Maria Jose Gonzalez, I Agree With You

[Alexander Jacoby]

Hello everyone,
   
  Obviously Michael and I have been at cross purposes in our recent Emails, or perhaps I simply hadn't ever properly explained my project to him. He is right that I am writing (indeed, have written; it's now at the editing stage) a book, but it's not focused exclusively on the 1920s, and it's not a history. It's a handbook of Japanese directors from the silent era through to the present day, with short factual / critical profiles and filmographies. It's now available for pre-order on Amazon, though the listed publication date is very optimistic, so if anyone does pre-order, don't expect it for a few months.
   
  I happen to count Donald Richie as a patron and friend (indeed, he has written the foreword for my book), so I'm probably biased in his favour. But I think the comparison with Sato is fair in the sense that Richie is the first writer in English that most people turn to when they begin to read about Japanese cinema; similarly, Sato is the first writer in Japanese that people consult on the subject. I think Richie has consistently expressed an admiration for Sato's writing, so it's fair enough if his work displays Sato's influence. The two writers do however differ in various perspectives and perceptions - for instance, Sato is more sympathetic than Richie to such explicitly leftist directors as Imai and Satsuo Yamamoto.
   
  Obviously Richie writes about Japanese film from a broadly Western, liberal humanist perspective, but I do think sixty years (or at least the best part of that) in Japan leaves him better placed than most Westerners to offer meaningful insights into the country's cinema. Mind you, Nyonin Aishu is a bloody good film, so I think Maria is right to give it priority over his lecture!
   
  In response to the original question about whether one should apply Western theories to Japanese films, surely it depends on your intention and purpose. If you are trying to work out what these films meant to their original audiences, you'll probably need to examine them mainly within the framework of Japanese philosophies, theories and perspectives. If you're trying to explain to Westerners why they might be interested in Japanese films, then using Western concepts is surely fine. Also, there are many important Japanese films which have been informed by Western thought - Mizoguchi and Kurosawa in the fifties made films which are compatible with Western liberal humanist assumptions partly because they were keeping an eye on the export market, while Oshima's films are influenced by Marxist doctrine and by Brecht. In these case, an awareness of the international as well as Japanese cultural and philosophical background is surely vital.
   
  Best,
   
  ALEX
   
  

Michael McCaskey <mccaskem at georgetown.edu> wrote:
  Dear Maria Jose,

I meant that remark a bit ironically, I'm afraid, perhaps in the same sense that you intend. Donald Richie has done a great deal to introduce Japanese films and the study of them to English-reading people who want to learn about Japanese films. But Sato Tadao is the most prominent Japanese film historian, and is also the author of many wonderful specialized books as well. There are also many books by other outstanding Japanese film studies scholars and directors. 

To find out about Japanese films, it's most important to find out from the Japanese themselves - just as in the case of French film, it would be indispensable to consult sources from France in French first of all. Or, if one cannot read French, to read the French sources that are available in English translation.

Unfortunately, relatively few key Japanese books on film have been translated into English, though there are so many such key books. It is great, though, that parts of Sato's large history have been translated into French, and a volume or two of his writings are available in English. But Sato also wrote a valuable 3-vol. series, Nihon no Kyoshoutachi ("Masters of Japanese Film"), systematic essays on 60 or more major (and sometimes less major) directors - as far as I know, none of this is available in English.

I've just received copies of great new books by Abe Mark Nornes and Aaron Gerow, respectively "Forest of Pressure: Ogawa Shinsuke and Postwar Japanese Documentary," and "Kitano Takeshi." Both of these books are exceedingly well sourced to large bodies of original data in Japanese, and they are of great value for anyone who wishes to learn more in the area of Japanese film studies.

People are working hard to expand in-depth knowledge of Japanese film in the English-reading world. I know that Alex Jacoby is laboring intensively to create a well-documented history of Japanese film and directors in the 1920s. Many others are helping to make more knowledge available in English as well.

So what I intended was to say that Sato Tadao is the most prominent general (and also specialized) historian of Japanese film. If one has to rely only on sources in English, Donald Richie wd. be that alternative source.

But it would be wonderful if a great resource such as Sato Tadao's recently revised 4-vol. hist. of Japanese film, or his 3-vol. study of Japanese directors, could be translated into English as learning resources. There are many people who could do this very well, starting with Gerow and Nornes.

Best Regards,

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.




----- Original Message -----
From: Maria Jose Gonzalez 
Date: Friday, October 12, 2007 10:11 pm
Subject: Re: Problem: Applying western theories on japanese films: Three More Books

> 
> 
> >
> > Sato is, I suppose, the Japanese "Donald Richie,"
> >
> > Michael McCaskey
> 
> 
> Hmmm...can I just say that I find this a very unfortunate way of 
> introducing Sato?
> Especially when one considers how indebted Richie is to Sato and 
> how 
> much he has "borrowed" from him...
> 
> 
> Maria Jose
> 


       
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