The Anime Machine: A Media Theory of Animation

(Paperback)

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Despite the longevity of animation and its significance within the history of cinema, film theorists have focused on live-action motion pictures and largely ignored handdrawn and computer-generated movies. Thomas Lamarre contends that the history, techniques, and complex visual language of animation, particularly Japanese animation, demands serious and sustained engagement, and in The Anime Machine he lays the foundation for a new critical theory for reading Japanese animation, showing how anime fundamentally differs from other visual media.

Reviews

Combining superb scholarship, a palpable passion for his subject, and a singular sensibility for the art of the moving image, Thomas Lamarre has produced a landmark work in cultural theory and media history. The Anime Machine navigates the intercultural and transmedia complexities of the worlds of anime with expertise and originality. Everyone from the anime enthusiast to the philosopher will come away with a heightened appreciation of one of the defining art forms of our era. Brian Massumi, author of Parables for the Virtual

With the help of thinkers such as Deleuze and Guattari, Thomas Lamarre identifies in anime an originary machinic force, one that traverses both animation and cinema, with a capacity for heteropoeisis through technological practices. This is an inspiringly sophisticated and imaginative book. Rey Chow, author of Sentimental Fabulations, Contemporary Chinese Films

Author Bio

Thomas Lamarre teaches East Asian studies, art history, and communication studies at McGill University.