Making Sense of Complex Narration in Perfect Blue

Abstract

Although identified as a feature of the film by both critics and researchers, the narrative complexity of Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, Madhouse, 1997) has been ambiguously defined. In this article, the authors examine the complex narration in Kon’s first feature film, equivocal and obscure in its more confusing points, through a narratological analysis of the film’s most ambiguous scenes. Using cognitive film theory as introduced by David Bordwell and Edward Branigan, they link its approach in terms of the modulation of information flow throughout the film – high knowledgeability, high self-consciousness and (occasionally) low communicativeness – with the conventions of the slasher genre. Their analysis of the more perplexing scenes in Perfect Blue is reinforced by monitoring the veiled changes of focalization between the film’s three focalizers: Mima, Uchida (aka Me-Mania) and Rumi. In order to do this, they explore how the narration – in the tradition of contemporary puzzle films – makes use of judgements, preconceptions and cognitive illusions in the spectators’ activity to conceal Rumi’s involvement in the persecution of Mima and the murders committed. In the conclusion, they associate the film’s complex narration with its critical commentary on the representation of Japanese pop idols (and former idols) and the state of audiovisual entertainment in Japan.

Semiotics and audiovisual narrative in animated series and films. A systematic review of the literature between 2012 and 2022

“…Con relación al enfoque discursivo y de mensaje en series y películas animadas, se encontraron nueve artículos, de los cuales, cuatro de ellos se relacionan a la crítica social, comenzando por los autores venezolanos Castellanos et al [31] que permiten entrever cuestiones políticas, sociales y medioambientales tras el análisis de la serie documental animada Cuentos de Viejos; la autora rusa Demina [4], que analiza la satírica en series animadas para adultos (South Park, Rick and Morty, Family Guy y F is for Family) como medio de reproche a la sociedad norteamericana; el autor argentino Gendler [32], que aborda el anime Psycho-Pass como estudio de la dependencia tecnológica del ser humano; y los autores españoles Loriguillo-López et al [33], que contextualizan la cara oculta de la industria explotadora de las pop-idols con su análisis en profundidad de la película animada japonesa Perfect Blue; y la autora española Gordeeff [34], que explica la problemática social, racial y cultural de grupos étnicos en el corto animado de stop-motion Adagio.…”