Shin No Shikoutei

[C. Jacqui Chen]

Graham,

First, an FYI: the director for Shin no Shikoutei is (quite possibly) Shigeo
Tanaka.
Secondly, I too have seen many Hong Kong films where the villain is
noticeably identified as Japanese. However, this tends to occur in stories
that take place during the war of resistance against Japan (1937-45) - such
as Fist of Legend that you mentioned. Understandably, this is a period in
the Chinese psyche where aggression and brutality mark the Japanese
expansionism in greater Asia. I'm not passing a judgment on whether Japanese
villains should be justified in these HK action films, but this is the
historical context for such portrayals. China's perceived "impotence" in the
first half of the 20th century of international affairs, has, to an
overwhelming extent, shaped the narratives to come later. Film narratives
are part of this "psyche" - if it can be characterized as such - where past
experiences of traumatic invasions have be understood or at least attempted
with screen creations of heroes who were perceivably absent when the nation
was under siege.

Of course, we still see a lot of Otherness in Chinese films today, as we do
in films of other nation/cultures. Wong Kar Wai's films are riddled with
South Asians who are practical targets for hired assassins, for instance.
And I do remember a film of Imamura's, from the 60s, where Shanghai
gangsters are supposedly running part of Japan's underworld, dirtying their
hands in the sordid affairs of black market, hog wholesales, etc. Who played
these Chinese characters? Japanese actors, of course, and mouthing distorted
Japanese as if it were Chinese. Stereotypes don't go away easily. Witness
Jackie Chan's latest US-made film, entitled Shanghai Noon.

JC



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]On Behalf Of graham lincoln
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 8:59 PM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: RE: Shin No Shikoutei


>
> >From the limited info on the web, it stars Shintaro Katsu and is about
> the first emperor of China (subject of recent films like
> Emperor and Assasin; Emperor's Shadow.) For those who have
> seen the 1962 film or know more about it, how does it stand in
> the overall sub-genre of Japanese adaptations of historical
> dramas set in China?
>
> Jacqui
>

thanks for your help, it certainly sounds interesting. I'll post some
comments on the film when/if I eventually receive it. As to your query, I
wonder how such works compare with the portrayals of Japanese people/culture
in Chinese film (I'm thinking here mainly of Hong Kong cinema).
For many years Japanese characters seem to have been used as staple villains
in popular Hong Kong film (for example the explanation of Japanese Karate
given in Wang Yu's film 'One-armed Boxer' which seems to relegate all of
Japanese culture to brutality and aggression). Only a few films that I can
think of have made much attempt at any real cultural understanding, such as
Liu Chia Liang's 'Shaolin Challenges Ninja' and some of the work of Eddie
Fong, such as 'Kawashima Yoshiko'.
Also, more recently, Yuen Woo Ping's 'Fist of Legend' has re-worked Bruce
Lee's horribly racist 'Fist of Fury' to include much more sympathetic
portrayals of Japanese characters. (I was hoping here to include some
comments on Leong Po-chih's 'Hong Kong 1941', which deals with Japan's
occupation of the colony, having just received the dvd. Unfortunately the
disc is faulty so any comments will have to be postponed.)

Apologies if my comments might seem off topic.

Graham




________________________________________________________
                           1stUp.com - Free the Web®
   Get your free Internet access at http://www.1stUp.com