Satoshi Kon's millennium actress: A feminine journey with dream-like qualities

Yen Jung Chang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Satoshi Kon is a Japanese animation film director whose works, story, and imagery suggest altered mental states, such as insanity or dreaming. Millennium Actress (2001), which this author regards as Kon's magnum opus, uses a dream-like style of animation and filmmaking to create the narrative of a biography of a fictional actress. In this feature-length animated film, Kon reifies theories and findings from the functions of dreaming and the mechanics of dream that have developed over a hundred years since the early 20th century. The oneiric quality of the animation film is explored using both psychoanalytical/psychological theories and neuroscientific frameworks to reveal its story of a feminine journey in relation to the collective unconscious and mythic story structure, and the cinematic editing techniques that help the storytelling lead to the dream state.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)85-97
Number of pages13
JournalAnimation
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013 Mar
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Millennium Actress
  • Satoshi Kon
  • animation
  • anime
  • cognition
  • emotion
  • experimental narrative
  • feminine
  • mental states
  • monomyth
  • oneirics
  • psychoanalysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Visual Arts and Performing Arts

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