for instance, in the ranpo novel, some of the victims are nobodies who attain tabloid newspaper fame after death. could this, asks driscoll, be ranpos critique of mass media and how capitalism gives people an incentive to die? buzz-killing leftist critics waste no time in drawing parallels to you-know-what-ism. ranpo also publishes the culmination of erotic grotesque (ryouki no hate), which both critiques consumers demand for more sensational images and contributes to it. its about a young rich kid with nothing to do so he decides to become a student of perversion, but nothing is ever enough for him, so he winds up joining a snuff-sex satanic ritual club. not only that, but in order to catch the murderers, the detective himself has to join the club. the detective barely manages to regain his good judgment at the end and arrests the club members, but not until after hes participated in a few murder orgies himself. this theme of complicity is, along with jadedness and over-stimulation, a big part of all the critiques of modernism and capitalist entertainments. the term ero-guro nonsense becomes widespread. urban population is up 50% from 1920. the caf boom starts. tokyo law forbids the shaking of buttocks in cabaret performances (and also in dance-halls). 50,000 juvenile delinquents under police surveillance in east tokyo alone. stick girls appear on the scene: for a fee, they will hold your arm while you shop in ginza and make you seem popular while you shop. kawabata yasunari publishes the popular novel asakusa crimson gang about cross-dressing delinquents hustling to survive on the mean streets of east tokyo.
Brazil