Abstract
Alice’s image in Japan—where Carroll’s famous heroine has occupied a prominent place—is strongly intertwined with the concept of shōjo, a representation of liminal femininity and girlhood. This chapter examines how the imagery of Alice is used in mainstream Japanese culture, particularly by women artists, to construct a performance of specific shōjo identity—emancipated and independent without compromising girlish femininity. It focuses on singer Aimer’s music video ‘I Beg You’ (2019), which features actress Minami Hamabe traversing a world reminiscent of Wonderland. A montage of symbols associated with Alice such as clocks, white rabbits, and chessboards create an atmosphere which is both cute and Gothic, conveying shōjo as a state which is childlike yet erotic, merry yet dark, and innocent yet decadent.
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Notes
- 1.
Hereafter I use Alice to refer to Carroll’s two books and Alice to the character. I thank David Jellings for his meticulous reading and editing of this chapter.
- 2.
Japanese singer Kiyoshi Hikawa, who has recently enhanced his androgynous appearance, appears both as the Mad Hatter-like prince and Alice in his music video to ‘Fushigi no kuni’ (2020). Depicting Alice as a boy or androgynous character is also not uncommon in Japanese literary/manga culture.
- 3.
As of August 1, 2021.
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Monden, M. (2022). Transformations: Aimer’s ‘I Beg You’ and Alice in Japanese Music Video. In: Sanna, A. (eds) Alice in Wonderland in Film and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02257-9_16
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