Horrific “Cults” and Comic Religion Manga after Aum

Thomas, Jolyon Baraka

doi:10.18874/jjrs.39.1.2012.127-151

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Just as memories about the Second World War proved to be important reference points for responding to Aum's violence, the Aum Affair has itself become a marker in cultural discourses about religious violence, heterodox religions, and 'cults' . The Aum Affair has served as an inspiration for numerous fictional works, including the 2009 novel 1Q84 by Murakami Haruki and the manga 20th Century Boys by Urasawa Naoki (Thomas 2012;Yamada 2014), both of which feature charismatic leaders of religious cults turned terrorist organisations as antagonists. Whilst Japan's cultural landscape was never particularly welcoming towards new religious movements even before the Aum Affair, it set a precedent and a standard by which all other religions, especially newer organisations, were valued and judged in the public eye.…”

Section: The Scope Of This Bookmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aum Shinrikyo and religious terrorism in Japanese collective memory

Ushiyama¹

2022

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Aum Shinrikyō's sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in March 1995 left an indelible mark on Japanese society. This book is the first comprehensive study of the competing memories of Aum Shinrikyō's religious terrorism. Developing a sociological framework for how uneven distributions of power and resources shape commemorative processes, this book explores how the Aum Affair developed as a ‘cultural trauma’ in Japanese collective memory following the Tokyo attack. The book shows how numerous stakeholders, including the state, the mass media, public intellectuals, victims, and perpetrators offered competing narratives about the causes and consequences of Aum's violence. Combining multiple methods including media content analysis, participant observation, and original interviews with victims and ex-members, this book reveals various flashpoints of contention such as the state regulation of religion, ‘brainwashing’ and ‘mind control’ controversies, and the morality of capital punishment. It shows that although cultural trauma construction requires the use of moral binaries such as ‘good vs. evil’ and ‘sacred vs. profane’, the entrenchment of such binary codes in commemorative processes can ultimately hinder social repair and reconciliation.

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Section: The Scope Of This Bookmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aum Shinrikyo and religious terrorism in Japanese collective memory

Ushiyama¹

2022

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“…Yet, despite these interventions, mind control has remained a central aspect in depictions of ‘cults’ in popular culture. Manga comics such as Urasawa Naoki’s Twentieth Century Boys , serialized between 1999 and 2007, have consistently reproduced the ‘explanation of “cults” as the products of evil masterminds who trick people into believing their lies’ (Thomas : 138). As a result, tropes of brainwashing, mind‐control, cults and terrorism remain entrenched in Japanese public discourse (Baffelli and Reader : 2–3).…”

Section: The Tokyo Sarin Attack and The Success Of Brainwashing/mind mentioning

confidence: 99%

Discursive opportunities and the transnational diffusion of ideas: ‘brainwashing’ and ‘mind control’ in Japan after the Aum Affair

Ushiyama

2019

British Journal of Sociology

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A case study in the sociology of ideas, this article refines the theory of ‘discursive opportunities’ to examine how intellectual claims cross national and linguistic boundaries to achieve public prominence despite lacking academic credibility. Theories of ‘brainwashing’ and ‘mind control’ originally began in the United States in the 1960s as a response to the growth of new religious movements. Decades later in Japan, claims that so‐called ‘cults’ ‘brainwashed’ or ‘mind controlled’ their followers became prominent after March 1995, when new religion Aum Shinrikyō gassed the Tokyo subway using sarin, killing thirteen. Since then, brainwashing/mind control have both remained central in public discourse surrounding the ‘Aum Affair’ despite their disputed status within academic discourse. This article advances two arguments. Firstly, the transnational diffusion of brainwashing/mind control from the US to Japan occurred as a direct result of the 1995 Tokyo sarin attack, which acted as a ‘discursive opportunity’ for activists to successfully disseminate the theories in public debate. Secondly, brainwashing/mind control became successful in Japanese public discourse primarily for their normative content, as the theories identified ‘brainwashing/mind controlling cults’ as evil, violent and profane threats to civil society.

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“…Frohlich (2012) feels that this depiction could be seen to encourage participation in apocalyptic cults (see also Thomas, 2012). However, in the movie version, at least, cultism is neither a major theme, nor is it portrayed sympathetically.…”

Section: Justice Morality and Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Manga vision: cultural and communicative perspectives

Suvilay

2017

Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

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Horrific “Cults” and Comic Religion Manga after Aum

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

Aum Shinrikyo and religious terrorism in Japanese collective memory

Aum Shinrikyo and religious terrorism in Japanese collective memory

Discursive opportunities and the transnational diffusion of ideas: ‘brainwashing’ and ‘mind control’ in Japan after the Aum Affair

Manga vision: cultural and communicative perspectives

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