Hibakusha Cinema review

Abe-Nornes amnornes
Sun Nov 22 18:45:51 EST 1998


I thought this would be of interest to KineJapan readers. ---amn

To: H-ASIA at H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: H-ASIA: Review Or on Broderick, ed., _Hibakusha Cinema_

                                H-ASIA
                           November 21, 1998

Book review: Victor Or on Mike Broderick, _Hibakusha Cinema: Hiroshima,
Nagasaki and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film_
(x-post Film&History)
***************************************************************************
From: H-Net Review Project <books at H-NET.MSU.EDU>

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by Film&History at h-net.msu.edu  (Issue 28.1-2, 1998)

Mick Broderick, ed.  _Hibakusha Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the
Nuclear Image in Japanese Film_. New York: Kegan Paul International,
1996. x + 255 pp.  Illustrations and bibliographical references.
$93.50 (cloth), ISBN 071030529-X.

Reviewed for Film&History by Victor Or
<Or#vc at oak2.ci.oakland.ca.us>, Oakland Public Library


                         An Elegiac Outlook

In contemplating the historical significance of the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki bombings, the contributors to this anthology draw upon
various Japanese films addressing the plight of the affected
persons, known as hibakusha. Any collection of essays that examines
the a nation's psyche through popular culture risks presenting a
homogeneous perspective that could result in a stereotypical
conclusion. In this instance--while some authors share the same
beliefs about the Japanese attitude concerning the atom
bombing--most offer differing viewpoints that provide welcome
complexity to the study.

Most observe that Japanese filmmakers have an elegiac outlook, or
mono no aware, about the nuclear devastation.  Several document how
Japanese filmmakers ignore the horror and suffering resulting from
the bomb and concentrate on the tenacity and endurance of its
victims. One essay comes from Maya Morioka Todeschini who--in
comparing the female hibakusha in the melodramas _The Diary of
Yumechiyo_ and _Black Rain_--examines the elegiac attitude within
the context of Japanese culture and substantiates her conviction
that quiet suffering and self-sacrifice predominate. However, two
analyses of Akira Kurosawa's film, that are also enveloped around
the elegiac outlook, are somewhat impotent. Neither writer can
explain why Kurosawa is able to erase the feeling of mono no aware
on his acclaimed 1955 film, _A Record of a Living Being_ to a
mournfully contemplative mood in his later films _Dreams_ and
_Rhapsody in August_.

Both Ben Crawford's and Freda Freiberg's Japanese animation studies,
while in part analyzing mono no aware, yield some disturbing, but
fascinating findings. Crawford observes that the rigidly structured,
burdensome social atmosphere, coupled with the nuclear weapons ban
in Japan and an absence of guilt over military aggression, has
sprouted a generation obsessed for romanticized images of
robot-enhanced warfare.

Using Japan's animated films as evidence, he notes that this
obsession has culminated in a yearning for the nationalistic
self-sacrifice, military dogma that was prevalent during the Second
World War. Freiberg probes Akira to expose the preoccupation with
aggressiveness, underscoring the paradoxical nature of Japanese
animated films. One teenage character-- enraged at being victimized
by an oppressive society--develops a sadistic tendency to dominate
and destroy. Freiberg believes this is an allegorical reference to
postwar Japan that, having experienced atomic destruction, strove to
emerge as a hegemonic, technocratic power to "exorcize" the
country's shame.

Probing the nature of Japanese monster films, Susan Sontag and Chon
A. Noriega suggest that the country is "the new Switzerland," a
utopia pleading for world peace. However, Sontag's 1965 essay is a
bit outdated because it regards hibakusha cinema as exotic
entertainment that temporarily relieves the audience from the
individualized terror of dehumanization and extinction.
Noriega--writing from a Japanese perspective--traces the evolution
of the Godzilla films from 1954 to 1985.  Analyzing these titles
from a political and historical viewpoint, he contends that the
nuclear devastation acted as a positive and moral force that
motivated Japan to acquire a world-leading socioeconomic status.

Documentary films that surreptitiously recorded the effects of the
atom bombings are discussed by Kyoko Hirano and Abe Mark Nornes.
Hirano points an accusing finger at the American Occupation
censorial practices and provides little insight into the Japanese
filmmakers' artistic efforts.  The result is an essay that is little
more than a simplistic treatise pitting the U.S. against Japan. In
contrast, Nornes spawns an interesting proposition when he states
that Japanese directors--focusing on the victim's
suffering--sentimentalize the nuclear issue and divert the audience
from a true understanding of the atrocity. He concludes that a cold,
scientific approach is essential in unveiling the terrifying
violence of the bombings and cites _The Effect of The Atomic Bomb_
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a documentary that chillingly assumes the
point of view of the bomb.

Perhaps the most comprehensive work in the collection is by Donald
Richie.  His 1961 work not only explores the mono no aware
attitude--the "new Switzerland" belief--and Japan's Communist Party
involvement in filming the 1950's nuclear image, but advances an
opinion that many Japanese resent their country's military
aggression, a subject that at the time of Richie's essay had not
been touched by Japanese movies. More essays of this nature, had
they been included in this anthology, would provoke debate and thus
expand the reader's comprehension of Hiroshima's cultural
connotations.

     This review is copyrighted  by Film & History: An Interdisciplinary
     Journal of Film and Television Studies and the Historians Film
     Committee, http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~filmhis/. It may be reproduced
     electronically for educational or scholarly use.  The Film & History
     reserves print rights and permissions. (Contact: P.C.Rollins at the
     following electronic address: Rollinspc at aol.com).
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