Koreans in Japanese film

[Aaron Gerow]

This is, of course, a big topic, but a relatively recent one since most of 
Japanese cinema basically treated Koreans as persona non grata for much of 
postwar history.  Some of the directors who helped break the wall were 
politically committed directors like Oshima, but also commercial ones like 
Fukasaku (see his Jingi no hakaba) and Izutsu (his Gaki teikoku is basically 
about zainichi youth gangs).  Miike carries on some of Fukasaku's concern 
for the chaotic mixture that is Japan.  His Fudoh may seem comic on the 
surface, but most of his films depict a Japan that is not homogeneous and 
most of his characters are not "purely" Japanese.

Aaron Gerow (in the USA, for a couple more days)

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