[KineJapan] More problems for Shusenjo

Fri Nov 8 14:23:36 EST 2019

It has a Youtube aesthetic, but it is mixed with TV doc’s commitment to
balancing and polarizing points of view...modified at the end with a
critical stance. This quirkiness helps explain why we aren’t seeing it play
the international film festival circuit.

M

On Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 1:28 PM John Junkerman via KineJapan <
kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

> "Lost its basis for existence." What a truly horrifying expression. When I
> heard that, I asked the distributors. Their position is that Sophia's
> policy is meant to protect privacy, and that it's a stretch to apply the
> withdrawal right to this case.
>
> I second Marcus's opinion that it's good to air the denialist position. In
> Shusenjo, they basically crucify themselves, which is probably the real
> reason they're going after the film. But the right feels they are generally
> not given the chance to state their case, so they should be happy they had
> the opportunity.
>
> If you have a chance to see the film, you'll see that Dezaki comes from
> the YouTube realm (rather than TV documentary). He did a previous YouTube
> post on discrimination in Japan that got serious flaming, and he says this
> sparked his interest in exploring this territory.
>
> BTW, Dezaki says the film has had 75,000 admissions in Japan screenings
> (and a wide release in Korea). The more it gets attacked, the more it will
> be seen.
>
> On Sat, Nov 9, 2019 at 2:24 AM Bruce Baird via KineJapan <
> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
>
>> This does raise thorny issues about IRB approval the extent to which the
>> subjects of research should be allowed to dictate the content of that
>> research. Because if Sophia’s IRB approval process is anything at all like
>> the one at my university, it is probably true that Sophia’s own IRB
>> approval process allows people to opt out of being part of a study at any
>> time. Although I would be interested to know if the IRB process says
>> anything about the right to opt out _after_ publication.
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>> On Nov 8, 2019, at 12:14 PM, Markus Nornes via KineJapan <
>> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>> It is deadly ironic that this is perhaps the first documentary to really
>> allow them to lay out their case. Being new to documentary, Dezaki largely
>> followed the convention of tv documentary balance so he did a fairly
>> careful job of describing the positions of both sides. They say he
>> presented his project as balanced and “middle of the road,” and I don’t
>> doubt it.
>>
>> TV journalism’s ideology of balance also informs the uyoku’s conception
>> of nonfiction (and their own YouTube shows often follow tv wide show
>> formats), so their real problem is that Dezaki shifts gears halfway though,
>> analyzes the right wing arguments, finds them wanting. That is what annoys
>> them. Personally, I was happy to have the chance to hear them explain
>> themselves.
>>
>> M
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 11:52 AM Gerow Aaron via KineJapan <
>> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> The rightwing battle against Shusenjo is escalating. Not only is one
>>> rightwinger asking for criminal charges to be filed (for copyright
>>> infingement), but the rightwingers who appeared in the film are trying to
>>> take advantage of Sophia University's research guidelines. According to the
>>> article, the eight participants originally signed a "research cooperation
>>> agreement" provided by Sophia, which was the process the director Dezaki
>>> followed since the film was made when he was still a student at Sophia. Now
>>> they plan to file a form withdrawing from that cooperation agreement. The
>>> article says that in such cases, by its own rules Sophia is obliged to
>>> destroy the results of such research cooperation. The rightwinger Fujioka
>>> Nobukatsu says in the article: "By Sophia's own regulations, Shusenjo has
>>> lost its basis for existence and become something that should not exist in
>>> this world.”
>>>
>>> https://www.excite.co.jp/news/article/TokyoSports_1610712
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> KineJapan mailing list
>>> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
>>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
>>>
>> --
>> ---
>>
>> *Markus Nornes*
>> *Professor of Asian Cinema*
>> Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages
>> and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design
>>
>> *Department of Film, Television and Media*
>> *6348 North Quad*
>> *105 S. State Street
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/105+S.+State+Street+Ann+Arbor,+MI+48109?entry=gmail&source=g>*
>> *Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/105+S.+State+Street+Ann+Arbor,+MI+48109?entry=gmail&source=g>-1285*
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> KineJapan mailing list
>> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
>>
>>
>> Bruce Baird
>> Associate Professor
>> East Asian Languages and Cultures
>> University of Massachusetts Amherst
>> Butô, Japanese Theater, Intellectual History
>>
>> 439 Herter Hall
>> 161 Presidents Drive
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/161+Presidents+Drive?entry=gmail&source=g>
>> University of Massachusetts Amherst
>> Amherst, MA 01003-9312
>> Phone: 413-577-2117
>> Fax: 413-545-3178
>> baird at umass.edu
>>
>> Recently Released: *The Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance*
>>
>>
>> https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Butoh-Performance/Baird-Candelario/p/book/9781138691094
>>
>> Now out in paperback and e-book: *Hijikata Tatsumi and Butoh*:
>>
>> http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780230120402
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> KineJapan mailing list
>> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
>>
>
>
> --
> John Junkerman
> jtj53213 at gmail.com
> 2-18-6 Ehara-cho, Nakano
> Tokyo 165-0023
> _______________________________________________
> KineJapan mailing list
> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
>
-- 
---

*Markus Nornes*
*Professor of Asian Cinema*
Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and
Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design

*Department of Film, Television and Media*
*6348 North Quad*
*105 S. State Street*
*Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20191108/053ce1b9/attachment-0001.html>