Browsing by Subject "animation"

In this work I examine how imōto-moe, a recent trend in Japanese animation and manga in which incestual connotations and relationships between brothers and sisters is shown, contributes to the sexualization of girls in the Japanese society. This is done by analysing four different series from 2010s, in which incest is a major theme. The analysis is done using visual analysis.The study concludes that although the series can show sexualization of drawn underage girls, reading the works as if they would posit either real or fictional little sisters as sexual targets. Instead, the analysis suggests that following the narrative, the works should be read as fictional underage girls expressing a pure feelings and sexuality, unspoiled by adult corruption.To understand moe, it is necessary to understand the history of Japanese animation. Much of the genres, themes and styles in manga and anime are due to Tezuka Osamu, the “god of manga” and “god of animation”. From the 1950s, Tezuka was influenced by Disney and other western animators at the time. His stories and themes had intellectual and philosophical depth that the western counterparts did not have. The works also touched themes that the western animation steered away from, including sexuality, which was not compartmentalized in a similar fashion in Japan as it was in the Western world. His works not only created new genres by themselves, but the constant combination by future generations created thethematic complexity that can be seen in manga and anime today.Tezuka also had a role in underage girl sexualization: his girl characters were an inspiration for the sexuality of little girls, both real and fictional, in the 70s. The western works of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland drew attention to the cuteness of little girls. In combination, sexualized versions of Tezuka’s characters were drawn, at first as a parody. In the 80s there was a boom of drawn girls in sexually compromised situations, or loliconart. Duringthe 80s, the focus shifted away from connotations to real girl imagery and drawn rape imagery towards less violent forms.In 1989, a dubious connection was drawn between otaku, fans of popular culture, including loliconimagery, and a serial killer of small children. The moral panic that followed slowed the spread of loliconin the 90s.Meanwhilein the 90s, an idea of moebegan to form: if fictional little girls are not corrupted by adult sexuality, the girls cause feelings of affection in the viewer. The viewers are affected by moe via isolated, but recognizable tropes, such as cat ears and tail, a speech habit, or twin tails. A part of this research is to examine how well imōto-fits under the loliconcriteria, and undermoe: the characters are sexualized: they are showing having sexual thoughts and expressing sexual activity. After the examination, I conclude that, at least in the works examined, imōto-moe fits under the latter category: the male partners are passive and follow the girl’s lead, the ages are very close, and many of the series emphasize the virtual aspect: to enjoy little sisters, they have to be two-dimensional, outside the laws of reality.

Studies of the last ice age have been made in Finland since the early 20th century. The result is a wealth of information on activities related to the continental ice sheet and the location of the ice margins. The purpose of this thesis was to find out the usefulness of animations when visualizing research results. Animations have the advantage of sharing a large amount of information in a short time and they often are easier to comprehend compared to texts and images. In addition to this the aim was to visualize dynamics of the ice sheet and its ice margin positions. The materials from different studies that were used in visualization contain visual materials from ice sheet in northern Europe and more precisely from Finland. The animations were created by using ArcGis program and Blender 3D graphics software. In ArcGis the GIS-database was modified for suitable format to be used in Blender. Based on the visual materials, objects were formed in Blender from polygons that reflect the geometry of the ice sheet and its environment. The movements and other events were modelled by animating them and their visual look was formed by assigning different materials for different objects. Lastly, the animation was post-processed through composite and then rendered out of the program in the desired format. The results of the study were two animations about the activities related to the continental ice sheet in Northern Europe and Finland. The animation of Northern Europe is a general overview of growth and retreat of the ice sheet between 34–10 ka. The main result of the study is an animation of retreat of the ice sheet during deglaciation in Finland between 14–10 ka. The animation of the Finnish area visualizes ice lobes and stagnant ice areas between them. In addition to the ice sheet the animation also visualizes ice lakes, terminal moraines and calving of the ice sheet, as well as the sub-aquatic and supra-aquatic regions in Finland. The study can be further refined by adding all existing research data of ice margin positions and ice sheet dynamics. The animation regarding the ice sheet dynamics of Finland could be further expanded and refined towards areas in Norway, Sweden and Russia. In addition to that, one could add an elevation model and the development model of Baltic Sea and other water bodies to create a more diverse work. Based on the study, the usability of the animation in glacial geologic studies is significant when it is based on extensive research data and up-to-date glacial geological knowledge. The applications of animations are numerous and they can be used to generalize geological events.