Film and Political Culture in Postwar Japan.
Title:
Film and Political Culture in Postwar Japan.
Author:
Gibbs, Michael H.
ISBN:
9781453902561
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (192 pages)
Series:
Framing Film: The History and Art of Cinema ; v.15
Framing Film: The History and Art of Cinema
Contents:
Table of Contents -- Foreword xi -- Acknowledgments xix -- Note on Names and Titles xxi -- Part One: Conflict without End as Military Occupations Lead to War, 1940-1971 -- 1 Dealing with Militancy, 1940-1955 3 -- The Filmmaker and the Communist 3 -- Serving the Warring State 4 -- Pacification 6 -- Kokorozashi 8 -- Beyond Black and White 10 -- Greater Realism 13 -- Pretense and Reality 15 -- Conflicts Escalate Again to War 17 -- Purge 19 -- A Kind of Independence 21 -- Labor Militancy and Film 25 -- The Peace Movement 27 -- Kokorozashi Revisited 30 -- Toward Consensus 32 -- 2 Postwar as Prewar, 1955-1971 37 -- Free World Sunshine 37 -- Transitional Shadings 42 -- Dilemmas for the Film Societies 44 -- A New Challenge to the Emerging Consensus 48 -- Films to Take Comfort In 51 -- Anpo-Film and the Security Treaty Crisis 52 -- Trapped-Hell of a Consensus 58 -- War Returns 63 -- Conflict between Perspectives 66 -- Anpo Revisited, Unhappily 71 -- Part Two: Pacifism in One Country, 1972-2010 -- 3 Sorting through Conflicts, 1972-1987 79 -- Violence (and Sex) in One Country 79 -- Tora-san 81 -- Good and Evil, Eros and Thanatos 82 -- Leftist Favorites 85 -- Nonpartisan Radicalism 87 -- Uncomfortable Truths 88 -- Threats (and Hope) from Abroad 89 -- Public and Private 92 -- New Agendas 95 -- War Looms Again 97 -- Newer Still 98 -- Shift toward Peace 102 -- Loose Ends 108 -- 4 Taking Peace for Granted, 1987-2010 111 -- Rethinking the Postwar Era 112 -- The Politics of War and Peace 115 -- Reactions to Prosperous Pacifism 118 -- Reality Check 120 -- Nocturne 122 -- Necessary Fictions, Present and Past 125 -- Turning Point 130 -- Conflicts Reconsidered 133 -- Imagining Alternatives 137 -- War Refuses to Go Away 138 -- Transcending Deception and Despair 140 -- Frightening Scenarios 143 -- Lessons from the Past 145 -- Final Thoughts 148 -- Bibliography 151.
Periodicals/Archives 151 -- Books, Articles, and Pamphlets 151 -- Index 157.
Abstract:
This study of Japanese political culture from c. 1940 to 2009 challenges standard periodizations of postwar Japan, arguing that the postwar period began, much later than previously argued, when a culture of pacifism developed. We can see evidence of this in feature films from the era and in the activities of groups involved in film promotion and criticism. Film and Political Culture in Postwar Japan asks us to take Japanese pacifism seriously and not assume that it is merely a passing phenomenon. This study of the political left questions previous assumptions about such marginalization after the Red Purges of 1950 and the sectarian infighting of the 1960s. Michael H. Gibbs provokes the reader to look beyond the standard national parameters of Japanese culture, to examine the role of other states in fomenting war during the 1940s-1970s and in keeping the subsequent peace. In addition, he challenges the neglect of mainstream Japanese film criticism in English-language scholarship, focusing on many filmmakers seen as important in Japanese film culture but relatively little discussed in the west. Gibbs sets the canon of Great Japanese Directors to one side and focuses on the work of Kinoshita, Yamamoto, Masumura, Kuroki, Yamada, Higashi, Negishi, Sakamoto, and Nishikawa. Scholars and students of Japanese and East Asian history, film, war and peace studies, and comparative and world history should find this volume of great interest.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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