[KineJapan] Use of memoir in film histories

[Gerow Aaron]

Sorry for the late contribution. Anne’s fascinating query brought back a number of questions I had asked myself before, but never really investigated. One had to do with how much the jibunshi boom that started in the 1980s intersected with film history. One can ask how much that movement, which was mostly centered on “average people” writing their own memoirs, was related at all to the trends Anne is speculating about, but I also wonder how much film enters into these histories of “average people.” Especially in the 1980s, when film is definitely in decline, do few people think of talking about cinema as a part of their lives? Or are there in fact some rich accounts of filmgoing or film fandom in these books? Is there some studio gaffer who has written his jibunshi? Or does the genre itself preclude discussions of entertainment media like film (there were a number of guides on how to write jibunshi).  There are a couple jibunshi libraries and centers around Japan, with some claiming they have over 8000 of these publications. There are already a number of academic studies of jibunshi by Gerald Figal and others, but I wonder if there is a film/media angle. It would be fascinating to delve into those books, if I had the time!

Another issue I have thought about is how much personal history enters into film production. There of course is the long history of the shishosetsu, and we know of many efforts from the 1970s on by independent documentarists to film their own lives, but have theatrical feature films served the function of memoirs in any way? I thought about this because, in writing the book about Kitano, I had to deal to a certain degree with the fact that Kitano has made his personal history a key part of his star persona, especially in Japan. His books on parts of his life, from Takeshi-kun hai to Asakusa Kid, have been central to how he defines himself and how he is viewed. The closest he has gone to filming any of that is Kikujiro (named after his father), but most of his autobiographical books have become films or TV dramas. Apparently Netflix is creating another adaptation of Asakusa Kid (the first one was filmed by Shinozaki Makoto as a TV movie), with Yagira Yuya (of Nobody Knows) playing Kitano and Oizumi Yo playing his shisho Fukami Senzaburo. The comedian Gekidan Hitori will direct and write. 

Finally, I wonder if social media will offer other means of writing memoirs. A couple of months ago, the director Nakajima Sadao, at the young age of 86, started a YouTube channel in which he offers reminisces about his career. The first few are mostly about others, but I wonder if he’ll get more into his own life:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOOj3YNgkPK72q5om0wMseQ <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOOj3YNgkPK72q5om0wMseQ>

Hope you all have great new year!

Aaron Gerow
Professor
Film and Media Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Chair, East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University
143 Elm Street, Room 210
PO Box 208324
New Haven, CT 06520-8324
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6729
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu <mailto:aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
website: www.aarongerow.com


















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