Naomi Kawase - impressions

[Rodica-Livia Monnet]

i agree with you,Joe,and of course film criticism and film studies/theory,in 
Japan,and to a lesser extent in North America,is still a guys'field/male-
dominated field.I didn't mean to sound patronizing,since her films set up a 
powerful argument on the legitimacy of (the visual expression of) emotions,of 
individual ties,of the ability of film to create 
relationships,communities,networks. I would also like us to explore more 
critically in what ways,and whether the films of Aoyama,Suwa,Kurosawa 
Kiyoshi,Koreeda,and other younger directors who emerged in the 1990s expand the 
possibilities of (contemporary Japanese)cinema.i guess that if I sounded 
imapatient about Kawase's insistence on emotions,relationships,kankei,the loss 
of a spirituality,or deep connectedness to a common set of values and beliefs
(what she calls seishin)is that such statements can be so easily recuperated by 
the media as reaffirmation of Japanese national uniqueness,and such hackneyed 
nationalistic blahblah,and the fact that women,s cultural production has always 
been associated with emotions,relationality,intimacy,upholding the community 
etc,which ultimately means reinforcing dominant masculinist/patriarchal 
discourses on women's traditional roles.On the other hand 
relationality,emotions etc,have been critically recuperated by various 
feminisms.Wada Junko,to go back to a filmmaker whose work was featured in this 
list,and who is only four years younger than Kawase,pokes fun at shoujo 
culture,cuteness,Hello Kitty stuff in Body Drop Asphalt,Peach Body Oil etc,but 
does very little by way of proposing an alternative,or seriously deconstructing 
such representations.Though clearly critical of shoujo cuteness,Body Drop 
Asphalt at the same time celebrates it.The ending of the film is so Sailor Moon-
like( Evangelion-like,which not exactly shoujo) ,the metamorphosis of the 
protagonist Eri so sudden and gratuitous, and the celebration of Eri's abrupt 
passage into adulthood,with God's admonition and approval,so incredibly banal 
and right out of the manga and anime world,that i was dismayed.I would like 
many more films and visual production by women to be as successful and 
celebrated as Kawase,s,but why do they have to do shoujo work first?kawase has 
already produced stunning work and she will continue to surprise and fascinate 
viewers.Hotaru,s portrayal of the stripper Ayako is stunning.L      En r?ponse 
? Joseph Murphy <urj7 at nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu>:

> >  i am impressed by her extraordinay self-confidence on camera,even
> though
> >often her responses are rather weak.But she doesn't have to be a 
> >theorist,does she?
> 
> That's kind of what I'm getting at.  I have been following the 
> discussion, and am familiar with Kawase's limitations on theory, 
> critical concern about the status of the authentic rural home, the 
> genuine emotion, etc. in her work.  I meant more generally, what is 
> the status of a verbal discourse about visual images, and why are we 
> so pleased when Aoyama, et. al., demonstrate fluency in the lingua 
> franca of theory.  I think it's a legitimate stance for an artist to 
> refuse to enter the critical discourse and find all the protestations 
> that "she's improving!" to be a little patronizing.   I think there 
> has to be a commitment to something like a visual vocabulary, that 
> extends the possibilities of thought, or there's no serious reason to 
> incorporate visual texts into literary studies.  It's just more 
> fodder for the theory mill, or alternately, a lot of people (mostly 
> guys evidently) setting up an intellectual field for mock contests of 
> strength.
> J. Murphy
> 
> 
> >Joe,i wrote very hastily.There has been an ongoing discussion on Kawase
> which
> >had some critical comments on her work.I really like her work,but some
> of the
> >short films (Kono sekai,mangekyou)seem to me seriously flawed.Also her
> early
> >films are still very immature,though they do show a real talent.My
> point was
> >about the NHK interviwes and documentaries in which she appeared(Kawase
> naomi
> >no riaru wo sagashite)etc,in which she talked all the time about the
> >relationship between people,and that all that counts to her is the
> >kankeisei,the atmosphere,the communication she can establish with her
> >subjects.She said clearly,in a conversation with Hara Kazuo and
> others,that
> >history,the social condition,the experiences of the ^people she
> films,dou demo
> >ii,it,s all unimportant.The same point in raised in Aaron,s Documentary
> Box
> >interview and elsewhere.Kawase does indeed say that she doesn't care 
> >much about
> >about history,gender,politics,but much more about the kanjou,the
> feeling,the
> >relationship she can establish with people.Also she was before rather
> >inarticulate in her statements about her films,but has changed
> recently.I do
> >think she has a wonderful potential,but would hate to see her go into
> selling
> >Japanese autenticity,tradition or whatever.Kyakarabaa also looks
> really
> >moving. i am impressed by her extraordinay self-confidence on 
> >camera,even though
> >often her responses are rather weak.But she doesn't have to be a
> theorist,does
> >she?L En r?ponse ? Joseph Murphy <urj7 at nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu>:
> >
> >>  Livia Monnet wrote Re Naomi Kawase:
> >>
> >>  >Her interviews and TV appearances may indeed be less
> >>  >illuminating than the films themselves.
> >>
> >>  That seems an unanswerable point to me, and one that keeps me up
> at
> >>  night.  What are we talking about?
> >  > J. Murphy
> 
>