Almost forty years after the spectacle-driven dance concert debuted in London, and almost six weeks after this blog post was written, the film adaptation CATS (2019, dir. Tom Hooper) will be released in theaters. The tagline “You Will Believe” would…
Japanese cinema and television shows are filled with ‘healing’ (iyashikei) images of cats. Cat actors in these live-action shows and films frequently adorn narratives that allow viewers to consume their kittenish cuteness, their languid decorativeness, or their playful viciousness for…
The work of manga artist Nekojiru is distinctive for two key characteristics: short stories that contrast cuteness with cruelty, and the use of anthropomorphized cats as protagonists. This includes her autobiographical works, Jirujiru Ryokouki (Jirujiru Travelogue) and Jirujiru Nikki (Jirujiru…
Cats have long been part of the lives and imaginations of humans. Egyptians worshiped the cat goddess Bastet, Persians feared these animals as potentially evil, Chinese aristocrats prized them for their rarity, American Puritans associated them with witchcraft, while the…
