noon - 1:00 pm @ Hendricks Hall 

Changing Images of Working Women on Japanese Television Dramas 

Alisa Freedman, assistant professor, East Asian languages and literatures, with a specialty in Japanese literature and film, will talk about her trip to Tokyo to research a new book. 

Since the early 1990s, Japanese prime-time serials have almost always depicted working women. More than being mere entertainment, these fictional narratives educate viewers about real social issues and dramatize media discourses. Because of the characters and the ways their stories are told, dramas impact the lives of female viewers. Television attracts a large and diverse audience at home and abroad, and therefore is a good way to view social values, assess Japan's global image, and see how popular culture shapes gender norms.

Presented by Center for the Study of Women in Society