Ozu title changes

[J Rand]

Thats interesting what you say Michael - I had wondered about it myself when
we were sorting out the translation as to why the title in English would be
early summer when translated more literally it was Coming Autumn (which is
mroe likely to be Barley time).    But there is a scene in the film when
there is a shot of fish kites flying which Kathe Geist says alludes to the
title as they are usually flown on Boys Day (a reference to the old couple's
dead son) which is held in Early Summer on which she rests her argument that
Ozu's transitional shots are not empty but contain particular references -
so I guess that shoots that theory down doesn't it if the title has actually
been mistranslated!

Janet

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael E. Kerpan <kerpan at attglobal.net>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 3:23 AM
Subject: Re: Ozu title changes


> On Wed, 30 Aug 2000, "Randy Man" <ranman at csf.edu> wrote:
>
> > I would say that this is not a "goof" in translation but rather
obviously an
> > attempt on the part of the US distributor to give the film a title that
> > would appeal to whomever they saw as its most likely audience.
>
> But the choice is clueless -- because they picked the wrong season.
Surely
> they could have asked someone knowledgeable from Japan what the titles
were
> trying to evoke.
>
> >Nobody in
> > their right mind was ever going to try to distribute a film in the US
under
> > the title "Taste of Mackerel"(!) I mean REALLY!!
>
> Well, there was "A Taste of Honey".
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>                           ALSO
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> "J Rand" <axis at freeuk.com> wrote:
>
> >For example, Early Summer he had called Coming Autumn.
>
> Bordwell says that "Early Summer" is really something like "Barley Harvest
> Time".  I am not an expert on Japanese agriculture, but I would be very
> surprised if barley was harvested there in early summer.  Beginning of
autumn
> seems much more probable.
>
> Since Ozu's seasonal imagery is important, it really seems unfortunate
that it
> was ignored in the (English-speaking) West.
>
>
>
> Michael Kerpan
> Boston, MA
> kerpan at attglobal.net
>
>