Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

What Is Japanese Cinema?Imamura Taihei’s Wartime Theory of Japanese Film, Tradition, and Art

What Is Japanese Cinema?Imamura Taihei’s Wartime Theory of Japanese Film, Tradition, and Art Imamura Taihei (1911–86) is considered by many to be the first film theorist in Japan, and he is known chiefly for his two grand theories on documentary film and animation. Yet, at the same time, Imamura also developed a third, no less ambitious theory, that of “Cinema and Japanese Art,” in which he specified the national characteristics of Japanese cinema. This essay concentrates on this third and less studied thesis. Although the argument Imamura puts forth in the thesis is elusive, aspects in it enable an interpretation of Japanese cinema along lines of phenomenological critical theory. From this perspective, it appears that Imamura establishes a theorization of national cinema that is predicated not on film as a product, or ontological aspects of what films project, but rather on the phenomenology of the film-watching experience. In effect, the thesis thus defines Japanese cinema not as the total sum of films produced in Japan, or by Japanese filmmakers, but as a shared watching experience of films regardless of their country of origin. Measuring Imamura’s thesis against other theories of Japanese national cinema that were published around the same time, during World War II, the essay argues that his theorization is in fact flexible enough to withstand more recent critique leveled against the notion of national cinema, and even allows radical new ways of thinking about national cinema in the contemporary moment of a new media environment and increasing transnational cultural flows. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions: asia critique Duke University Press

What Is Japanese Cinema?Imamura Taihei’s Wartime Theory of Japanese Film, Tradition, and Art

Amit, Rea
positions: asia critique , Volume 27 (4) – Nov 1, 2019
Download PDF
25 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/duke-university-press/what-is-japanese-cinema-imamura-taihei-s-wartime-theory-of-japanese-UCgPODD30Y
Copyright
Copyright 2019 by Duke University Press
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-7726903
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Imamura Taihei (1911–86) is considered by many to be the first film theorist in Japan, and he is known chiefly for his two grand theories on documentary film and animation. Yet, at the same time, Imamura also developed a third, no less ambitious theory, that of “Cinema and Japanese Art,” in which he specified the national characteristics of Japanese cinema. This essay concentrates on this third and less studied thesis. Although the argument Imamura puts forth in the thesis is elusive, aspects in it enable an interpretation of Japanese cinema along lines of phenomenological critical theory. From this perspective, it appears that Imamura establishes a theorization of national cinema that is predicated not on film as a product, or ontological aspects of what films project, but rather on the phenomenology of the film-watching experience. In effect, the thesis thus defines Japanese cinema not as the total sum of films produced in Japan, or by Japanese filmmakers, but as a shared watching experience of films regardless of their country of origin. Measuring Imamura’s thesis against other theories of Japanese national cinema that were published around the same time, during World War II, the essay argues that his theorization is in fact flexible enough to withstand more recent critique leveled against the notion of national cinema, and even allows radical new ways of thinking about national cinema in the contemporary moment of a new media environment and increasing transnational cultural flows.

Journal

positions: asia critique – Duke University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2019

References

  • Cinematic Nation-Building: Eisenstein’s The Old and the New
    Carroll, Noël; Banes, Sally Hjort, Mette; MacKenzie, Scott
  • Japanese Film without Japan: Toward Nondisciplined Film Studies
    Cazdyn, Eric Miyao, Daisuke
  • National Cinema: An Anachronistic Delirium?
    Choi, JungBong
  • Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema: The Case of Japanese Prewar Film
    Gerow, Aaron Tansman, Alan
  • Vernacular Modernism: Tracking Cinema on a Global Scale
    Hansen, Miriam Bratu Durovicova, Natasa; Newman, Kathleen E.
  • Framing National Cinemas
    Hayward, Susan Hjort, ; MacKenzie,
  • The Concept of National Cinema
    Higson, Andrew
  • Animals
    Jeong, Seung-Hoon Andrew, Dudley; Joubert-Laurencin, Herve
  • Cartoon Film Theory: Imamura Taihei on Animation, Photography, and Documentary
    Lamarre, Thomas Beckman, Karen
  • Phenomenology and Philosophy in Japan
    Nitta Yoshihiro, Hirotaka Tatematsu; Shimomissē, Eiichi
  • The Kyoto School of Philosophy and Phenomenology
    Ogawa, Tadashi Nitta, ; Yoshihiro, ; Tatematsu, Hirotaka
  • An Unholy Alliance of Eisenstein and Disney: The Fascist Origins of Otaku Culture
    Ōtsuka, Eiji Lamarre, Thomas Lunning, Frenchy
  • From Impurity to Historicity
    Rosen, Philip Nagib, Lúcia; Jerslev, Anne
  • Introduction: Phenomenology in Japan
    Steinbock, Anthony J.
  • Reading Fascism’s Form
    Tansman, Alan
  • Cinematic Nation-Building: Eisenstein’s The Old and the New
    Carroll, Noël; Banes, Sally Hjort, Mette; MacKenzie, Scott
  • Japanese Film without Japan: Toward Nondisciplined Film Studies
    Cazdyn, Eric Miyao, Daisuke
  • National Cinema: An Anachronistic Delirium?
    Choi, JungBong
  • Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema: The Case of Japanese Prewar Film
    Gerow, Aaron Tansman, Alan
  • Vernacular Modernism: Tracking Cinema on a Global Scale
    Hansen, Miriam Bratu Durovicova, Natasa; Newman, Kathleen E.
  • Framing National Cinemas
    Hayward, Susan Hjort, ; MacKenzie,
  • The Concept of National Cinema
    Higson, Andrew
  • Animals
    Jeong, Seung-Hoon Andrew, Dudley; Joubert-Laurencin, Herve
  • Cartoon Film Theory: Imamura Taihei on Animation, Photography, and Documentary
    Lamarre, Thomas Beckman, Karen
  • Phenomenology and Philosophy in Japan
    Nitta Yoshihiro, Hirotaka Tatematsu; Shimomissē, Eiichi
  • The Kyoto School of Philosophy and Phenomenology
    Ogawa, Tadashi Nitta, ; Yoshihiro, ; Tatematsu, Hirotaka
  • An Unholy Alliance of Eisenstein and Disney: The Fascist Origins of Otaku Culture
    Ōtsuka, Eiji Lamarre, Thomas Lunning, Frenchy
  • From Impurity to Historicity
    Rosen, Philip Nagib, Lúcia; Jerslev, Anne
  • Introduction: Phenomenology in Japan
    Steinbock, Anthony J.
  • Reading Fascism’s Form
    Tansman, Alan