Book

Re-viewing the past : the uses of history in the cinema of imperial Japan

O'Reilly, Sean, 1980- author

Overview

This book analyzes the complicated relationship between history films, audiences, reviewers and censors in Japan for the critically important years from 1925-1945. First contextualizing the history of the popular \"Bakumatsu\" period (1853-1868), the moment of Japan's emergence as a modern nation, Sean O'Reilly paves the way for a reinterpretation of Japanese pre and postwar cinema. Setting a film in the Bakumatsu period offered `cultural breathing room' to both filmmakers and viewers, offering a cinematic space where apolitical entertainment and now-forbidden themes like romance still reigned. Some filmmakers-and viewers-even conceived of these films as being a form of resistance against Japan's growing militarism. As comparisons between the popularity of such films versus that of state-sponsored propaganda films show, audiences responded enthusiastically to these glimmers of resistance. O'Reilly argues that we should turn our attention to the much more popular films of the time that were major hits with audiences in order to understand what resonated with wartime spectators, and to speculate about why this might have been the case. Including clips of these rare films, a so-far neglected area of Japanese film history is now firmly situated in context to offer a thought-provoking, multidisciplinary approach.

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Subject: 1900-1999 / Historical films Japan History and criticism. / Motion pictures Japan History 20th century. / Historical films. / Motion pictures. / Japan.
• ISBN: 9781501336027, 1501336029

Item info:

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Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
PN1995.9.H5 O74 2018	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE