Girl Reading Girl in Japan

Girls Just Want To Have Fun: The Portrayal of Girls’ Rebellion in Mobile Phone Novels

“…Aoyama and Hartley (2010) argue that girls' cultural production in Japan exposes "the voice of the girl subjugated within the masculine text" (6), and indeed mobile phone novel writers like Yū remind us how the yankī narrative in the mainstream media is male-oriented. Using UCC sites like Magic i-land and Wild Strawberry as a platform, writers borrow from existing conventions but use them only as a framework on which to project their desires, creating their own yankī narrative.…”

“…Exploring intertextuality in shōjo literature, Aoyama and Hartley (2010) argue that for Japanese female writers, both professional and amateur, borrowing texts is less about passive referencing than it is about creating a "framework for girls' creative desires" (6). Indeed, for female mobile phone novel writers like Yū, borrowing yankī elements within the text is not a mere reference to rebellious youth culture as these borrowed elements are redefi ned in the work, most notably through characters like Ryō.…”

“…Th e exchange of personal stories between girls in print can be traced back to the late nineteenth century, when magazines specifi cally catering to young girls were fi rst published. Aoyama and Hartley (2010) note that until very recently, the publishing sphere was dominated by men, and even girls' magazines were edited by male editors who attempted to control the material girls were reading; thus, girls began to resist male control by contributing their own stories in the form of essays and letters to these magazines (3). When this historical context of girls exchanging stories is taken into account, the sharing of stories including mobile phone novels can be seen as an act of rebellion whereby girls attempt to take control of the production of the culture they live and consume.…”