<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Might have mentioned this before, but there's
an intriguing extra layer of invisibility here: of non-US post-war occupying
forces. You might say that in Japanese cinema's representations of the
occupiers, every one was presumed to be one of MacArthur's children.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The early films in Fukasaku's JINGI NAKI
TATAKAI series, especially in the original's opening scenes, have US servicemen
and MPs on the streets of late 1940s Kure and Hiroshima - when this was
one sector not occupied by the Americans. Rather, this was the occupation
zone controlled by the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), which
operated out of the former (and later) Kure naval base. In real life the
troops on the street of Kure and Hiroshima were Australian, Indians and
some Brits. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">It's odder here in the context of post-war
Hiroshima black markets. BCOF's troops discipline was notoriously bad.
Many (most?) were supplementing army pay by funnelling tones of military
supplies to the local black market gangs.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">But to be fair, few modern residence of Hiroshima
- or Japan - have any collective memory of BCOF... I've not read Iboshi
Kôichi</font><a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Installing_Japanese_character_sets></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
's original books, but it wouldn't surprise me they don't differentiate
this, either.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">However, some of the later JINGI NAKI TATAKAI
film inadvertently make amends for this error. There are a number of shots
of motorcades of large black American limousines transporting Yakuza bosses
between meetings. Seems the production designers wanted to save automobile
wrangling costs, so use the then much cheaper big black Australian-made
Fords and Holdens that were being imported into Japan in the early 70s
rather than sourcing Cadillacs or German luxury cars. As a result there
is one delicious travelling shot in PROXY WARS (if I remember) that looks
more like a scene from MAD MAX than a Yakuza movie.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Quentin Turnour, Programmer, <br>
Access, Research and Development<br>
National Film and Sound Archive, Australia<br>
McCoy Circuit, Acton, <br>
ACT, 2601 AUSTRALIA<br>
phone: +61 2 6248 2054 | fax: + 61 2 6249 8159<br>
www.nfsa.gov.au<br>
<br>
The National Film and Sound Archive collects, preserves and provides access
to Australia's historic and contemporary moving image and recorded sound
culture. <br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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<td width=40%><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow@yale.edu></b>
</font>
<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Sent by: owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</font>
<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">08/09/2010 05:28 AM</font>
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<div align=center><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Please respond to<br>
KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</font></div></table>
<br>
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<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">To</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</font>
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<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">cc</font></div>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Subject</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Re: Films that depict the occupation
of Japan, made afterwards</font></table>
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<br>
<br><tt><font size=2>Kinoshita Keisuke's Nihon no higeki, which was made
right after the <br>
Occupation in 1953, concertedly places its hahamono story in history <br>
and uses lots of newsreel footage, as well as "flashbacks" of
<br>
Occupation hardships, to do that. In the newsreel-like footage, there <br>
are shots of American soldiers, including a pretty powerful one of <br>
American soldiers cavorting with "panpan" girls. I haven't seen
many <br>
images like that in 1950s cinema.<br>
<br>
Kobayashi Masaki's Kuroi kawa from 1956 has many images of American <br>
soldiers, though I don't recall if any of them were specifically set <br>
in the Occupation.<br>
<br>
I think a lot of films in the yakuza or action genres, especially <br>
ones with a historical bent like Fukasaku's Jinginaki tatakai, will <br>
depict aspects of the Occupation, including American soldiers.<br>
<br>
<br>
Aaron Gerow<br>
KineJapan owner<br>
<br>
Assistant Professor<br>
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures<br>
Yale University<br>
<br>
For list commands, send "information kinejapan" to<br>
listserver@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu<br>
Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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</font></tt>
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