Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka Magica
In the magical girl anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, middle-school girls receive the power and responsibility to fight witches in exchange for making a wish. The series has connections to many different genres and narrative traditions within the realm of folkloristics. However, the folkloric...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-04-01
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| Series: | Humanities |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/5/2/20 |
| _version_ | 1818570871009181696 |
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| author | Sara Cleto Erin Kathleen Bahl |
| author_facet | Sara Cleto Erin Kathleen Bahl |
| author_sort | Sara Cleto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the magical girl anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, middle-school girls receive the power and responsibility to fight witches in exchange for making a wish. The series has connections to many different genres and narrative traditions within the realm of folkloristics. However, the folkloric genre most relevant to the ethos and aesthetics of Madoka is that of the fairy tale. Drawing on Bill Ellis’s concept of “fairy-telling” and scholarship on new media composition, in this paper we seek to investigate labyrinths as acts of embodied composing—not lairs of evil or destruction but rather creative material memory work that negotiates grief and despair. Many of the series’ action sequences unfold in “labyrinths,” the magical spaces controlled by witches. By composing a labyrinth, witches can simultaneously reshape their environment and create a powerful statement about identity through personalized performance in narrative spaces that they control. In particular, we argue that both the frameworks of “fairy tale” and “new media” give us useful analytical resources for beginning to make sense of the intricately complex phenomenon of Madoka’s labyrinths. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T13:47:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fd330174cfdc496dbeec52a0c3c45f9a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T13:47:38Z |
| publishDate | 2016-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-fd330174cfdc496dbeec52a0c3c45f9a2022-12-21T22:59:16ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872016-04-01522010.3390/h5020020h5020020Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka MagicaSara Cleto0Erin Kathleen Bahl1Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USADepartment of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USAIn the magical girl anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, middle-school girls receive the power and responsibility to fight witches in exchange for making a wish. The series has connections to many different genres and narrative traditions within the realm of folkloristics. However, the folkloric genre most relevant to the ethos and aesthetics of Madoka is that of the fairy tale. Drawing on Bill Ellis’s concept of “fairy-telling” and scholarship on new media composition, in this paper we seek to investigate labyrinths as acts of embodied composing—not lairs of evil or destruction but rather creative material memory work that negotiates grief and despair. Many of the series’ action sequences unfold in “labyrinths,” the magical spaces controlled by witches. By composing a labyrinth, witches can simultaneously reshape their environment and create a powerful statement about identity through personalized performance in narrative spaces that they control. In particular, we argue that both the frameworks of “fairy tale” and “new media” give us useful analytical resources for beginning to make sense of the intricately complex phenomenon of Madoka’s labyrinths.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/5/2/20fairy talenew mediaanimemagical girllabyrinthMadoka |
| spellingShingle | Sara Cleto Erin Kathleen Bahl Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka Magica Humanities fairy tale new media anime magical girl labyrinth Madoka |
| title | Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka Magica |
| title_full | Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka Magica |
| title_fullStr | Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka Magica |
| title_full_unstemmed | Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka Magica |
| title_short | Becoming the Labyrinth: Negotiating Magical Space and Identity in Puella Magi Madoka Magica |
| title_sort | becoming the labyrinth negotiating magical space and identity in puella magi madoka magica |
| topic | fairy tale new media anime magical girl labyrinth Madoka |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/5/2/20 |
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