In the search for pictures!
Hi everyone! I'm not dead, promise. :) Still trucking on the thesis writing and then everything else we call life. ;P
I talked to my adviser last week, whose exposure to Johnny's fandom is entirely via my thesis that she has been working on with me for the past year or so, and we both thought that a couple of pictures in my thesis would be really appropriate so as to give unfamiliar readers a better feel of what the fandom is about. This is where you all come in - I NEED PICTURES! ;)
Specific pictures obviously, not just random ones because as much fun as it would be to do a random picspam in my thesis, I don't think that would fly very well. ;) So I have placed the requirements for the types of pictures (photoshoots, screencaps from variety shows, all forms are welcome!) I need below.
#1 - promotional pictures that provide the "stereotypical" image of a Johnny's idol group, preferably of currently active groups - ideally I'm thinking of pictures with them in their outrageous costumes at some kind of press conference/official function, though shop photos or concert pamphlet images might work too
#2 - "boys next door" images of Arashi and/or Kanjani8 - ideally something that encompasses their friendship and silliness; a picture that gives a strong sense of camaraderie, makes you feel like you want to be one of them
#3 - images of Arashi's Sakurai Sho that demonstrates his "gap" between him as a dorky, fail idol and his Keio!boy, newscaster image - to further get detail of what I mean, please read the excerpt on Sakurai from my thesis draft beneath the cut
The Johnny's idol Sakurai Sho was the favorite amongst surveyed fans; eighty-four fans claimed him as one of their favorite idols and only a handful of other idols of the sixty-five mentioned managed to come close to the level of popularity Sakurai had. Fans primarily love him because of his gyappu - a word in Japanese directly borrowed from the English word "gap". Sakurai was the first Johnny's idol to pursue a college education at a top-tier, private Japanese university while being part of Arashi, an idol group that debuted in 1999. With his bachelor's degree in economics, he then was the first Johnny's idol to become a regular news correspondent on a late night news information program (NEWS ZERO) on a major commercial Japanese television network, covering topics from the continuing economic crisis to the recent 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Despite this rather studious image that Sakurai maintains on one front of his idol career, he is also known to be "adorkable" and somewhat incapable on variety shows and when interacting with other members of Arashi. This creates a sort of disconnect - literally a "gap", thus the meaning and use of the Japanese word, gyappu - between the two images that Sakurai holds as the three following fans elucidate. [...] (Pradhan, working thesis draft, 2010)
Feel free to post any pictures you have that you think would help me in the comments - either the actual pictures or links to the pictures, either is fine with me. :) And thanks for your help you guys!
I talked to my adviser last week, whose exposure to Johnny's fandom is entirely via my thesis that she has been working on with me for the past year or so, and we both thought that a couple of pictures in my thesis would be really appropriate so as to give unfamiliar readers a better feel of what the fandom is about. This is where you all come in - I NEED PICTURES! ;)
Specific pictures obviously, not just random ones because as much fun as it would be to do a random picspam in my thesis, I don't think that would fly very well. ;) So I have placed the requirements for the types of pictures (photoshoots, screencaps from variety shows, all forms are welcome!) I need below.
#1 - promotional pictures that provide the "stereotypical" image of a Johnny's idol group, preferably of currently active groups - ideally I'm thinking of pictures with them in their outrageous costumes at some kind of press conference/official function, though shop photos or concert pamphlet images might work too
#2 - "boys next door" images of Arashi and/or Kanjani8 - ideally something that encompasses their friendship and silliness; a picture that gives a strong sense of camaraderie, makes you feel like you want to be one of them
#3 - images of Arashi's Sakurai Sho that demonstrates his "gap" between him as a dorky, fail idol and his Keio!boy, newscaster image - to further get detail of what I mean, please read the excerpt on Sakurai from my thesis draft beneath the cut
The Johnny's idol Sakurai Sho was the favorite amongst surveyed fans; eighty-four fans claimed him as one of their favorite idols and only a handful of other idols of the sixty-five mentioned managed to come close to the level of popularity Sakurai had. Fans primarily love him because of his gyappu - a word in Japanese directly borrowed from the English word "gap". Sakurai was the first Johnny's idol to pursue a college education at a top-tier, private Japanese university while being part of Arashi, an idol group that debuted in 1999. With his bachelor's degree in economics, he then was the first Johnny's idol to become a regular news correspondent on a late night news information program (NEWS ZERO) on a major commercial Japanese television network, covering topics from the continuing economic crisis to the recent 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Despite this rather studious image that Sakurai maintains on one front of his idol career, he is also known to be "adorkable" and somewhat incapable on variety shows and when interacting with other members of Arashi. This creates a sort of disconnect - literally a "gap", thus the meaning and use of the Japanese word, gyappu - between the two images that Sakurai holds as the three following fans elucidate. [...] (Pradhan, working thesis draft, 2010)
Feel free to post any pictures you have that you think would help me in the comments - either the actual pictures or links to the pictures, either is fine with me. :) And thanks for your help you guys!