FW: DIJ Humanities Study Group

[Roland Domenig]

The following might be of interest for the listmembers in Tokyo.  R.D.
 
----------> 
> We would like to invite you to
> 
> the last meeting in the year 2000 of the DIJ Humanities Study Group
> 
> which will take place on Wednesday, 13 December from 6:30pm
> 
> at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ). Our address and a map can
> be found on our homepage http://www.dijtokyo.org
> 
> 
> 
> This month's speaker is Reglindis Helmer (Humboldt-University Berlin)
> 
> who will give a presentation on the topic of
> 
> "How to move the hearts of a 100 million - Yamamoto Kajir?'s war and
> propaganda film "The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya" (1942) "
> 
> Abstract:
> Ever since the escalation of Japanese military operations to a full-fledged
> war with China in 1937, an increasing number of Japanese fiction films have
> focused on battles, life at the front and military training. Many of those
> films were supported by or produced in close cooperation with the Army and
> Navy.  "The War at Sea from
> Hawaii to Malaya" ([Hawai, Mar? oki kaisen]), first shown on December 3, 1942
> to commemorate the beginning of the Pacific War, has to be considered one of
> the most ambitious projects of the era: Produced by the T?h? film studios
> under the supervision of the Navy Information Office at the Imperial
> Headquarters and sponsored by the Navy Ministry, its production took nearly
> one year and resulted in the, up to then, most expensive movie in Japanese
> film history. Although an advertisement slogan of T?h?, which claimed that "a
> hundred million" - [ichi oku nin], i.e. the whole population - has seen the
> film, seems exaggerated by far, "The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya" was
> widely shown in Japan as well as in the occupied countries, not only in
> regular film programmes but also in specially organized screenings for school
> classes or troupes moving out to the front. The story can be described in few
> words:
> 
> 
> Fascinated by aviation, a young boy joins the Air Force Preparatory School
> of the Imperial Navy. After completing his training, he successfully takes
> part in the attack on Pearl Harbor as a pilot of a torpedo bomber. Three
> days later, his elder cousin and advisor, the captain of a big torpedo
> bomber, leads his men into attack on two British warships off the coast of
> the Malayan peninsula.
> 
> The clearly stated aim of "The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya" was to fan
> the fighting spirit of the population by demonstrating the successes and
> force of the Imperial Navy. At the same time, it was explicitly meant to
> motivate young men, or rather boys, to join the Naval Flight Preparatory
> Units. Many people, including the director Yamamoto Kajir?, believed that it
> succeeded in doing so - a myth that has been perpetuated in the postwar
> literature on the film.
> 
> How, then, does the film proceed to convince his audience? After giving an
> outline of the production and its backgrounds, I want to show that the
> narration is based on structures which Susan Suleiman (1983) has described
> as typical for authoritarian fiction: a structure of apprenticeship, which
> is then transposed into a structure of confrontation. Reports of the
> emotional outbursts of the audience seem to support those critics who
> concentrate on the spectacular battle scenes, overlooking the meaning of the
> first part of the narration. I want to argue, though, that the training
> sequence, which has often been criticised as overly long, is firmly
> interlocked with the climatic battle scenes by structuring an emotional
> layer which serves to shape and reinforce the reactions at the dramatic
> final. Finally, I want to discuss how recent theories on film and emotion
> can be productively used to analyse (Japanese) propaganda movies.
> 
> ---------
> 
> Dr. Nicola Liscutin
> German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ)
> Nissei Kojimachi Bldg.
> 3-3-6 Kudan-Minami, Chiyoda-ku
> Tokyo 102-0074
> Tel.: 03-3222-5077
> E-mail: liscutin at dijtokyo.org
>