why did the publishers feel they had to reassure their public, instead of feed their desire for drama?
It must be a cultural difference. I am too young to know the cultural climate of the time in the United States, much less in Japan. Literarily speaking, at least from Murakami Haruki’s perspective at that time, what seems foremost in the minds of 1991 fictional Japanese characters seems to be the failed student riots of the 1960s. Those who lived during that time are now getting older and looking for some sort of meaning in their lives. Perhaps the publishers of Kim Hyun Hee’s book meant to reassure people looking back disdainfully to that time that if terrorists could be brought around to normality, surely those punk kids could. I do not know. This seems like too much of a shot in the dark to be anywhere near the truth.