Shane Le Mar

14/12/2019
Extended Essay – Draft 1: Planning
(WORKING TITLE?) Pop Culture in JoJo & JoJo in Pop Culture.

Question – ‘What effect did Pop Culture have on

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and what effect
did JoJo’s have on Pop Culture?

 Definitions: 150 words –

Anime is a term that has been coined for all Japanese Animation and is typically aimed at
adults as well as children. Which is different to the Western World of cartoons, as they are
typically manufactured for children (and maybe teenagers) with the exception of a few.

Manga is a term that has been given to Japanese Comic Books and once again these are
aimed at everyone of any varying ages as opposed to one cornered market.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Manga series that is now published by Shueisha’s (a manga
publishing company) line of Ultra Jump Manga. JoJo is categorized as Seinen Manga,
which is manga typically aimed at men of all ages however JoJo is much more of a serious
manga aimed at the older (teenage to adult) man. The series focuses on the lineage of the
Joestar family throughout many ages (parts 1 – 6) facing supernatural forces, and even
alternate universes (parts 7 &8) that reboot other parts.

 Introduction: 400 words

o State what I will achieve in Essay

o State question and how I aim to answer it
o State the writer of JoJo
o Years of Manga Publication
o Points about JoJo being influenced by Pop Culture
o State studio of Adaptions
o Years of adaptions
o Mention how many mediums JoJo spans across
o Mention how long it’s taken for the technology/times to catch up with JoJo
o Mention how Pop Culture and JoJo have evolved in tandem
o State Credible Essay that I will use as a basis for work
Shane Le Mar

 Paragraph 1 – How did Pop Culture Influence Araki’s Writing?: 950 words

o What influenced his work?

 Music
 People
 Manga
 Western Animation
 Pop Culture/Themes

o What shows the influence?

 Character & Stand names

 Places
 Themes of each part
 Time periods of each part
 Chapter Titles
 Character Designs
 Interactions

o Research:

 TV Tropes
 JoJo Fandom
 Pop Culture through the years

 Paragraph 2 - How did Araki’s Art Style changed with popular culture?: 500 words

o Parts 1 – 8:

 Part 1 – The art style suited and was in-line with that of the manga
style at that current time (1987)
 Part 2 – Araki was adapting his original style to that of his own style
that in places conformed to the more serious Manga of the time (1987
– 1989)
 Part 3 – Araki has consolidated his own style by this point as was
pioneering a brand new and unique art style (1989 – 1992)
 Part 4 – Araki had changed his style slightly from sharp lines and huge
characters to softer lines and smaller characters (1992 – 1995)
 Part 5 – By this point Araki has completely overhauled his style and it
looked nothing like that of Part 4 let alone the rest (1995 – 1999)
 Part 6 – Araki was firmly set in this new style of his (2000 – 2003)
Shane Le Mar

 Part 7 – Araki combined his earlier styles and his new styles as it was
set before Part 1, so he wanted to bring some things back (2004 –
2011)
 Part 8 – His style is now unrecognisable from that of Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4
and is what he seems to be set in now (2011 – Present)

o New Illustrations of Past JoJo’s:

o Re-Release of Parts 1 – 4:

 Paragraph 3 – How was JoJo Circulated into Eastern and Western Pop Culture
and what effect did it have on the experience?: 1000 words

o West:

 Manga
 Anime
 Merch
 Underground Anime
 Piracy
 Cult following

o East:

 Stand Names Correct

 Manga
 Anime
 Merch
 Reception
 Super Popular
 Cult following
 Part of every-day life and fashion
 Plenty of Games

 Paragraph 4 – Is JoJo Post-Modern and how it is Intertextual?: 1000 words

o Define Intertextuality (use well known Essay)

o Define Post Modernism (use well known Essay)
o This would be the paragraph where I really want to dig into the intertextual
nature of JoJo.
Shane Le Mar

o I want to nail the fact that JoJo is such a Post-Modern work

 Conclusion: 600 words

Word Count:

 Definitions: 150 words

 Introduction: 400 words
 Paragraph 1 – How did Pop Culture Influence Araki’s Writing?: 950 words
 Paragraph 2 - How did Araki’s Art Style changed with popular culture?: 500 words
 Paragraph 3 – How was JoJo Circulated into Eastern and Western Pop Culture
and what effect did it have on the experience?: 1000 words
 Paragraph 4 – Is JoJo Post-Modern and how it is Intertextual?: 1000 words
 Paragraph 5 – ???: 400 words
 Conclusion: 600 words

150 + 400 + 950 + 500 + 1000 + 1000 + 400 + 600 = 5000 – Total
Shane Le Mar

Bibliography:

Fandom, (2019), JoJo's Bizarre Wiki [ONLINE]. Available at:

https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page [Accessed 15 November 2019].
Jameson, F. (1993). Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
Rose, G., 2016. Visual Methodologies. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, California, United States:
SAGE Publications Ltd.
TV Tropes, (2019), JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga) [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure [Accessed 15
November 2019].
Wikipedia, (2019), JoJo's Bizarre Adventure [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoJo%27s_Bizarre_Adventure [Accessed 15 November 2019].