Oct 11 Postwar Documentaries
–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.)
October 13th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I’ve noticed that across the board, the postwar docs show the bombing as a gory tragedy (well, maybe that’s because there isn’t exactly so much leeway, considering the subject matter). But you’re bound to get the same reaction from people.
Of course, it’s in fiction that the big differences arise. I wonder if it’s related to different cultures’ ideas of war or of science. For example, in Western fiction films, the bomb is technology-gone-too-far, whereas in a Japanese fiction (Godzilla/Gojira, anyone?) it’s nature-warped-beyond-recovery.
October 13th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
I think I’m suppose to leave the question from our group presentation here. So here goes.
“After WW2, Japan was ‘fighting’ to be back on equal grounds with the states with the Security Treaty, also it was trying to forge the past and move on into the. Was Japan successfull? Were they able to get over the past and heal? Or are they still haunted by what happened?”
October 14th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
@Li
I wonder if complete recovery is possible. Even if several generations pass, and all first hand witnesses of such an event have since passed, the effects may never be completely erased. Hiroshima and Nagasaki likely had an impact on a cultural level, redefining, at the least, some basic ways of looking at the world. Even if the Japanese forget the events, I believe the culture itself will always manifest changes based on that moment. Speaking without authority, but on a hunch, I don’t believe that North American culture manifests quite as much post apocalyptic, post-human art as Japan does. Perhaps that is because we have never faced the idea of apocalypse in the way that many Japanese were forced to in 1945 and the fall-out years.