The central argument of "Chromophobia" is that a chromophobic impulse - a fear of corruption or contamination through colour - lurks within much Western cultural and intellectual thought. This is apparent in the many and varied attempts to purge colour; either by making it the property of some foreign body - the oriental; the feminine; the infantile; the vulgar; or the pathological - or by relegating it to the realm of the superficial; the supplementary; the inessential; or the cosmetic. Chromophobia has been a cultural phenomenon since ancient Greek times; this book is concerned with forms of resistance to it. Writers have tended to look no further than the end of the nineteenth century. David Batchelor seeks to go beyond the limits of earlier studies; analysing the motivations behind chromophobia and considering the work of writers and artists who have been prepared to look at colour as a positive value. Exploring a wide range of imagery including Melvilles "Great White Whale"; Huxleys "Reflections on Mescaline"; and Le Corbusiers "Journey to the East"; Batchelor also discusses the use of colour in Pop; Minimal; and more recent art.
#547227 in eBooks 2011-03-07 2011-03-07File Name: B004Z193DK
Review
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. perhaps uneven. but thats forgivable considering the ground being broken hereBy Jim PykeIf you are someone who. like me. is interested in thinking seriously about anime and manga. and the culture of the most intense consumers of anime and manga (the so-called "otaku")...If you. like me. enjoy reading academic writing that crosses over into readability by an audience that is not exclusively academic...If you. like me. are interested in thinking thoughts you havent thought before. and seeing anime and manga from perspectives you havent imagined before......then you are very likely to enjoy this book as much as I have.I suggest reading some of the translators introduction available via the "look inside" page for this book. If that piques your interest. youll probably enjoy the whole thing. The authors insights are impressive. and the translation feels very clean (as opposed to "messy" like some translated texts in which the translators cant seem to decide how to fully convey the meaning of the original. so they annotate the text into a muddy mess) and is highly readable. even if the ideas sometimes take effort to fully grasp.Id like to read more books like this one!6 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Dense. but interestingBy Brian WhitePart of a growing body of literature on otaku and Japanese popular culture that has been translated into English. SAITO Tamakis "Beautiful Fighting Girl" is unique in its psychoanalytic approach to its titular subject. Unlike many sociological or literary studies of otaku culture. Saito uses the figure of the "beautiful fighting girl" (sentou bishoujo) as a touchstone from which to analyze the mindset behind much of Japanese popular culture. With the help of Jacques Lacan and Sigmund Freud. Saito attempts to tackle the psychosexual underpinnings of this phenomenon.As a literary studies specialist. I found some of his argumentation to be very dense (something I feel about much psychoanalytic theory) and difficult to comprehend. but obviously this will vary with each reader. As far as the intended audience is concerned. it is definitely a book for academics. unlike its more generalist counterparts in "New Academism" such as AZUMA Hirokis Otaku: Japans Database Animals. Saitos detour through American "outsider art" was. in my opinion. unnecessary. but it was a nice nod toward the global implications of the study.In short. the translation "Beautiful Fighting Girl" is a welcome new perspective in the realm of English-language literature on Japanese popular culture. and if you are able to grasp its sometimes tangled psychoanalytic language. your time reading will be well spent.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. A book that really grew on meBy AzazelloSo I used to have a review here that was quite negative. complaining that the books structure was a mess. the comparisons with American/western examples overgeneralized and underargued. and the authors refusal to engage with feminist approaches to manga and anime very disappointing. After reading it a couple more times and discussing it with others. however. Ive come to appreciate the book much more. The main argument - that the use of fictional characters as a way to satisfy sexual desire is in its own way socially adaptive - at first appeared rather ludicrous (no doubt in part due to my own initial biases against it). But over time Ive come to appreciate Saitos perspective as quite provocative and insightful as a way to understand and (even more importantly) take seriously a certain otaku approach to desire. Ive even come to appreciate the Henry Darger chapter and what it adds to the book. a section that totally didnt seem to fit the first time around. Keith Vincent gives some important clues in his excellent introduction. but for this reader at least this book took some time to reveal itself.
