FA/FILM 3610 Sec D Fall 2007-08

I thought I would take it upon myself to post bibliographic info for the readings pertaining to the short essay (gotta love Google)

These are formatted in MLA.

P.S. While doing this I noticed that some (not all) of the readings in the course kit include a photocopy of the source’s copyright page.  Good to know for the future.

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Hills, Matt. “Ringing the Changes: Cult Distinctions and Cultural Differences in US Fan’s Readings of Japanese Horror Cinema.” Japanese Horror Cinema. Ed. Jay McRoy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005.

Miyao, Daisuke. Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. (Book contains both Miyao readings)

Bordwell, David. “Our Dream Cinema: Western Historiography and the Japanese Film.” Film Reader 4(1979): 45-62.

Thompson, Kristen, and David Bordwell. “Space and Narrative in the Films of Ozu.” Screen 17.2(1976): 41-73.

Anderson, J.L.. “Spoken Silents in the Japanese Cinema; or, Talking to Pictures: Essaying the Katsuben, Contexturalizing the Texts.” Reframing Japanese Cinema. Ed. Arthur Nolletti, Jr. and David Desser. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992.

Hi everyone! here are the questions from our presentation (week 4: Silent Films and Japanese Film studies)

1. what are some themes and characteristics that you can see in Ozu’s I was Born But… that were mentioned in the article?

2. Can you think of any modern day examples of the benshi?

3. What similarities can you see between Hollywood and the Japanese film industry in this era?

Please read the two Daisuke Miyao chapters on Sessue Hayakawa in the reading packet BEFORE class.

“A Star is Born: The Transnational Success of the Cheat and Its Race and Gender Politics,” and “Americanization and Nationalism: The Japanese Reception of Sessue Hayakawa.”

In our first lecture we watched clips of films that dealt with the aftermath and memory of the Sarin Gas Attack on the Tokyo Subway System by the Aum Shinrikyo cult (March 20, 1995). Each of the directors approached the event differently according to their interests and generational understanding of the purpose of film. We then watched and analyzed the film Cure (dir Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 1997) in this context. If you’re interested in further reading about the event, Murakami Haruki’s Underground is a good place to start.

The excerpts we watched were from the following films:
Darkness in the Light (dir. Kumai Kei, 2001)
Not Forgotten (dir. Shinozaki Makoto, 2000)
Distance (dir Koreeda Hirokazu, 2000)

Hi, I thought I would list some addition J-Horror films (mostly the ones that also have American remakes).  If you are interested in a full list.  There is a nice one on the Wikipedia page on J-Horror.

First Ringu had two Japanese sequels: Ringu 2 and Ringu 0: Bâsudei.  Ringu 2 is available at SMIL.  As for the remakes there is The Ring directed by Gore Verbinski and The Ring Two (unrelated to Ringu 2), which brought on original director Hideo Nakata.  Only The Ring is available at SMIL.

Probably the second most popular J-Horror film is Ju-On by Takashi Shimizu, which was remade as The Grudge.  Both are available in SMIL.

Other J-Horror films that had North American remakes include Dark Water, The Pulse, and One Missed Call.  I couldn’t find any of them in my SMIL search.

Even though it’s not a J-Horror film, you could also check out the Hong Kong horror film The Eye, which was remade last year (the original is available in SMIL).

And that’s all.

Approaches to J- Cinema

Compare at least two approaches to Japanese Cinema in the first three weeks of class readings (Hill, Miyao, Bordwell,Thompson, Anderson). How does each author define Japanese cinema? What is their approach to Japanese Cinema? What are the major problems of studying Japanese cinema that they outline? What are the assumptions of these approaches? What are the problems of each of these approaches?

Length: 5-6 pages plus bibliography, double-spaced, 12 point font, standard margins. You must follow a recognized bibliographic style such as MLA or Chicago Manual of Style for formatting, citations and the bibliography.

This paper is worth 25% of your grade.

If you would like to speak to me about your short essay I am available
during office hours on Thursday 2:30-3:30pm.

Check out the Japanese cinema site Midnighteye.com, a site devoted to interviews, reviews and short essays on Japanese film. They currently have a review of five recent books out on Japanese Horror films:

http://www.midnighteye.com/books/kiyoshi-kurosawa-horror.shtml

This course provides an introductory survey of Japanese cinema grounded in Japanese history and a history of the film industry. Arranged thematically, the course will introduce students to many of the major genres and movements in Japanese cinema over the past 100 years. The topics we will consider include how the films engage with the specter of history, violence, gender, regional and local identity, and commodity culture. Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between the body and landscape in terms of colonialism, regionalism, nationalism and globalization. The primary focus of the class will be on situating the films in a socio-historical context but we will also critically examine histories of Japanese cinema. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the numerous Japanese cinema offerings across the city.