Archive for the ‘Presentations’ Category

The Quest for Individuality by Kurt Ogilvie

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

After having some time to view a selection of Japanese films that deal with the postwar Yakuza chaos, I have a few comments in late response to the topic that Jaime brought up on New Wave Cinema and the development of the Art Theatre Guild (ATG) in Japan and Jay’s discussion of the Yakuza film.

We are all aware of the problems that production companies were having around the world during the 1960s when television invaded the home space. The ATG was developed in Japan as a desperate means to lure audiences back to the cinema (I’m sure the “Pink Films” were quite a lure). The focus was on innovation and experimentation with exhibiting the problems and struggles of the individual. Director Akira Kurosawa tackled that theme with his various samurai epics such as the well-known Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961). Kurosawa depicts the wandering samurai of the nineteenth century as the noble outlaw. After social reforms in Japan around the 1860s, there was no longer an employment need of the honorable samurai defender. The samurai was forced to do whatever was necessary to earn his income based on what he was trained by his country to do – to kill. When under the employ of corrupt gamblers, the noble samurai becomes an assassin for the common criminal, and thus the outlaw is born. There is a direct linkage from the samurai film to the Yakuza film by how the protagonist is forced to become a criminal because of the drastic change in their society at the time. Both timelines also have links to the influence of western invasion.

If you haven’t seen Yojimbo or its sequel, Sanjuro (1962), check them out because it is clearly observable how they influenced the Western Clint Eastwood outlaw character just as Hidden Fortress (1958) influenced Star Wars (1977) (all Kurosawa films).

The ATG came in 1961, the same year Yojimbo was released and the wave of new film styles emerged depicting social outcasts as heroes to society. The ATG films reflected a lot of the postwar mentality of confusion and moral corruption as a result of the “liberation” by America. The search for one’s personal identity forced many to land into the loyalty of the Yakuza families. Kinji Fukasaku directed a number of films on postwar corruption in the Yakuza gangs including five volumes of Battles without Honor and Humanity (1973-74) and Graveyard of Honor (1975) and Yakuza Graveyard (1976). If you didn’t gather it from the titles, there is a common storyline to pledge ones body to the honor of the Yakuza, and then to the graveyard. I would say that Graveyard of Honor was the best out of all of them because it really went into depth about the problems that Japanese society faced following the reforms of the war. The third nations people living in Japan such as the Chinese, Koreans, and Taiwanese were suppressed by Japanese law prior to the war, but the American liberation gave them more freedom to roam on true Japanese territory and interfere with the Yakuza. There is a scene where feuding Yakuza and third nations gang members are arrested and imprisoned. A Japanese officer gives his key away and allows a full jailbreak for the Japanese Yakuza members. He tells them to regain order and reclaim “our” territory. This goes to show how corrupt the society was becoming when the upholders of the law were not doing their job, and it goes to show that forced social change does not come easy. The rights and freedoms of America do not always apply to those bound by their own honor and tradition. America just loves to mess around with the traditions of other countries with their “liberation”.

American liberation in Japan forced rebellion and many lost souls to take allegiance to honor in a Yakuza family. Like the wandering samurai, the Yakuza are left in a ruined postwar Japan wandering the black markets in search of a means to make a living. One can see the theme of the individual struggle at work here and the representation of harsh times in Japanese history. They serve as a critique to the social structures at the time and deconstruct moral values, not to mention a showcase of the contagious inhumanity through the countless murders and gang wars. Fukasaku’s films are based on the lives of actual Yakuza members of the late 1940s through the 50s. Certainly the most interesting aspect of the films, I found, is the portrayal of the Japanese psyche at the time and their senseless pledge to violence and a code of honor as a means to find personal identity in a ruined society.

