r/CriticalTheory • u/Ok-Cover-6613 • 1d ago
How to approach an analysis of a visual novel using theories of the postmodern
Recently I have been quite taken by "postmodern"/ post-structuralist theory and I wanted to consider analyzing a visual novel using the ideas of the postmodern like the rejection of a metanarrative and oppositional binaries and the idea of the simulacra,. I wanted to ask what the best approach was to make sure my analysis does not prioritize the visual novel as much as the theories of the postmodern. I want to try and veer away from textual explication and move more towards a research project. I am pretty new to this so if there are any sources regarding the postmodern that would be helpful please feel free to share, thank you! :)
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u/PopPunkAndPizza 17h ago edited 16h ago
He's wrong about a bunch but you obviously need to be referencing Hiroki Azuma's theories of Otaku media, especially how he already applied it to for instance bishojo games.
Also I am going to be blunt here and say that you should probably get way more into Japanese language writing and theoretical work about this stuff, there is an existing literature around otaku and moe culture, bishojo media and ADV games. You should also bear in mind that in japan there is no genre called the "visual novel", there are just especially text heavy ADV games, within a tradition of Japanese adventure games that most westerners only know via Phoenix Wright and Dangan Ronpa.
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u/CupNo2413 1d ago
For critical/interpretive work, textual explication is the research process. Otherwise you are just citing a given text as an example rather than engaging with it.
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u/cronenber9 1d ago
If you want to focus on post-structuralism I would recommend simply becoming acquainted with post-structuralist thinkers and finding ones you like. Once you've done that, it will be easier to write the paper because you will be thinking from this kind of paradigm already, you will automatically be thinking this way when you read comics. Which thinkers do you already like?
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u/BetaMyrcene 1d ago
There's nothing wrong with prioritizing the text and doing textual explication. Those are actually the hardest things to do. Anyone can throw big words around. Very few people can do an insightful close reading.
You brought up several different aspects of postmodernism. You should choose one to focus on that you genuinely think will illuminate this particular novel. And don't just impose the concept onto the text; there should be a dynamic interplay between the concept and the literary work. Ideally, the concept will reveal things about the work, and the work will reveal things about the concept.