H-JAPAN (E): representations of blacknesS, Japanese & Korean Cinema

[Robyn Citizen]

Indeed, I saw the trailer for this movie at the NYAFF and I was somewhat appalled by it. Is there a conflation between ganguro culture - which I always thought was about mimicking the tanned blond white women of LA - and actual blackface or hip hop/black culture appreciation (appropriation?) among some Japanese youth?  

Robyn Citizen
PhD Candidate 
Cinema Studies
New York University
alternate e-mail: ladykaede1221 at gmail.com



"I'm giving her all she's got Captain!" - Scotty, Star Trek 2009





----- Original Message -----
From: Jasper Sharp <jasper_sharp at hotmail.com>
Date: Friday, August 28, 2009 7:44 pm
Subject: RE: H-JAPAN (E): representations of blacknesS, Japanese & Korean Cinema
To: kinejapan <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>


>  Take your point Mark, but "Them"  can say what they want. There's no 
> doubt a whole lot of other people outside of Japan who will react to 
> this portrayal of Japanese high-school girls embracing black culture 
> by sticking bones through their noses, inserting lip disks and quoting 
> lines like "I want my coffee blacker than Obama" - its real shame that 
> this particular example is probably going to be one of the most 
> widely-seen Japanese releases of the year internationally, became even 
> if taken in the spirit intended, it doesn't paint a particularly good 
> portrait of Japanese attitudes to other ethnic groups.
>  
>  Jasper
>  
>  Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
>  www.midnighteye.com
>  
>  More details about me on http://jaspersharp.com/
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:48:22 +0000
>  From: tetsuwan at comcast.net
>  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>  Subject: Re: H-JAPAN (E): representations of blacknesS, Japanese & 
> Korean Cinema
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  Not ganguro, according to them has nothing to do with Black people
>  
>  
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: "Jasper Sharp" <jasper_sharp at hotmail.com>
>  To: "kinejapan" <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>  Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 10:37:56 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
>  Subject: RE: H-JAPAN (E): representations of blacknesS, Japanese & 
> Korean Cinema
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  I should also add the particularly sickening parody of ganguro 
> subculture in the new splatter film currently doing the cult film 
> circuit rounds, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl.
>  
>  Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
>  www.midnighteye.com
>  
>  More details about me on http://jaspersharp.com/
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:18:05 -0400
>  From: herlands at umich.edu
>  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>  Subject: Re: H-JAPAN (E): representations of blacknesS, Japanese & 
> Korean  Cinema
>  
>  I'd also recommend the film adaptation of Murakami Ryû’s Almost 
> Transparent Blue (1979, Kitty films, available only on VHS and in 
> Japan as far as I know). Murakami also directed, and this seems to 
> have been Mitamura Kunio’s screen debut. 
>  The film includes black and white soldiers from Yokota Air Base, 
> starkly differentiated, as well as young men and women supposed to be 
> of Japanese, Korean, and “mixed-blood” descent, all cavorting about in 
> the sex-n-drugs-filled backwater of Fussa, Tokyo-to.
>  I haven't found much information on the African American characters 
> in the film, though would be interested to learn more about Alexander 
> ?Easely, who sings the original song “Queen of Eastern Blues” at the 
> start of an orgy.
>  Jason
>  Internet Explorer 8 - accelerate your Hotmail.  Download Internet 
> Explorer 8
>  _________________________________________________________________
>  
>  Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 Optimised for MSN.  
>  
>  http://extras.uk.msn.com/internet-explorer-8/?ocid=T010MSN07A0716U