Fwd: Film Studies in Japan

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

This is a cross-post from H-FILM:


---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ----------------
Date:        06.02  7:27 PM
Reply-To:    H-NET List for Scholarly Studies and Uses of Media, 
H-FILM at h-net.ms

From:   IN%"jfs at ue.ipc.hiroshima-u.ac.jp"  1-JUN-1998 20:38:16.39

About a month ago Aaron Gerow submitted an article on collectors vs 
academics
in the Japanese context. I would like to follow up with an article on 
teaching
film/cinema studies in the Japanese context. This is a short article I 
wrote
for Hiroshima University's in-house Japanese language montly called 
*Forum*.
As you read it, please keep in mind that (1) this is an English text 
written
to be translated into Japanese, with few modifications (2) it was 
originally
intended for a very limited audience, (3) it's specific intent was to 
raise
awareness.

        Cinema in the Japanese University, and the Myth of Multimedia

        As Hiroshima University's (HiroDai) resident film scholar and 
teacher
my goals are to: give students the critical tools necessary to survive in 
a
"Multimedia" world, and to help them more fully appreciate the art of 
moving
images. Recently, the University graciously gave me a wonderful new video
projector. This has been a great advantage to teaching my senmon (major)
classes. And yet, would you believe it, even with this projector I have 
still
never shown a single film in any of my classes. In fact there are no films
shown anywhere at HiroDai. And, it may be that there is not a single film
class taught in all of Japan.
        Almost from it's birth, around 1895, artists and scholars have 
been
keenly interested in the cinema. By mid century film studies began to be
accepted as a legitimate part of university studies and research. Most
universities have at least a few courses in film history, aesthetics, and
production. Every university, moreover, has at least a hall equipped to 
show
35mm films, sometimes even 70mm. And, every university
has one or more weekly film programs or series that is open to the public.
This seems to be true virtually everywhere except Japan.
        It is true that many professors in Japan, even at HiroDai, claim 
to be
showing films in their classrooms, but they are not. What they are 
actually
showing is videotapes of films. Am I splitting hairs, so to speak? No, the
differences are monumentally important. I cannot possibly explain the
differences here, but I can say that film and video are as different as
painting and poetry, and as different as seeing a photograph of Monet's 
water
lilies and seeing the real things. Important books have been written on 
these
differences. At HiroDai, moreover, there is no coherent course of study in
film. For example, the course I teach, contemporary theater and film, 
would be
a graduate level class in other countries, or at least the student would 
be
required to have taken prerequisite classes in film history and 
aesthetics.
But, there are no such class at HiroDai. For the past six years I have 
asked
my Japanese students to fill out a survey on
their cultural interests, particularly their favorite films. Few students 
ever
list Japanese films amongst their favorites, and virtually none have ever 
seen
a Kurosawa film.
        In other parts of the world universities are often the center of 
the
community, a place for art and culture, and more students have seen a 
Kurosawa
film. Japanese university students, however, seem to have little exposure 
and
little knowledge of art and culture, even their own. This is vitally 
important
because, without a coherent, stimulating introduction to their own 
cultural
and world cultures, Japanese students are left to fill the void. And they 
fill
that void with the TV-consumer culture. (Japan watches more hours of TV 
than
just about any other society.) I am not condemning the TV-consumer 
culture,
but I am appalled by the extent to which it has taken over the cultural 
lives
of Japanese students. I attended the university's 1996 orientation camp, 
and
was disgusted to see that virtually every activity was the mere imitation 
of a
television program. The most intellectually challenging event was a game 
in
which we had
to guess which Obento (box lunch) came from which convenience store. And 
these
students are Japan's future leaders? How frightening.
        Right now HiroDai is pumping huge sums of money into so called
Multimedia equipment. While I think computers are great tools and a 
necessary
investment, we should not be deceived by those who have misappropriated 
the
term "Multimedia," for what we are actually buying is a "Mono-Media." 
Right
now Bill Gates and his multinational juggernaut Microsoft are buying up 
every
possible archive of film, radio, television, art, photography, and 
literature.
Why? Because they know that without them "Multimedia" computers are 
useless,
and, more importantly, that the arts are cornerstones of human
society. I am not saying that HiroDai, or Japanese Universities, are bad. 
What
I am saying is that as bright and filled with potential as our students 
are,
they are at a serious competitive disadvantage when compared to their 
peers in
other countries.

********************************************************************
Jerome F. Shapiro, Ph.D.
Email: jfs at ipc.hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Hiroshima University, Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences
Home: 4216-7, Jike, Saijo-cho, Higashi-Hiroshima: 739-0041    Japan
Tel/Fax: [81] (824) 22-1485
Japan   =  Los Angeles (PST)    =  New York (EST)   =  Rome (ST)
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