The Monstrous Fantastic Conference Paper Abstracts - International ...

7. (IF) Alien and Indigenous Encounters in the Americas Vista BChair: Andrew AberdeinFlorida Institute of TechnologyDictatorship, Trauma and the Monstrous Fantastic In the Brazilian AmazonM. Elizabeth GinwayUniversity of FloridaIn this paper I will examine the monstrous fantastic in three science fiction and fantasy texts set in the Amazon. I argue that the regionrepresents the country’s collective unconscious, placing the trauma of the dictatorship and forced economic development far from Brazil’s mainpopulation centers, in a metaphorical “heart of darkness.” As works of genre literature, two of the three novels, Marcio Souza’s 1983 The Orderof the Day and Ivanir Calado’s Mãe do sonho [Mother of Dreams] (1990) have conventional narrative closure and resolution. The third, Robertode Sousa Causo’s O Par [The Partner] (2001) is a more open-ended text suggestive of the ambivalent discourse of trauma studies. While theseworks of Brazilian science fiction and fantasy offer a powerful means of conveying trauma caused by monstrous or alien life, they also exploreencounters among indigenous and Western cultures and a new spectrum of identity and gender roles, both suggestive of the unsettling natureof trauma. In most cases, the images of territorial and bodily invasion symbolize the trauma of modernization, which remains long after themonsters have disappeared.Second Contact: The First Contact Story in Latin American Science FictionRachel Haywood FerreiraIowa State UniversityThe historical first contact between the explorers and conquistadors from Spain or Portugal and the original inhabitants of Central and SouthAmerica is the subtext for a wide range of science-fictional works written in Latin America. Indeed Latin American stories of first contact mightbetter be described as stories of second contact due to the degree to which the original historical circumstances and the colonial legacy informcontent and perspective. This paper explores the effects of the Columbian first contact and its aftermath on Latin American works such as “TheFalsifier” (José Adolph, Peru, 1971) and “When Pilate Said No” (Hugo Correa, Chile, c.1960) (both of these texts have been translated intoEnglish in the Cosmos Latinos anthology).*******Thursday, March 22, 2012 8:30-10:00 a.m.8. (IF/VPA/FTV) Consumption and Flesh in the Japanese Fantastic PineChair: Hiroko ChibaDePauw UniversityWeaponized Flesh: The Echoes of World War II in Akira and Mother 3Concetta BommaritoUniversity of Central FloridaThe cultural scars of fascism in Japan have not healed in part because there is still a cultural taboo against discussing World War II. Censorshipduring and after US occupation made direct discussion of the war near-impossible, and cultural taboos about the war prevent changes to thenow self-censorship regulations. Instead, the Japanese have had to devise a coded system to understand a history that is not taught to them inschools or public discourses. Serious criticism of the technology-driven military industrial complex that lead to Japan’s fascist regime is almostentirely found in popular culture because of these taboos. This paper will seek to demonstrate the ways in which critiques of EmperorHirohito’s indoctrination of young soldiers have overlapped with Japan’s technology driven militarism in Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga Akira andShigesato Itoi’s video game Mother 3. Akira refuses any optimism for the use of technology to rebuild the country and challenges the notion ofthe Japanese as victims of corruption. Otomo’s characters do not thrive, but are time and again made to fight against their oppressors only toface disfigurement, death, and an uncertain future. In Mother 3, Itoi shows a more cautious optimism in which characters face down adversityas a trial rather than a continuous struggle. Thought technology disfigures and kills them, the characters of Mother 3 ultimately embracetechnology as their means of existence, becoming self-aware as characters in a game and passing their experiences to the player in hopes ofsharing a message of compassion. These two works will be analyzed to demonstrate the progression of attitudes during and after thetechnology-driven economic boom of the 90s and will be viewed through Takashi Murakami’s Superflat movement and the Otaku (dedicatedpopular culture fan) as Hiroki Azuma’s database animals.