[KineJapan] Oppenheimer in Japan

[Roger Macy]

Thanks, Rea, for the link.

Actually, I’m surprised Oppenheimer is doing so well at theJapanese box office.

It makes me recall stumbling, at the Kawakita Institute, upon British-authoredpromotion material in the immediate post-war for A Matter of Life and Death.I think both films have considerable, if very different merits. But a film thatsends the bombers to heaven without mentioning the bombed – I can’t see itdoing well in Tokyo in 1948 despitethe glossy (for the time) material.

Yaguchi-san’s particular way of characterising Oppenheimer asone-sided would do better for the British film. Oppenheimer is, ofcourse, one sided but more outward in declaring that and portraying, if notanalysing, evolving war-time and post-war attitudes. Whether Truman actuallysaid to Oppenheimer’s face that ‘You didn’t drop the bomb, I did.’ doesn’tworry me, it conveyed a truth. And, of course, the ‘Manhattan’team would eagerly embrace a narrative that they had saved millions of lives.  Besides no mention of the Red Army and itspreparations, what is not portrayed at all, is Truman’s motivation. But thefilm isn’t about Truman and it at least doesn’t spoil the ground for that to bequestioned further.

So, in my view, any trigger warnings should have been on the line ofsaying that the film conveys attitudes towards an enemy in wartime and the waythey started to evolve.

Roger


    On Monday, 1 April 2024 at 11:15:30 BST, Rea Amit via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:  
 
 
Hello everyone, 





Here is a NYT piece from today about Nolan’s Oscar-winning film in Japan:




https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/world/asia/oppenheimer-opens-japan.html




While there is a lot to to say about the reception of the film in Japan, I am particularly intrigued by this: 







"Mindful of domestic sensitivities, some theaters in Japanare carrying trigger warnings, with signs cautioning audiences about scenes 'that may remind viewers of the damage caused by the atomic bombings.'”






I asked people I know in Japan who have seen the film, butthey were not warned. Does anyone know what these “trigger warnings” might be? 

 

Have these kinds of signs been used in other screenings in the past? Whichtheaters use them? 





I would appreciate any information about this.




Thanks,

Rea



















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