spectators in film

[J. M. Hall]

Stephanie

So many, many scenes in so many, many films.  Where to start?  I think it
would be helpful to hear what your driving question or project is---is
curiosity ever so simple?  As you can imagine, there are too many scenes to
simply start listing them all!

For example, does one look at a thematization of spectatorship and its politics?
Matsumoto Toshio's DOGRA MAGRA uses filmmaking and film-viewing in a
mind-twisting, story-turning fashion.  Underground filmmaking (angura) also
features in his FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES.  YOSHIDA Yoshishige's EROS PLUS
MASSACRE weaves film into the story regularly.  In the latter, one impotent
male literally trusses himself up on film.  And who could forget the famous
shot in Oshima's THE STORY OF MAN WHO LEFT HIS WILL ON FILM of the film
being projected onto Yasuko's body?

Or are we trying for a socio-historical portrait of spectatorship? 
A far more predicatable response to your question, but  OZU's I WAS BORN
BUT would be a good start.  Also, Nakajima Takehiro (of OKOGE infamy) has a
delightful scene in his much more respectable first feature, KYOSHU, where
the smoking  spectators have to wait for the arrival of the next reel when
the European film they are watching is being simultaneously screened in the
next village. The film is both a humorous and nostalgic (as the title
tells) portrayal of a remote part of postwar Shikoku, and the director
claims, a fairly autobiographical representation of his youth there.

Can you help us by narrowing down the question?

Jonathan Hall

>Also, the following question is more motivated by curiousity than
>anything, but I'm wondering if anyone can think of any Japanese films that
>depict scenes of spectators watching films (or even entering film
>theaters)--any films of any time period would be welcome.
>
>Many thanks in advance.
>
>Stephanie DeBoer