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19 September 2006

English 212, Section 3: World Cinema

Week 4: 19 September

Professor: Don Larsson

 

 

6:00-6:20       Japanese Film: The Japanese “New Wave” and Anime

6:20-8:30       View Spirited Away

8:30-8:40       Break

8:40-9:30       Discussion of Spirited Away and Miyazaki

 

Quiz 2 next week

Will cover Chapter 11 in A History of Film (post-World War II cinema, New Wave, anime), class lecture and discussion, Yojimbo and Spirited Away

The Japanese Film Industry: The 1960s and Beyond

(See Wexler book and other sources for details)

 

Social and Political Contexts

§         Late 1950s: Japan in full recovery from the war, moving toward current position as the world’s second-strongest economy

§         Japan was ally of U.S. in Cold War, supported U.S. in Korea and later in Vietnam

§         Tensions with Communist People’s Republic of China complicated by the history of the Japanese occupation of China before and during World War II

§         Mixture of modern consumer society with strong traditional practices create complicated social and political issues

o       Support for U.S. military vs. renunciation of war in new constitution

o       Increasingly secular society vs. continued importance of allegiance to family and the state

o       Growing youth population adopting Western ways vs. distrust of American “cultural imperialism”

 

These trends and conflicts would be reflected in films of “Japanese New Wave” of young directors

 

Economic and Social Context for the Japanese Film Industry

§         Japanese studio system followed similar trends as in America, but lagging by 5-10 years

§         Films finally gaining international audience thanks to prestige of Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu and others, but most production still for consumption in country

§         Growing competition from television begins to affect theater attendance

§         Studios try new innovations, including wide-screen films (“TohoScope,” similar to CinemaScope), new genres

o       Swordfight films (Zatoichi, etc.)

o       Yakuza (gangster) films

o       Monster films (Godzilla/Gojira, Mothra, etc.)

o       Soft-core pornography (“pink” films)

§         Studios decide to appeal  to youth audience with financial backing for young directors who want to make entirely new types of films with innovative techniques

 

The Japanese New Wave

§         Dubbed “Japanese New Wave” as parallel to French New Wave, which emerged around same time, but with important differences

 

Japan

France

Film production backed by major studios

Film production independently financed, often low-budget

Major directors had served as apprentices to old masters like Mizoguchi and Ozu

Major directors were originally film critics

Films often shot in wide-screen processes and color

Films often made with hand-held cameras and black-and-white

Films not often seen outside of Japan and a few isolated showings in West

Films became widely seen and discussed in West

 

Both movements

§         worked in a wide range of styles and subject matter

§         openly voiced political and social criticism (although Japanese films were usually more political)

§         last for about 5-10 years (France started and ended a bit sooner than Japan)

§         Most directors eventually quit studios and went independent

 

Major Japanese New Wave Directors

Shohei Imamura (died last May at age of 80).  Looks at issues of human survival, political and social conflict without sentimentality, and with the analytical understanding of an anthropologist.  Issues in films include threat of militarism from American influence (Pigs and Battleships, 1961); a woman’s struggle to survive in a hostile society (Insect Woman, 1963); the hypocrisy of attitudes toward love and sexuality (The Pornographers. 1966); repressed urges toward violence (Vengeance is Mine, 1979); the desire to continue life in the face of the certainty of death (Ballad of Narayama; 1983); and the Japanese treatment of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Black Rain, 1989—not to be confused with Ridley Scott film with Michael Douglas and Sean Connery).  Last films include The Eel (1997) about a man who has killed his family and goes to live a small rural town; Dr. Akagi (1998), about a doctor determined to cure hepatitis despite disfavor from the Japanese military during the war; and Warm Water under a Red Bridge (2001), about the positive values of a healthy sexuality.  His films often compare or make links between the human characters and the animal world.

 

Nagisa Oshima.  Usually considered to be the most “radical” of the New Wave, both in politics and visual style, although he is very hard to categorize from one film to the next.  Often compared to Jean-Luc Godard in France (although he said that he and Godard had only two things in common: “We are both interested in politics, and we both make movies.”)  His films often deal directly or indirectly with social hypocrisy, sexual repression, class inequality, radical youth movements, and the lack of room (often literally) for personal freedom and expression.  Major films include Cruel Story of Youth and Night and Fog in Japan (both 1960); Violence at Noon (1966); Diary of a Shinjuku Thief and Boy both 1968); The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970); and Ceremony (1971).  His most widely-seen film (because of its explicit sex scenes) was In the Realm of the Senses, based on a true historical incident just prior to World War II, followed by Empire of Passion (1979), a less explicit film that has parallels in its story to The Postman Always Rings Twice and Ossessione.  Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) is about British prisoners in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II, and co-starred British actor Tom Conti with David Bowie and Riyuchi Sakamoto, himself a famous musician in Japan.  Oshima moved to television and has become a commentator on Japanese society, but his most recent film Taboo (1997) is about the sexual ambivalence and tensions created in a samurai training school by a new student.  Oshima’s films are strongly steeped in different aspects of Japanese culture, so it is often helpful to have some cultural or historical background to appreciate them.

