WWII Memory and Japanese Film

[Alex Zahlten]

> 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.

How war films from Japan are received outside of Japan is an interesting question. The case of Otokotachi no Yamato has puzzled me in that respect. When I saw the film at a market screening at the Berlin Film Festival, Toei had rented a pretty large theater for the screening and another programmer and I were the only ones that showed up- it seemed that absolutely no one was interested. Yet Screen International (or Variety, I don't remember) later reported that Yamato had been one of the biggest international sales successes for recent Japanese films, selling especially well to eastern Europe. 

How much money they actually made with such sales - even if the report is true - is a different question. I heard from one of the people in charge of the film's distribution at the time that they were under pressure from Kadokawa (Haruki, not Kadokawa Holdings which is now run by his brother Tsugehiko), who had produced the film- and who has been known to inflate supposed overseas successes.

So there are two basic questions of reception here: How well do war films from Japan sell overseas, and how are they interpreted by an actual audience? The latter is the more complicated question, and regrettably it doesn't look like anyone will be doing this kind of research anytime soon...

Alex


-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:25:07 -0500
> Von: Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
> An: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Betreff: Re: WWII Memory and Japanese Film

> 
> > 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
> 
> 
> 

-- 
alex at nipponconnection.de

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