ABSTRACT VIEW
COSMOPOLITAN SELF-EDUCATION THROUGH THE LENS OF ANIMATED CINEMA
I. Mihalache
Université du Québec en Outaouais (CANADA)
Cosmopolitan education, also known as global citizenship, fosters a sense of belonging and engagement with the world while also cultivating openness and curiosity about other cultures, their products and their social representations. Cosmopolitan competence involves not only an openness to learn about the Other, but also a reflective understanding of one’s own cultural values, more precisely a personal ability to transform and enrich one’s own cultural universe and to become permeable and resonant with other cultural landscapes. Conversely, the absence of cosmopolitan competence can lead to insular cultural imaginaries that encourage a politics of fear or pride, and that support nationalist or assimilationist projects.

While institutional cosmopolitan education offers structured pathways to develop a cosmopolitan sensitivity, self-education to cosmopolitanism—which often stems from an interest in cultural phenomena far removed from one’s origins, such as the global fascination with Korean pop culture—is another way to gain awareness and personally engage with other cultures. The “cosmopolitan amateur”, a concept introduced by Cicchelli and Octobre, acquires intercultural knowledge in informal and non-linear ways, and this knowledge is not always convertible into tangible cultural capital—such as formal qualifications. Cultural industries, including cinema, though lacking formal curricula, act as powerful tool for cosmopolitan self-education by integrating hybrid cultural knowledge, by blending genres and languages into their narratives or by spanning geographical borders. Furthermore, by engaging with foreign films, particularly though audiovisual translation (subtitling, dubbing, fansubbing and fandubbing leading to transcultural creativity, audio description, etc.), the viewer can enrich his perspectives about the world.

This presentation focusses on animated movies and their role in fostering self-directed cosmopolitan competence, an essential 21st century skill, by looking at themes of global interest, representation of cultures, and crossing in languages, borders, and genres. Animated cinema, often regarded primarily as entertainment for children, has significantly evolved to tackle a wide array of themes, including serious topics or representation of other cultures with their social concerns, educating viewers to a global mindset. As well, animated cinema experienced various “waves” or potent cultural movements that contributed to the world falling in love with specific cultures, like the globalization of Japanese animated cinema or the rise of Korean culture. Finally, animated cinema also played with the ideas of crossover, cultural blend, mixing of animation and love action, and the crossing of linguistic borders, and integrated strategies of audiovisual translation to reach a diverse, global audience.

Keywords: Cosmopolitan self-education, animated cinema, cosmopolitan amateur, cultures, audiovisual translation.

Event: EDULEARN25
Session: Developing Soft Skills
Session time: Monday, 30th of June from 15:00 to 16:45
Session type: ORAL