Reading and retelling girls across cultures: mermaid tales in Japanese and English

Abstract

The Japanese concept of the shōjo (girl) developed from the Meiji period onwards, through texts including both Western and Japanese stories for girls. More recently, Japanese shōjo studies have made use of English-language and Western theoretical works. In this article I argue that Japanese shōjo studies can therefore contribute to the examination of global girls' text and cultures. To do so, I take up girls' texts that transform Hans Christian Andersen's classic Danish fairy tale ‘The little mermaid'. The mermaid has become an enduring favourite character for girls' stories about growing up in both Japan and the West. I use scholarship on the shōjo to interpret two transformations of Andersen's tale: contemporary Japanese ‘girl’ writer Yoshimoto Banana's novella Utakata, and the Australian-American 2006 film Aquamarine (directed by Elizabeth Allen). Engaging with a Japanese shōjo studies perspective proves to enlighten our understanding of not only Japanese but also English girls' stories, and helps to negotiate adult critics' evaluations of these stories.