WWII Memory and Japanese Film

[Aaron Gerow]

> This is just a lazy impression, but do you think WWII is fading  
> from Japanese cinema?

I don't think so. Otokotachi no Yamato was a big hit, and there have  
continued to be films made on WWII subjects, including Last Game this  
year, about the last Sokei match before everyone was called up.
>
> Surely, WWII remains a hot topic in Japan. Look at the reception of  
> Yasukuni. But I'm talking in a more general sense. Is the war the  
> cinematic touchstone it once was? Particularly in the feature film?

It is an argument I make in the piece Sophie mentioned, but I think  
war in general is still a cinematic touchstone, a way for Japanese  
cinema to assert its authority in domestic and global markets, a way  
to show off new technology (in computer graphics, etc.), a way  
confront--though often through convoluted and contradictory ways-- 
both historical memory and contemporary problems (I think, for  
instance, that Ishihara's film is as much about contemporary Japan as  
it is about WWII).

There are limits, however, some having to do with changing audience  
(though films like Yamato did not rely totally on older audiences),  
as well as changing markets. I've talked about this with film  
industry people, but as the industry aims for greater export sales,  
specifically WWII films are a harder sell abroad given Japan's  
historical perception of that war. Perhaps war will continue to play  
a significant role in Japanese film, but in a way less tied to that war.

Aaron Gerow
Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
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
site: www.aarongerow.com