Fast-forward thirty years and still on the subject of the Yakuza, (the ATG seemed to have accomplished its goal to bring moviegoers back to the cinema) modern director Takashi Miike deals with Yakuza on a whole new level, as Jay discussed with Ichi the Killer. Keeping with the ATG goals, Miike without a doubt brings innovation into Japanese cinema with some of the most explicit films ever made. Miike brings the corrupted psyche of the Yakuza member into the modern time where they are now completely psychotic instead of just merely misguided. Where Fukasaku focused on the Yakuza brutality forced by society, Miike focuses on brutality forced by revenge. Fudoh: The New Generation (1996) is a good example of revenge, brutality, and the Yakuza honor.
A Yakuza member is forced to take drastic action in order to prevent a gang war from erupting. In keeping with the honor code he presents the head of his eldest son to the rival families’ godfathers as a formal apology. Apology accepted, but not by his youngest son who witnessed the decapitation of his brother. The film focuses on the young boy growing up to put his foot in the Yakuza order to eliminate the “old blood” in retaliation and revenge for his murdered brother. One can observe how the theme of the individual struggle remains in place, but the humanity has taken a turn towards the large common interest in brutality, revenge, and gore in modern cinema by moviegoers around the world.

The road to economic recovery was tough for postwar Japan and I highly recommend checking out Fukasaku’s work for anyone unfamiliar. They portray the real problems faced by Yakuza at the time and serve to exhibit historical events in an innovative way. Takashi Miike’s films do not portray any historical significance but they deal with modern Yakuza in a somewhat surreal psychotic way basing many of the stories upon popular Japanese graphic manga novels. If you are a fan of Asia Shock cinema or love explicit images and subjects, then definitely check out Takashi Miike’s work.

The Consumption of Violence in the Yakuza Film by Jay Gillespie

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

Before taking this class my prior knowledge of Japanese cinema pretty much consisted of kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira and a number of other contemporary films.  However after viewing Suzuki’s Branded to Kill and then learning about the Yakuza films of the early post-war period through Logan’s excellent presentation, I thought I might look the study of a contemporary Yakuza film.  In this case I would like to discuss Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer, in regards to Branded to Kill to outline the representations of violence in contemporary Japanese media and also the growing consumption of violent imagery by the audience. 

            In Branded to Kill, Suzuki brilliantly takes the classical Japanese theme of the lone hero from the Samurai film and relates it to the hierarchal structure of the Yakuza. As Logan pointed out this can be seen as an allegory for the unfulfilled desires and efficiencies of the rising ‘salaryman’ demographic of the 1960’s. The aspect of being stuck in dead end job creates a sense of loss of freedom because of the societal need to conform to ‘your’ place within it, generating unrest.  In this film, the protagonist Hanada, is the hero of the story standing up against the administration. He is the no. 3 hitman in the Yakuza who desperately wants to be no. 1. This is a reflection of the ‘salaryman’s desire to climb to the top of the ladder, however in is this case and many others he is unable to do so because of the bureaucracy of the system. But instead of being complacent in his position and accepting death, Hanada chooses to fight back and take down the Yakuza, here enters the lone hero, who engages in violent battles to enforce his independence against the establishment. For Hanada, being a hitman literally becomes a dead end job, not matter how hard he fights against it he is eventually killed at the end.  This is an indication of the individual’s inability to take down the administration that is too big and faceless to be destroyed. A happy ending in this case would have defeated the purpose of the film.

            The 30 year difference between Branded to Kill and Ichi the Killer is blatantly apparent in the changes to the genre and the stylistic approaches. What can be characterized as ultra violence in Ichi the Killer is Miike’s envelope pushing of violence and consumption, this is portrayed through his representation of the duality between Sadism and Masochism. Ichi is the story of Kakihara’s (the protagonist) desire for pain. He is the lieutenant to Anjo, the boss of a powerful crime syndicate in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, their sadomasochist relationship with each other ends when and Anjo goes missing, this leaves Kakihara with no one to fulfill his desire for pain. Anjo has really been assassinated by Ichi, a post-pubescent male who is being controlled through hypnosis by the boss of another crime family, Jijii. The rest of the film consists of Kakihara searching for Anjo and killing and torturing anyone he suspects may be involved. Once he discovers that Anjo is dead, his search morphs into finding someone to replace Anjo and his sadist role. In essence Kakihara is a rootless killer, he acts only on the instinct to fulfill his desires. He has little respect for the hierarchal system and loyalty of the Yakuza, making him an outcast like that of Hanada, this is seen when he tortures a member of an allied syndicate with pleasure by suspending him by hooks through his flesh then going to work on him with needles and boiling oil. (Mes, p. 231)