 

Few of the New Wave’s films received widespread distribution in the West during the 1960s and 1970s.  Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes (1964) and The Face of Another (1966) were major exceptions, partly because they were based on novels by Kobo Abe, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and partly because the themes of existential isolation seemed similar to art cinema from European directors such as Bergman and Antonioni.  Unlike other New Wave directors, Teshigahara did not rise up through the studio system and had his films financed independently.  He eventually returned to documentary films, including one about the Barcelona architect Antonio Gaudi.  His film Rikyu (1989) is a visually stunning biographical film about the creator of the Japanese tea ceremony and his relationship with the last shogun to rule Japan before the Tokugawa Dynasty.  He died in 2001.

 

Other important New Wave directors include Masahiro Shinoda (Double Suicide, MacArthur’s Children), Seijun Suzuki and Yoshishige Yoshida (Akitsu Springs).  As with the French New Wave, the force of this movement dissipated over time due to a declining lack of interest by exhibitors and distributors and new fields of interest by the directors (especially in Oshima’s case), but the Japanese New Wave did open up new subject matter and new ways of threating it that would have been unthinkable before.

The Rise of Anime

 

§         “Anime” in Japanese refers to all animation

§         In West, term is used just for animated films produced in Japan, with distinct characteristics

§         “Manga” refers to Japanese comic books, which often supply source material for anime films

 

§         Japanese film industry produced animated films as early as 1917, but first full-color film did not appear until 1957

 

§         New surge of anime production began in 1960s with production of Astro Boy, based on a popular manga series and produced and directed by the character’s creator Osamu Tezuka 

§         Most production in 1960s and 1970s for television

§         1980s: Boom in production and distribution for feature-length theatrical anime began by 1980s

§         2004: Spirited Away is nominated in new Oscar category of Best Animated Feature and wins

 

Characteristics of Anime

§         Usually depicts flat surfaces modulated by soft color palettes and delicate shading, inspired partly by classic Japanese woodblock prints

§         Characters tend toward specific types, often characterized by large, round eyes that emphasize emotion

§         Usually avoids movement toward three-dimensional and character realism in Disney and other American animation, often combining digital and hand-drawn elements

§         Like manga, much of anime is oriented toward adult audience, may include graphic scenes of sex and violence.

§         Has evolved into a variety of genres, often defined by intended audience

o       Space adventures and “giant robot” stories (“mecha”)

o       “Shojo”—films for young teen girl audience

o       “Kodomo”—films for children

o       “Seinen”—films for teen/young adult males

o       Others based on subject matter—sword fighting, car racing, supernatural themes, etc.

 

In addition to Tezuka, some major anime directors include Katsumiro Otoma (Akira), Mamuro Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Blood: The Last Vampire), Rintaro (Metropolis), and Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies and Pompoko/The Racoon War).

 

Hiayao Miyazaki

§         Born 1941, son of aircraft industrialist

§         Partner with Isao Takahata in Studio Ghibli

§         Sometimes referred to as the “Japanese Walt Disney”

§         Films often refer to need for respect for living in and with nature

§         Often make reference to Japanese kami (gods and spirits), especially those associated with natural places and forces

§         Other major films include

o       Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (1984)

o       Castle in the Sky (1986)

o       My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

o       Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

o       Porco Rosso/Crimson Pig (1992)

o       Princess Mononoke (1997)

o       Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

 

Summary of Spirited Away

Chihiro is a young girl moving to a new town with her parents.  When they take a wrong turn driving through a forest, they go through a tunnel and enter a landscape that seems to be abandoned but includes a table set with food.  Despite Chihiro’s misgivings, the parents gobble the food.  As dusk falls, Chihiro meets a boy named Haru, who tells warns that she must leave, but she discovers that the scenery is coming to life, populated with spirit creatures, and that her parents have turned into pigs.  Chihiro is set to work in a bathhouse for the spirits run by an old woman named Yubaba, who also steals her name.  Now, Chihiro (now known as “Sen”) must recover her name and save her parents.

 

 

Questions for Spirited Away

 

1. In many ways, this story is similar to other fairy tales and folk tales.  What things about it seem most familiar?  Why?

 

2. On the other hand, many elements of the film have very specific references within Japanese culture and beliefs.  What elements seem strangest or most remote?  How does the film overcome or reach beyond those elements?

 

3. What kinds of tasks must Chihiro perform?  What does she learn in doing them?  What kinds of help does she get?

 

4. What does the film suggest about growing up?  What does it suggest about relationships with the natural world?

 

 

 

Miyazaki on the kami:

 

"In my grandparents' time, it was believed that spirits [kami] existed everywhere -- in trees, rivers, insects, wells, anything. My generation does not believe this, but I like the idea that we should all treasure everything because spirits might exist there, and we should treasure everything because there is a kind of life to everything."

--Newspaper interview, cited by James W. Boyd and Tetsuo Nishimura, “Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film ‘Spirited Away,” Journal of Religion and Film, 8 (October 2004):    http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol8No2/boydShinto.htm