<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Markus,<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I am not talking about the depiction of HIjikata in the movie which Ogawa has (at least) partial control over. Nor am I referring to the depiction of village practices which may well be grounded in materiality and not mystical (although the depiction of the relationship of between the man and the Kannon statue may well be termed as having an air of devotionality or mysticism to it). I am talking about the representations of Hijikata in scholarship and in the eyes of his deshi--which do tend towards the mystification and hagiography. In this case of your comments relayed from the deshi, it is as if Hijikata were a saint who among other powers could predict the future and sense his own demise. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Avant-garde artists may be posers (although that is debatable itself), but I think that the job of scholars is to locate them in their material and historical practices (even if that historical materiality should be that of the poser).</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Cheers,</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Bruce</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Apr 27, 2007, at 11:00 AM, Mark Nornes wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><BR><DIV><DIV>On Apr 27, 2007, at 10:53 AM, Bruce Baird wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; ">there being a vast tendency to turn Hijikata into something mystical and separated from his time <BR></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Time is what it's all about, as hinted by the title of the film. But mystical, I don't think so. Insanity, yes. The film, and that story in particular, are ultimately grounded in material practices and local identities. There are religious aspects to Ogawa Pro's take on village life, but this is part of village reality and not simply a "take." And I don't think you could call them mystical. </DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; ">rather than see him as part of an international urban-inflected avant-garde practice</SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>Posers, all of them. And Ogawa was the King of Posers. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Markus</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Bruce Baird</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Assistant Professor</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Asian Languages and Literatures</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">But</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">ô</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">, Japanese Theater, Intellectual History</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ; font-family: Helvetica; "><BR style="; font-family: Helvetica; "></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">7</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">17 Herter Hall</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">161 Presidents Drive</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Amherst, MA 01003-9312</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Phone: 413-577-4992</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px">Fax: 413-545-4975<FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; "><A href="mailto:baird@asianlan.umass.edu">baird@asianlan.umass.edu</A></SPAN></FONT></P><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>