            However Ichi is an even more rootless killer than Kakihara. Because he is being controlled through a post hypnotic suggestion by his boss, through this he has lost his identity completely. This hypnosis preys on Ichi’s immature sexual desires, where a false memory has been imprinted of a group of bullies raping a high school girl and while Ichi wants to intervene he is unable to but at the same time he is sexually excited at the violence and humiliation. The aspect that Jijii is able to identify Ichi’s victims as bullies and combine it with his sadist desires make him a powerful weapon. The way in which Jijii manipulates him is almost mechanical making it so that he hasn’t just lost his identity but his humanity as well. (p. 232) This is similar to Cure where the killer has no aspect of self and everything about him is outwardly portrayed, Ichi has no sense of self and is easily manipulated. One of the more interesting aspects of this character is the way that he is initially shown as a hero through his representation, he wears a padded leather suit with a logo and large ‘1’ on the back, (pronounced ‘ichi’ in Japanese). This is reminiscent of the superhero, and this how the audience identifies with him at first. However he does not follow the definition of a hero, he does no good deeds through his actions, his actions are not even his own, they are being controlled by Jijii and his intentions taking away any semblance of heroism. The viewer is then denied this identification with the character, when we think he is going to rescue the hooker from her pimp, at this point we come to the realization that he is merely a voyeur that gets off on seeing people in pain.

             Because of this denial of character, the viewer is forced to identify with the other, Kakihara. However this is a suitable connection with the audience, as we know Kakihara is a masochist, he takes pleasure from pain and worships violence. The audience is doing something similar in our consumption of the violent image, we readily take it in not unlike he does. (p. 235) In many cases throughout the film the graphic, explicit exaggerated representation of violence is meant to show the ridiculousness of it in a playful and darkly humourous ways. Although right after Miike does this he punishes us for reveling in the ‘playful’ violence by immediately juxtaposing these images with depictions of ‘painful’ violence. Such as after seeing Jijii slip and fall on the floor covered in blood and entrails the viewer is forced to sit through the beating and rape of a prostitute, which is farthest thing from playful. In these scenes he does not explicitly show violence like he does in the comedic scenes, instead Miike uses montage to make the viewer infer what happens the moment the camera cuts away. Because of this the viewer is forced to internalize the violence and make it our own by filling in the blanks in our head of what Miike doesn’t show us. “…Violence that is more painful and disturbing than anything Miike explicitly shows in the film because each individual viewer decides the intensity of it for himself.” (p. 237) In the final confrontation of the film, the fight between Ichi and Kakihara on a Shinjuku rooftop, the audience is expecting to see an epic, violent fight sequence. Kakihara is expecting the violent death he desires, however Ichi is injured by Kakihara’s soul surviving group member Kaneko, rendering him impotent to Kakihara’s masochistic desires. This is a very self reflexive scene in the film, the viewers becomes aware of its appetite for violence and then Miike denies it, much like he does to Kakihara.  

Both of these films represent the needs and desires of the outcast, one in the post war period, the other in contemporary Japan’s urban landscape. In Branded to Kill, Hanada represents his inability to move higher up in the social structure by indulging in his carnal desires, smelling boiling rice and lots of sex. However in Ichi the Killer these roles are reversed, Kakihara climbs the hierarchal structure, but only to satisfy his desires. Both films explicitly represent violence as a mode of survival in the Yakuza lifestyle, however is this violence justified? In Branded to Kill we never know the victims of Hanada, or why they are being killed, likewise in Ichi we never know why Jijii wants to destroy and humiliate Anjo’s clan. Even if the film is working to show us our own desire for violence can it ever really be justified if it reasonless and senseless?

 

 

Mes, Tom. Agitator. The Cinema of Takashi Miike. Fab Press; 2006.

Report on Cinema/Movement by Jaime Ardon

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

Sorry for the delayed blog, but I could never for the life of me login to the blog. Thank you Sharon for posting this up for me. There is so much potential ground to cover, but for the sake of the time I have kept this blog relatively brief.

