Yu-ting's thesis is just out of the oven!

Finally, OhioLink has published my thesis online. If you're ever interested in what I've written, please follow the link below and you'll be able to read the entire work! I'll attach my abstract below also.

The link:

http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?acc_num=bgsu1229915111

The abstract:

The fictional Japanese TV drama series, Nodame Cantabile, based on the lives of Western art music performance majors in a Japanese music conservatory, has successfully reached out and appealed to the Japanese common audience since it was first aired in Japan in October, 2006. It has also attracted an international following, been aired in various Asian countries (including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia), and found mass audiences beyond national boundaries. Why is a TV drama depicting such a specific group (i.e. music majors) able to cater to a mass audience in Japan and even to millions of viewers beyond Japan? In this thesis, I will argue that Nodame Cantabile not only has the typical prerequisites to be a successful Japanese TV drama, it also enchants its spectators by employing a unique, almost unprecedented approach--using Western art music as the thematic music and main soundtrack--which results in a whimsical, sensational, cross-cultural success. By contrast, most music in similar drama series uses Japanese pop music and electronic music. I will decode how this drama attracts mass audiences by interpreting/elucidating it from different perspectives, including: 1) how it portrays/reflects the Japanese music conservatory culture; 2) how it reflects the long-term popularity of certain Western art music composition in/among Japanese music composers; and, most interestingly; 3) how this drama further changes the perception of mass audiences, especially fans in Taiwan, about Western art music, and serves to increase the popularity of this music in Asian countries.