Tokyo Biyori

[Abe' Mark Nornes]

Obvious a film that anyone interested in gender should see. A friend was
once assembling a special issue on Araki for one of the "thick" journals, a
uniformly celebratory affair I sniffed at. So he invited me to contribute a
piece, which I started and abandoned because of a kibishii deadline. I was
going to playfully entitle it, "Araki's Dick" (or Araaaaaki's Diiiiiick").
Aside from being unimpressed by Araki's snapshots of daily life (hardly
innovative at this late date in the history of photography), arguments that
his focus on "regular-looking" women with "regular" bodies ---- combined
with his faithful return to a loving wife ---- make him progressive are
hardly convincing. Rather, much could be made about the (fully clothed)
self-spectacle of patriarchal authority. This is also familiar to anyone
who's listed to Howard Stern....who is far more interesting than
"Araaaaaaaaaaaaki." It might be interesting to compare _Tokyo Biyori_ with
_Private Parts_!

amn