TIFF change

[Alex Zahlten]

I came across the same speech recently, and some of the other examples Aso adressed as allustrations of "cultural diplomacy" - such as that the water supply vehicles supplied by Japans Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the area of Iraq where the Self-Defense Forces are stationed are adorned with large Captain Tsubasa stickers (apparently he is known in Iraq as Captain Majed), while at the same time the Japan Foundation granted broadcasting rights for a whole season of Captain Tsubasa for free to an Iraqi TV station.
This mixing of aesthetics and politics is not new, of course, but I always find it interesting to look at what is being used for it. There was recently an interesting discussion on the list about anime and how it should be treated within a genre framework, and from the discussion it seemed obvious how tricky it is with the well-worn conceptions of genre in general use today. Anime seems to defy easy categorization on several dimensions, which also seems to be connected to what the Foreign Ministry and other government agencies deem it useful for. It almost seems to me that this specifically unspecific kind of aesthetics is appropriate for a certain mode of politics that wants to stay highly flexible. In that sense Aso is probably right in wanting to utilize it for diplomacy, where a certain unmarkedness, or "cool temperature" is necessary - much different than is the case with Arno Breker, or Socialist Realism, or Jeans and Rock'n Roll. Which is not to say that such mixing s!
 houldn't be observed warily.

Alex


-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Datum: Sat, 28 Oct 2006 21:30:43 -0700
Von: Anne McKnight <annekmcknight at gmail.com>
An: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Betreff: Re: TIFF change

> I'm sure there are many angles here...
> 
> That said, one interesting document that might be of interest caught my
> eye
> recently--the Foreign Minister addressing members of the "content world"
> as
> cultural ambassadors. It's on the MOFA website, at
> http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm/aso/speech0604-2.html (English) and
> http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/enzetsu/18/easo_0428.html (???).
> The
> move to work with UNESCO to provide for a "Safeguarding of the Intangible
> Cultural Heritage" (through the??????) was quite interesting
> to me. If
> I read him correctly, he's making a strong bid to see world-wide
> recognition
> of cultural forms as national heritage items, and to leave the door open
> for
> digital/animated cultural forms to be included, as well as bunraku and
> repertory cultural forms that correspond to the "national living treasure"
> model.
> 
> FM Aso's choice of venue and audience on the "creator" end of things was
> quite interesting to me--Digital Hollywood, which emphasises a curriculum
> of
> media technics (DTP, anime, CG, web content, programming), and whose
> graduates might well go on to work in film production, among other things.
> Among the effects of digital diplomacy that he cites is Zidane saying that
> the Captain Tsubasa anim? "first instilled a love of soccer" in him.
> 
> The speech did kind of make me wonder what MOFA/ministry conversations are
> going on at the "studio system" (to use a slightly obsolete descriptor)
> end
> of things, like production, financing, content delivery, copyright, and
> other things that are currently in flux in Hollywood--especially given the
> resonance of the school's name with the bi-annual Digital Hollywood
> conference, a more infrastructurally-oriented industry event.
> 
> Anne
> 
> On 10/28/06 7:18 PM, "Aaron Gerow" <aaron.gerow at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
> > As I reported not too long ago, it looks like the government is going
> > ahead with altering the Tokyo International Film Festival by inserting
> > it in a common front of Japan's international contents business
> > strategy. According to this morning's Asahi, the METI minister will
> > announce at today's TIFF closing ceremony that, among other things, the
> > government will be working to align various contents markets, including
> > the TIFF and the Tokyo Game Show, by scheduling them together or one
> > after another, creating an "International Contents Carnival" (as it is
> > being called for the time being). The Asahi article makes it clear that
> > one of the main reasons is that the government is interested in
> > "multi-content" products, where anime are made into films and games,
> > etc. No word, it seems, about promoting good old fashioned original
> > movies....
> > 
> > Anyone going to the closing ceremony tonight who can give us a report?
> > 
> > Aaron Gerow
> > KineJapan owner
> > 
> > Assistant Professor
> > Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> > Yale University
> > 
> > For list commands, send "information kinejapan" to
> > listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> > Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html
> > 
> 

-- 
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