The Conference on Experimental Cinema in Japan and its correlation with radical political movements of the 1960’s and 70’s was full of insightful and engrossing opinions and commentaries from leading scholars from this unique field. I for one am glad that I went, because I actually felt like my tuition was going towards something useful and rewarding. Congratulations to Sharon on hosting such an interesting and eye opening conference that exposes other currents Japanese Cinema. As Sharon mentioned, much of the information and research given during the conference is relatively new, which makes Underground Experimental Japanese Cinema an exciting topic to study and analyze.

I would first like to mention some of the interesting points brought up by Prof. Johnathan Hall during his introduction to the screenings. I should also note that Prof. Hall was very enthusiastic about his research and you could see how content he was to be discussing Experimental Japanese Cinema. His mentioning of Japanese Cinema as being ‘non-terrological’ in its mode of self- representation is something that I feel binds many of the films we have seen in class. Part of self-recognition is the modes of resistance to corporate and cultural strands of thought, which in turn allows many of the Shinjiku and 1960-70’s Experimental films to being tools for social reform. Even last week’s film Branded to Kill touched base on this notion of non-terrological modes of self representation, by having a protagonist struggles with his past and emotions in order to discover a sense of humanity. It becomes a film where the body becomes the landscape and the actual landscape is subverted and radicalized into the psyche of the main character. This is a trend that I have noticed throughout a couple of the films we have screened in class. I would like if anyone has anything to add to this, or perhaps if anyone sees something else entirely please free to discuss.

The idea of city landscape and the spatiality within urban centers is what makes the Shinjuku cinema such an exciting topic of discussion, which Prof. Domenig discussed in his presentation. The murky cinema grounds added to the overall experience of the moviegoers, which in itself creates an ‘alternative’ culture that would often be associated to hippie movements as mentioned by Prof. Domenig. Even in his articule Prof. Domenig relates the ATG and Shinkuku Cinema to proliferating the development of the Japanese New Wave, which paralleled with the French Nouvelle Vague. ATG allowed for new introspective and artistic voices that challenged the norms of the art form and of society itself. This was reflected in the film snippets that Sharon shared with us and also lends itself well to her fascinating discussion on pink eiga flms and the sexual and gender politics between male and female during this radicalized time in Japanese history.

Overall the conference provided an interesting and unique in a field of study that I feel will only continue to grow in the upcoming years. A discussion question that I would like to ask would be, how do you (the class) feel about the relation between ATG and the social political reform of the time; and how it allowed for a widespread of artistic creativity that challenged the social landscape of the time???

Nov 22 The Yakuza Film

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

Isolde Standish, Genres and Gender (Jsaon P, Logan C)

Nov 15 Cinema/Movement Conference

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

“Cinema/Movement: The Interaction between Artistic and Social Praxis in Japanese Filmmaking of the 1960s and 1970s.”

Nov 8 Art Theatre Guild and Experimental Film

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

–Roland Domenig, The Anticipation of Freedom: Art Theatre Guild and Japanese Independent Cinema (midnight eye) (Natasha R., Alex T)
–Hirasawa Go, Underground Cinema and the Art Theatre Guild (Jessie S)
–Donald Richie, Japanese Experimental Film, 1960-1980 (Jaime A)

Nov 1 Oshima Nagisa

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

–Oshima Nagisa, writings
–Maureen Turim, Rituals, Desire, Death: Leaving One’s Will on Film (Robert B., Adrian C.)

Oct 25 Cinema and Transgression

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

–Michael Raine, Ishihara Yujiro: Youth, Celebrity, and the Male Body in Late 1950s Japan (Jared Wolting)
–Isolde Standish, Cinema and Transgression (Nadia L, Oli K)

Oct 18 Kurosawa and the Occupation

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

–Yoshimoto Mitsuhiro, Stray Dog (Philbert L., James C)
–Kyoko Hirano, From War to Occupation (Jeremy C, Yunjo K)

Oct 11 Postwar Documentaries

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

–Abe Mark Nornes, “The Body at the Center-The Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” (Dan B., Adam L.)
–Yoshikuni Igarashi, “From the Anti-Security Treaty Movement to the Tokyo Olympics: Transforming the Body, the Metropolis, and Memory,” (Jeff L., Adam K.)