著者

黄 馨儀

出版者

国際基督教大学

雑誌

ジェンダー&セクシュアリティ (ISSN:18804764)

巻号頁・発行日

no.5, pp.61-94, 2010

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There is abundant research on the way women' s images have been portrayed intelevision dramas with regard to the issue of women and the media, but yet few of these studies focus on _asadora_, the early morning television series on NHK in Japan. This series has played a major role in shaping the image of Japanese women to the present day, portraying the life of a woman as she grows from being a daughter, a wife to a mother. By identifying the components and characteristics of _asadora_, this paper will explain not only how this genre started but reconfirm its content and the heroine's image. The paper will also focus on the turnabout of _asadora_, and discuss if and how it is related to female viewers. Based on previous research, asadora was initially intended as a literary program, but it seems that its content was changed after the highly popular _Ohanahan_ series was broadcast in 1966. In this paper, I clarified the changing form by revisiting the television drama andarticles from selected 60's magazines. In conclusion, the reason of the conversion isstrongly linked to the fact that the majority of the audience is female. The _Ohanahan_ series in 1966 had a tremendous response from female viewers, most of whom were housewives. This was largely due to the social background of the 1960's. The division of labor that resulted from this period of high economic growth in Japan gave rise to increasing numbers of "modern housewives." _Asadora_ has since shifted its theme to the 'biography of a woman' , in particular constructing the typical _asadora_ heroine: the cheerful and reliable mother who always sacrifices herself for the family. This kind heroine and the similar story lines became the paradigm of _asadora_ as known by the general public today. The conversion is an extremely important clue when contemplating the later works of _asadora_.