BA Hons Animation Art and Practice - AP302 Extended Essay Proposal Sheet

Name: Shane Le Mar Date: 30/10/2019

Aims:

My aim for this Extended Essay is to explore, research and compare the significance behind
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and its Pop Culture success, both in terms of taking inspiration from
pop culture and in-turn giving back to it. The essay with delve into the idea that JoJo and its creator
(Hirohiko Araki) are so ingrained and intertwined with Pop Culture that they are just taking from
each other in an endless cycle. I aim to look into the circumstances and influences that brought
about JoJo and shaped it into what it is today. I’d like to take a ‘deep-dive’ into the show itself and
its popular culture-based-subtext, this will show up many instances where pop culture has become a
part of JoJo. I will also take a look at the many sub-cultures that surround JoJo, may that be its
somewhat underground aspect or its running effects in the fashion industry. The show has such a
wide hold upon many industries and allows for a rich essay full of analysis.

My vision for the Essay would be to create a ‘5000 Word Extended Essay’ that will expand upon
the historical, cultural and social effects that went into creating the story, characters and worlds of
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as well as demonstrating how some of these aspects have impacted my
own work (be it in a direct or indirect way). When writing the Essay, I would like to form a
discussion about its Social Impact and impact that society has had on JoJo, thus weaving them
together for the past 20 Years in certain communities and parts of the world.

Context and Meaning:

The major influences that I will draw from for this Project will be from primarily web articles (as
unreliable as they may be they do provide fantastic examples, news and context to a lot of the
points I intend to make). I’ll also be firmly grounding my arguments in the realm of Intertextuality
and Post Modernism, this will tie my points (that are relatively new in the context of JoJo, meaning
there is very little direct research e.g. Peer reviewed journals and essays) together, this will lend
well to me then looking at things from a new standpoint allowing for some interesting discussion on
the subject. Personally I’ve been a fan of JoJo and its subsequent surrounding media for a while
now and have a rather extensive knowledge of the show/games/written texts so I can rely on what I
know for a lot of the Essay without having to do a lot of re-watching/reading etc. This frees me up
to focus on the relation between two or more works (this would be where the idea intertextuality
comes from for this Essay) and determine why it is so enriched in Pop Culture.

All this will then tie-into my own self-evaluation and reflection where I will be focusing on the
comparison between my work and that of pre-existing texts that explore the themes that I am
exploring (though not necessarily of JoJo). I do believe that I can adequately keep an eye on my
own work to ensure I am staying on track however my biggest challenge for me will be to ensure
that I don’t exceed the stated word count as I tend to over-explain a lot of things and give way too
many examples. This will be a test to determine how concise I really can be with this one.
Methodology and Work Plan:

The methodology that I be undertaking to create a complete argument posed in the form of a written
essay, will be to firstly create a body of research and images that I can refer back to at any time for
reference, inspiration and to illustrate a point/provide visual stimulation in the Essay. Placing
images throughout the essay should help to keep me (and the reader) on track as I am aware, I tend
to drift away from the main point. They can also help me to select appropriate quotes, examples and
further points of reference. After I’ve gathered research sources and images, I will complete a first
‘draft’ of sorts, I use the term ‘draft’ loosely as the first version will mainly be section headings and
bullet points of information that I will be using in those paragraphs. I prefer to work this was as
then when I look more in-depth into the research, I know exactly what I’m looking for and can look
at things a lot more critically to select the best examples. Once I’ve got everything, I need to create
an essay I will then begin the main body of work. The way I’d write the final piece would be a very
straight forward (and common) workflow of simply starting at the top with the opening
statement/argument and then continuing on to complete each paragraph in order. Ideally, I will
complete multiple drafts before consolidating a finalised version that would be submitted as my
Extended Essay.

Outcome:

The outcome I’m striving to achieve is that of both a final product containing all my arguments and
discussion in a coherent essay format and a something that can put my opinions to paper about a
subject matter I’m personally very invested and passionate about. I hope that my own enjoyment
and absolute love for the subject can show through in the final piece and aid in the overall
production of the Essay. I would like to create a body of written work that can be read by anyone
(despite their level of knowledge and interest in the subject) and subsequently appreciated by the
reader for the contents and opinions conveyed within.

Bibliography:

When putting together a selection of research I intend to gather sources from a few sources, as I’ve
mentioned previously I will be taking a lot of information from online articles and blog posts as
they can provide some great context to what point I will be trying to convey as well as providing
news about JoJo related ventures to-date (for example AnimeNewsNetwork). These sources (whilst
being unreliable) will be handy in aiding the realisation of the intertextuality of JoJo. I would also
like to look into some peer-reviewed-journals, Essays and books that are around the subject of
Postmodernism (for example Fredric Jameson’s Essay titled “Postmodernism, or The Cultural
Logic of Late Capitalism”). I will also use a range of online and offline resources that would be the
show (JoJo) itself, online encyclopaedia’s that could act as a springboard for ideas etc.