CIN201Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Kenji Mizoguchi, Akira Kurosawa, Cinema Of Japan
Feb. 17, 2017
Lecture 2.5: Japanese Cinema and Non-Western Aesthetics
Lecture Structure:
1) Introduction: Framing Japanese Cinema of the 1930s
2) Japanese Cinema and Cultural Distinctiveness
3) The Domestic Success of the Japanese Film Industry
i. Production Practices
ii. Exhibition and the Benshi
4) The Unique Qualities of Japanese Cinema
1) Introduction: Framing Japanese Cinema of the 1930s
How did the pre-WWII Japanese cinema achieve such strength? What elements render it a distinctive national
cinema? How influential was Japanese culture? Why was the pre-WWII Japanese cinema unknown to the
West for so long?
How do we relate a national cinema to the culture that produces that cinema?
2) Japanese Cinema and Cultural Distinctiveness
The issue of Japanese cinema’s national identity arises with particular force because of the non-Western status
of the culture that fostered this cinema.
How “Japanese” is Japanese cinema, or does such a notion appeal to our “orientalist” fantasies?
Orientalism is a concept devised by Edward Said, whereby Westerners construct a romanticized notion of
Eastern cultures in order to justify their own imperialist ambitions.
The three most celebrated Japanese directors are: Akira Kurosawa (1910-98), Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956),
and Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63).
Can one overstate the uniqueness of Japan’s cinema and underestimate Western influences?
Western influence on Japan became more marked after the Kanto earthquake of 1923, which led to the
rebuilding of Tokyo and prompted Japan to look outward for models.
3) The Domestic Success of the Japanese Film Industry
The Japanese film industry adopted vertical integration early on. Prominent companies include: Nikkatsu
(established 1912); Tenkatsu (1914); Shochiku (1920); Toho (1934); Daiei (1941); Shintoho (1950); Toei
(1951).
Only twice in the pre-WWII period did the Japanese film industry show any signs of weakness: first, during the
Kanto earthquake, which forced relocation of filmmaking from Tokyo to Kyoto; second, when the Japanese
industry failed to adopt sound quickly. At both times, imports temporarily surged.
i. PRODUCTION PRACTICES
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