Pan shots

[j.izbicki at att.net]

Tim Iles wrote:
"This reminds me of an extremely interesting article by Brian O'Leary in
_Criticism_ (V. 43 N. 2) entitled "Camera Movements in Hollywood's
Westering Genre: A Functional Semiotic Approach" in which he argues that
the very direction of pans points to a western hegemony in the creation of
cinema's visual grammar, based on the left/right writing system of
western languages... He argues that the dominance of this movement pattern
in international cinema indicates a true cultural colonisation of the
world by a very particular visual style."

My question isn't related to "2009 Lost Memories" but Tim's comment about pans reminded me of something I've been wondering about.  When studying Japanese films made during the Occupation years, I noticed several times the use of a pan following a close-up or medium close-up of a character, edited so the pan appeared to be from the character's point of view.  However, as the pan continued it would end up back at the character--i.e., the same character would be the end point of the shot, often in full or even a long shot, thus denying the POV implication that was at the beginning of the pan.  It isn't a technique I noticed frequently but offhand I can think of a few films where it occurred and each time it was very striking (at least to me).  I don't particularly subscribe to the idea that a technique carries an inherent ideology separate from the cultural contexts of a specific historical period (although the idea of a left to right pan reflecting 'Western' reading patterns !
 is intriguing), but I don't recall seeing this POV to non-POV effect in American or European films until very recently (sorry, can't remember the film I saw over the last couple of years where I noticed its being used).  

Can anyone cite some non-Japanese films--or even more recent Japanese films--where this technique is used?  

Joanne 
Ithaca College
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