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Page Four | Page Five |
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This page begins to introduce the bands, starting with Shonen Knife and Saboten. Dominating pages four and five is an interpretive essay by Hiroshi Unno titled "Alice in Rockland." |
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I have enlarged the essay here so you can read it yourself. If anyone
would like to offer a verbatim translation, I would be pleased to run it
here and give you credit. Send me an
email.
Unno is basically interpreting the album in terms of shojo (girls) culture.
Girls, unlike boys, he argues, exist in a fantasy worlds disconnected from
reality. Within these fantasy worlds (Alice in Wonderland is the key model
here) girls are both frightened and attracted to danger. (Some of the themes
of shojo manga, for example, include "immorality" [akutoku], corruption
[taihai], homosexuality and androgeny.)
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Shonen Knife, according to Unno, show the way erotic imagery lies at
the base of apparently innocent, sex-free, worlds. Overflowing desires
are projected into fantasy worlds, such as Dr. Doolittle's mysterious island.
(Unno's essay is continued on Page Five). |
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The women of Shonen Knife. Notice the diacritical mark in their name below, since completely forgotten except by language purists! |
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