Nowhere to see a movie!

[Aaron Gerow]

On 2006.1.25, at 01:18 午後, Wei Ting Jen wrote:

> In my research on 1930s cinema, I came across an essay by a filmmaker 
> who traveled to the countryside outside Tokyo and was hounded with 
> complaints from the villagers. "We've heard all about these films, we 
> want to see them but can't"; "News radio and shibai just dont cut it". 
> He reports being in tears after listening to their pitiable state and 
> witnessing their burning desire to watch movies (specifically in this 
> case, to watch war propaganda films).

I was thinking the same then when I read the Maebashi article. In a 
number of peculiar ways (the small number of film prints for many 
works, for instance), post-studio system Japanese cinema seems like a 
repeat of the prewar. The metropolitan concentration of movie theaters 
is another element of similarity.


Aaron Gerow
Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Film Studies Program
Yale University
53 Wall Street, Room 316
PO Box 208363
New Haven, CT 06520-8363
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6764
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu