MA Classical Studies — Dissertation Reflections I
On August 21st, I submitted my MA dissertation entitled: Mythological Apotheosis: An Examination into the Transformation of Greek Mythology, through the ‘Magical Girl’ Genre of Japanese Manga and Anime, and its Adaption for Consumption by Modern Audiences to the Open University for marking.
Quite a mouthful but it sound cool! Hopefully the content is just as academic. I put in so much work so I’m hoping it gets a good grade.
But this isn’t about that. This is a reflective post about what I’ve learned from the experience.
I knew what I wanted to write almost from Day One. Originally I wanted to do something about how Greek mythology was being reinvisioned through the lens of modern media, such as computer games like Immortals: Fenyx Rising and God of War, manga like Sailor Moon and movies.
Given the 12k word limit this eventually evolved to just focus on manga. I eventually decided to focus on the mahō shōjo genre because that is one which empowers readers but also sees mortal girls like Tsukino Usagi, Kaname Madoka and, of course, Kido Saori, become goddess archetypes.
I have a lot of experience with magical girls and, in all honesty, being the adaptor for Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō did play in my favour as I am, essentially, the authority on the narrative. I got this job because the person who gave it to me knew I was a mythology nerd with autistic superpowers when it comes to research.
So, yeah, by the time this dissertation was submitted, I’d adapted fourteen of the fifteen available volumes, had read the fifteenth volume in Japanese and Champion RED, the magazine in which the series was published (it concluded in the August issue, which came out digitally on 1st September 2021, just in time for me to write everything up). I’ll also be the one adapting the series to conclusion once fifteen lands on my desk and the five remaining chapters are collected into kommikusu tankobon number sixteen.
As for Sailor Moon, things were similar. I had knowledge of the lore both in the manga and anime series. My personal library includes the Japanese kazenban editions, the English Eternal editions. I also happen to know the translator-adaptors which was a useful thing when it came to discussion. Again this was down to my own job and the sphere in which we move, though my lens for this dissertation wasn’t manga, it was myth and what my tutor informed me was ‘reception studies’.
The important thing to realise with any writing project is that they evolve. You might be able to see the outline of it but only by walking the path and following that evolution can you arrive at the final product,. My dissertation was originally five chapters, plus an intro, conclusion, glossary and errata. What I submitted was just three chapters, plus all the other stuff.
Originally my plan was to talk about how Japan embraced Greek mythology (which I did), then segue into magical girls, their life cycle etc., then focus on the myths and legends before positing that magical girls were modern goddess archetypes.
The essential premise of my dissertation in pictorial form: narratives must change and adapt in order to survive, otherwise they’re forgotten. © Seven Seas Entertainment, LLC.
However my tutor suggested I have a chapter discussing the visual medium, looking at manga but also at the art inspired by the gods and mortals, as well as the myths. I wrote a draft to submit as my TMA 6 (essentially the draft chapter). It was my weakest chapter as I’m not an art critic. If I’m honest anything visual isn’t really my strong point. But my tutor liked it so it went in.
I had various cycles of ‘I’m having so much fun!” to ‘I can’t look at this right now!’. Eventually though, I started using baking metaphors because those work for me. I was making shortbread and my dissertation was a shaggy dough, just coming together. Give it another five minutes and the dough would be ready for cutting and putting in the oven.
Then, a few days before my personal deadline, my brain decided to go: “Hey, I know you’re busy but why don’t you just merge chapters three and four? Save yourself words and meld the mythology and art chapters?”
Me: “AAAAARGH!!!!!!” *deep sigh* “Okay, then.”
As with most things, this did actually make the dissertation better. A threefold structure worked, especially with my positing that magical girls go through a similar cycle of birth, transformation and apotheosis. I also had a comprehensive glossary going through all the Japanese terms, a huge appendix of images (and a very tight 10mb upload limit) and an epic bibliography.
I submitted my dissertation twice, the second time was just to include the image above as a nice example of my conclusion in the appendix (final file size: 9.6mb!!!). I am proud of myself, even though as with all things, a bit more time would have worked. But this is the beauty of hindsight.
The weirdest part was the sense of evolution, this natural growth from a tiny idea to a finished academic document. The thing I learned is you cannot hurry this, you need to go with the process. In theory, for example, I have a couple of ideas for my future dissertation, due in the summer of 2023, and I could write it right now. Except that my mind isn’t in the right place for me to do this. I need to do the course, I need to learn and meet new people, I need to be exposed to everything and only then will I be able to write my next dissertation.
