JAPN 310: Japanese Cinema
Course Description: An introductory scrutiny of major Japanese directors and genres with attention to film composition, choices of subject and character, ideas of the cinematic, and the relationship of cinema to Japanese culture and society. Students will analyze and critique films. Discussion of films will deal with the production of their historical, social, and cultural context, as well as issues dealing with popular culture and equity. Taught in English. (Credit/ No Credit Available) (Prereq: Junior or Senior Standing)
2.1 I often cite this class as a key factor in how I came to understand the differences between American and Japanese cultures. What better way to highlight the differences in values than by looking at what their entertainment focuses on? This class had us explore everything from the original Gojira (1954) and several Akira Kurosawa classics to more recent hits such as Kamikaze Girls (2004) and The Girl who Leapt through Time (2006). Each movie allowed us insight into Japanese perspectives and practices. For instance, the movie Tokyo Story (1953) shows a combination of cultural values found in the post-war period. During certain sections in the film, there was no sound whatsoever. American movies have trained me to connect a complete silence to a suspenseful build-up. In this movie, however, there was no build-up, there was no unexpected turn, and eventually a character would enter and speak or the scene would end and proceed to the next. The characters who broke the silence never broke it for the sake of breaking it, as you would see in an American movie, but rather for some other driving force. This value of unbroken silence appeared in a few other movies, but Tokyo Story was by far the best example of the divide in cultural expectations.
2.2 You can learn a lot about a director and the story s/he wants to tell by how they choose to set up a scene. We held many discussions on this very topic during class, including how some directors chose a sort of poor lighting in order to highlight only the important characters in the scene (as seen more prominently in the older, black and white films), as well as the perspective from which the camera caught the scene (be it at a static, two-feet above the ground, or from a high, angled perspective reminiscent of Ukiyo-e paintings). Newer movies, such as Summer Wars (2009), showed the changes Japanese culture is going through, merging the technology of the world with the values of old. Because of the highly analytical nature of this course, I came out with a new perspective (and habit of analyzing movies far too heavily).
2.1 I often cite this class as a key factor in how I came to understand the differences between American and Japanese cultures. What better way to highlight the differences in values than by looking at what their entertainment focuses on? This class had us explore everything from the original Gojira (1954) and several Akira Kurosawa classics to more recent hits such as Kamikaze Girls (2004) and The Girl who Leapt through Time (2006). Each movie allowed us insight into Japanese perspectives and practices. For instance, the movie Tokyo Story (1953) shows a combination of cultural values found in the post-war period. During certain sections in the film, there was no sound whatsoever. American movies have trained me to connect a complete silence to a suspenseful build-up. In this movie, however, there was no build-up, there was no unexpected turn, and eventually a character would enter and speak or the scene would end and proceed to the next. The characters who broke the silence never broke it for the sake of breaking it, as you would see in an American movie, but rather for some other driving force. This value of unbroken silence appeared in a few other movies, but Tokyo Story was by far the best example of the divide in cultural expectations.
2.2 You can learn a lot about a director and the story s/he wants to tell by how they choose to set up a scene. We held many discussions on this very topic during class, including how some directors chose a sort of poor lighting in order to highlight only the important characters in the scene (as seen more prominently in the older, black and white films), as well as the perspective from which the camera caught the scene (be it at a static, two-feet above the ground, or from a high, angled perspective reminiscent of Ukiyo-e paintings). Newer movies, such as Summer Wars (2009), showed the changes Japanese culture is going through, merging the technology of the world with the values of old. Because of the highly analytical nature of this course, I came out with a new perspective (and habit of analyzing movies far too heavily).