New book on the U.S. censorship of Ozu's and Kurosawa's occupation films

Fri Sep 4 15:05:46 EDT 2009

Hi all,
Be warned, shameless self-promotion coming up:

The dissertation formerly known to some of you this list under the title, “The Little Victories of the Bad Losers” is in the pipeline from Edwin Mellen Press under the considerably less funky but somewhat more searchable title:
“Censorship of Japanese Films During the U.S. Occupation of Japan: The Cases of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa”, 356 pages.
Below a few quotes and links to those of you who are interested.

Best,
Lars-Martin Sorensen, Copenhagen University

Description:
Very few English-language books have focused exclusively upon the occupation period and its effects on cinema. This book investigates how Japanese fiction films produced during the American occupation 1945-1952 subverted occupation film censorship. It is based on extensive archival research and the primary focus is on the films of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.

Editorial reviews: 
 “How did Japanese filmmakers react to CI&E/CCD’s program of censorship? Lars-Martin Sorensen provides a provocative answer. He argues that many filmmakers sought out subtle forms of resistance, oblique ways of countering or questioning the censors and the larger project of the occupation that lay behind them. By offering this interpretation of cinema during the occupation, Sorensen gives us a new cultural history of the period.” – Prof. Stephen Prince, Virginia Tech 

“The book not only provides an important corrective to the prevailing understanding of two of the most important figures in the Japanese cinema, calling attention to aspects of Ozu’s and Kurosawa’s film-making that previous writers have overlooked or misunderstood; it also offers a useful model for scholars interested in pursuing archival research. It is particularly relevant to the study of cinemas operating under strong political censorship, whether run by an occupying power or a totalitarian regime, and it thus has relevance to many areas of film history and cultural studies, not only the study of the Japanese cinema.” – Prof. Casper Tybjerg, University of Copenhagen

“Lars-Martin Sorensen takes the dictum of movie content-cum-reception seriously; meaning is not only inherent in films; it is made by people at specific moments in time. As a consequence, we are first offered a detailed analysis of the interpretive framework and contextual setting of Japanese viewers during the American occupation. Hence we are offered an explication of individual film works. The latter is anchored in meticulous research of censorship documents.” – Prof. Lisbeth Clausen, Copenhagen Business School 

List of contents at:

http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=7821&pc=9

Abstract at:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=lars-martin+sorensen&x=0&y=0&sprefix=lars-mar

Lars-M. Sorensen, Ph.D., Research Fellow
Department of Media, Cognition and Communication
Section for Film & Media Studies
University of Copenhagen
Phone +45 50916917

New Book: Censorship of Japanese Films During the U.S. Occupation of Japan: The cases of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. New York: Edwin Mellen Press

More info and editorial reviews at:

http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=7821&pc=9

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=lars-martin+sorensen&x=0&y=0&sprefix=lars-mar

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