Space in contemporary japanese films

[Tim Iles]

Just before I rush out the door, Id like to suggest Kawase Naomi's use of Nara in _Sharasoujyu_ as another instance of space-as-memory, one very much concerned with holding on to something lost and trying to recuperate from the experience.

Robert raises a _very_ interesting notion, though, which could indeed point to an attempt to conceptualise memory/identity as intrinsically bound with location. Worth pursuing, indeed.

Best,


Tim Iles
University of Victoria

--- On Tue, 11/18/08, Robert Geib <robert.geib at gmx.de> wrote:
From: Robert Geib <robert.geib at gmx.de>
Subject: Space in contemporary japanese films
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Date: Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 3:12 AM



 
 


Hello,

? 
I?m just sharing my thoughts and questions with you, the 
experts:
? 
Is there a preoccupation in a certain branch of contemporary japanese 
(fiction*) films (from the mid-90s on) with memory and the body through the 
articulation of filmic space? 
? 
I?m thinking of the dilapidated dystopias and the isolated individuals in 
enclosed spaces in the films of Kurosawa Kiyoshi; the merging of machine and 
flesh in the urban nightmares of Tsukamoto Shinya; the prosthetic memories and 
bodies in the simulated places of Oshii Mamoru and the location and dislocation 
of (traumatic) memory in the films of Aoyama Shinji and Koreeda Hirokazu. 

? 
If there are these shared themes and styles, what do they relate to? Is 
it a question of genre? Is it relevant that some of these films are economically 
aimed for foreign festivals? Or could you perceive these features as an effect 
of a ?spatial? challenge of identity (i.e. cultural globalization and 
mediatization), something the japanese have encountered numerous times in their 
history?
? 
And last but not least: Is it advisible or even possible to view these 
films under such a meta-perspective?
? 
*Of course you could also make a point in including Ying Li?s 
Yasukuni.
? 
Robert Geib
Department of media studies
Jena, Germany


      
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