<
https://theconversation.com/iyashikei-healing-manga-comforts-readers-with-attention-to-small-joys-237117>
"
Iyashikei is a Japanese genre that, according to Japanese studies scholar
Paul Roquet, tells stories that are designed to comfort and heal weary readers
by creating an aesthetic of calm. In order to achieve this, as Roquet
articulates, these stories are presented as tales with little or no plot
conflict.
That simple idea is, however, somewhat antithetical to longstanding western
storytelling traditions, where conflict has been considered key to plot
development.
Screenwriting guru Robert McKee simply states that “nothing moves forward in a
story except through conflict.”
Yet, instead of conflict,
iyashikei typically provides, as educator Patricia
Thang notes, “a feeling of warmth and comfort, like curling up in a big blanket
with a cup of tea and fuzzy socks.”
Iyashikei comes from “iyashi,” which can be translated as “healing,” “soothing”
or even “therapy,” and “kei,” which means “type,” notes Roquet. He links the
emergence of
iyashikei to Japan’s economic downturn in the 1990s, where
iyashi cultural outputs began operating across a wide array of media
(including anime and manga, but also literature, commercials and cinema)."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
