Toei's PRIDE

[Peter B. High]

  PRIDE is not the first example of a postwar Japanese film sponsored by a political 
pressure group, since both the left (perhaps especially the left and the right have 
been in the background of numerous films.  On the right, the Shin Toho spectacular 
EMPEROR MEIJI AND THE RUSSO JAPANESE WAR (MEIJI TENNO TO NICHIRO DAI SENSOU,1957), 
directed by the rightist-leaning Watanabe Kunio, springs to mind as one significant 
example. In addition to its nearly hagiographic  portrayal of the Emperor himself, the 
film resurrects several of the "bidan" (or "tales of military virtue"--in this case 
the stories of Lt. Col.  Hirose and Corporal Sugino) which had been featured in the 
pre-war and wartime National Language (Kokugo) and Ethics (Shushin) textbooks and 
which had been expurgated under the direct orders of SCAP. One apparent parallel 
between the MEIJI film and  PRIDE is that they both were made by production companies 
facing severe economic difficulties (although MEIJI was a major hit, Shin Toho bellied 
up four years later), receiving important funding from non-film industry, politically- 
motivated sources. 
   As far as I know, however, PRIDE presents the most overt postwar example  of a 
tendency which was very common during the 1930s--the direct sponsoring by a rightwing 
pressure group of a film to promote its political ideals and/or program. In the 
thirties such films tended to be  "documentaries" (but there were dramas, or at least 
"dramatizations," as well). 
  Of course in those days, the government itself eagerly pushed the major film 
companies to turn out features which propagated official thinking on domestic and 
international issues, something they did by providing often lavish financial backing.  
But since the regular film companies contained few ideologues of either the right or 
the left,  the direct influence of pure ideology  on their films, even in those days,  
can probably be discounted. Patriotic themes--usually set in the context of war 
films--- tended to be exploited commercially until they were played out, whereupon 
they were dropped.
   Occasionally, the Army or Navy would hire a production company outright to make a 
propaganda picture. As experienced moulders of public opinion, the film units 
connected with the major newspapers were often favored. For example, the Army hired 
Mainichi to make Defend Manchuria  (Mamore Manshu, 1932), a film of documentary 
footage interspersed with dramatized sequences which argued  that Manchuria was part 
of Japan's "lifeline" (the latter being a key phrases of the era). General Araki Sadao 
(leader of the radical Kodo-ha or "Imperial Way" faction inside the Army) used 
non-official funds to commission one of the most famous, the part-talkie Crisis-Time 
Japan (Hijoji Nippon, 1933), also produced by the  Mainichi film unit. There, Araki 
appears on screen in full military uniform to lecture the nation on "the truth about 
Japan's present-day situation at home and abroad." What follows is a long, high-blown 
oration on  the divine mission of the nation's military. Oover a dozen years later the 
film would be introduced as "evidence" at the Tokyo War Crimes trial.
  Quite apart from such officially- and quasi-officially-commissioned propaganda 
pieces, "civilian" political pressure groups (the pre-war equivalents of the Nakamura 
Isao's present-day "Seinen Jiyuto") did manage to have their say as investors in 
specific film projects. Their impact was comparatively great in the case of  small, 
"independent production" companies; many of them, like Taiheiyo or Akazawa Kinema, 
were quite tiny indeed. Independent production companies centered around a single 
star, such as Arashi Kanjuro or Bando Tsumasaburo, were particularly favored for the 
production of drama films. But these were often relationships fraught with discord, 
since the stars usually refused  to become mere puppets. 
    Such was the case of Bando Tsumasaburo and his company. In February 1931, a public 
mudslinging contest broke out  between  the Kokusuikai (National Essence Society) and 
the infamous Kokuryukai (Black Dragon Society) over which of the two factions had the 
controlling interest in the company. Bando insisted that neither of them did. Howling 
with injured dignity, the Kokuryukai leveled a blast at him through the newspapers: 
"Bando owes our society a great debt of gratitude. After his resignation from 
Shochiku, we invested seventy throusand yen in his new company with the understanding 
that it would exert itself in the task of national education through films made in 
line with Kokuryukai principles." At least part of the problem was that Bando's 
popularity was sagging badly and he was having serious difficulty making any films at 
all. 
   By the late thirties, with the China Incident now in progress, the "itaku" 
(commissioned) film went into decline, partly because of the 1939 Film Law, partly 
because of the enforced "consolidation" of documentary film companies in 1940 and 
partly, quite simply, because the public never responded very favorably to them in the 
first place. In the case of Gen. Araki's Crisis-Time Japan, the public responded with 
a sneer. The very term "Crisis-time"  became the butt of numerous jokes, one of them 
running thusly: Question: What time is it? Answer: It's Crisis-time!" 

   It seems to me that the production background of PRIDE can be seen in the context 
of this 1930s pre-war phenomenon. Certainly it provides an interesting precedent. 
Whether it signifies a serious revival of the ultra-right is still open to question. 
Still, there are worrisome straws in the wind. One of these is the steadily growing 
influence of Fujioka Nobukatsu's "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho o Tsukuru Kai" (the 
Society for the Preparation of New History Textbooks"), a vocal group seeking to 
eliminate most references to the worst abuses during Japan's  aggressive-militarist 
past on the grounds that it signifies a peurile form of "self-maligning" (jigyaku). In 
much the same vein as Nakamura Isao, they call instead for school textbooks which 
"rethink Japanese traditional culture and maintain pride in our history." Especially 
now that the New History Textbook Society has gained the fervent backing of the 
extremely popular maverick manga-artist Kobayashi Yoshinori (of "Goman-ism" fame), the 
numerous books put out by the Society line the shelves of university bookshelves and 
the buzz word "jigyaku" is known to most students. Mercifully however, it too has 
become the occasional butt of wry humor (sot of like "Crisis-time"), especially since 
"jigyaku" partakes somewhat in the significance  of the English term, "self-abuse."

Clearly, PRIDE shares to a great degree in this "self-consolation" form of national 
history.

Peter B. High
Nagoya University

--
Peter B. High
j45843a at nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp