47 ronin : question of a non-expert

[Randy Man]

Luc, I would defer to any Mizoguchi experts in our group, but I suspect that
his 47 RONIN was and is the kind of film prone to a wide variety of
political interpretations given one's point of view. According to Audie
Bock, "his wartime goal would be the celebration of the Japanese virtues of
self-sacrifice and dedication..." Such a theme in wartime Japan could be
used for militarist propaganda without Mizoguchi necessarily intending it
(something which he would have been powerless to control anyway). I could
also imagine that the U.S. Occupation authorities might well have labeled it
"feudalist" and banned it after the war, though I don't know if that was
indeed the case. It's certainly not in the same category as THE WAR AT SEA
FROM HAWAII TO MALAYA or THE STORY OF TANK COMMANDER NISHIZUMI (both of
which I would love to see some U.S. video firm acquiring - Dennis, are you
reading this, again?). It's also possible that Mizoguchi might have treated
the project much in the same way that the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki
apparently treated his equally immense novel "The Makioka Sisters", i. e. as
a way to appear to fulfill his patriotic duties during the war while using
the time-consuming project to avoid getting roped into more overtly
propagandistic or government-sponsored work. A good biography of him, which
we don't have in English, would presumably address this. Do any
Japanese-language biographies deal with it, anybody?

Randolph Man
College of Santa Fe
----- Original Message -----
From: Luc BEAL <beal at jterc.or.jp>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 1999 12:05 AM
Subject: 47 ronin : question of a non-expert


> HI
>
> I saw the dvd version of Mizoguchi's 47 ronin .. and I wonder about the
> context of the making of the movie ..I read that the production was
> sponsored by the japanese governement while japan was at war with the US
...
> therefore, the story told in the movie was all the more symbolic about
> Japanese attitude towards the wrongful daimiyo /USA.
>
> My question is : did Mizoguchi  real share these ideas, or is it like he
> only wanted money do keep doing movies?
>
> thansk in advance
>