For our second year of cultural and theoretical studies, the end result is to write an essay on a chosen topic. My chosen topic is fantasy, and namely how fantasies reflect what we crave as a society, and how new fantasies are formed to answer problems we already have. I chose this topic because I enjoy fantasy myself, and I thought this would be a fun opportunity to learn about some of my own interests and possibly why I’m interested in them.

I chose to look at Japan as a society, as I’m pretty fond of Japan. I’m looking into a fantasy figure called Hatsune Miku; a virtual idol, or a virtual pop star with a computer-made voice and a holographic body that she performs with. I have personally been into Miku since I was young, I enjoy her music, the fandom surrounding her and her cool and futuristic concept. I felt it would be easier to speak about one of my interests, because if I’m genuinely enjoying what I’m talking about, I’ll be more motivated to do research into it and learn about it. My essay will focus on how Japanese social issues serve as a cry for something as abstract as a digital pop star, exploring cases in which Miku is treated like a real person, ranging from brand deals to marriage (yeah…). Here is my video essay exploring my ideas;

My points in this video reflect most of what I’m planning on speaking about in my essay. I believe that there is truth to the idea that popular fantasies of a time and place reflect what issues people living in the society have; I myself have found myself using fantasies like Hatsune Miku as escapes from loneliness at darker points in life, as parasocial relationships somewhat served as a solution to loneliness. In the same way that I used these fantasies to cope with my issues, I believe that societies as a whole do this, and by analysing what is becoming popular to fantasize about in societies, we can begin to tackle the issues and identify them better in the real world.