Products bearing the image of the mouthless cat Hello Kitty make millions each year for the Japanese company Sanrio. This provocative exhibition of art and artifacts makes the case that the 'œappallingly cute little figure' actually represents a nation's powerlessness and its 'œsublimated hysteria,' said Mark Stevens in New York. Masterminded by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, 'œLittle Boy' is essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand contemporary Japan. Surveying flatly drawn pictures of puffy animals, pre-pubescent girls, and Godzilla's inner anatomy, Murakami makes the argument that, 'œfar from being just sugary kitsch, Japanese pop represents the strange, even psychotic response of a population traumatized by World War II.'
Murakami treats fine art and commercial products as equally compelling, said Matthew Gurewitsch in The Wall Street Journal. Sex-filled Japanese comic books (manga) and vintage toys stand side by side with Murakami's own contribution to the show, Time Bokan'”Black. This painting 'œreads simultaneously as a death's head and a mushroom-shaped cloud.' It looks like a reaction to Japan's unique position as a post-nuclear nation. But it is also a faithful rendering of the regular apocalyptic finale of an animated children's TV show from the '70s called Time Bokan. Millions of kids tuned in regularly.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
5 arguably hilarious cartoons about the 2024 presidential debateCartoons Artists take on the candidates' age gap, sleepyheads, and more
-
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: a solid summer blockbusterThe Week Recommends The big-money movie might be 'a bit silly' but the effects are excellent
-
Tall Tales: church dedicates service to Taylor SwiftTall Tales The Week's round-up of the latest odd news
-
If/Thenfeature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
-
Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
-
Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
-
The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
-
Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
-
The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
-
No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
-
The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.