The Films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese IconoclastThis study of the films of Oshima Nagisa is both an essential introduction to the work of a major postwar director of Japanese cinema and a theoretical exploration of strategies of filmic style. For almost forty years, Oshima has produced provocative films that have received wide distribution and international acclaim. Formally innovative as well as socially daring, they provide a running commentary, direct and indirect, on the cultural and political tensions of postwar Japan. Best known today for his controversial films In the Realm of the Senses and The Empire of Passion, Oshima engages issues of sexuality and power, domination and identity, which Maureen Turim explores in relation to psychoanalytic and postmodern theory. The films' complex representation of women in Japanese society receives detailed and careful scrutiny, as does their political engagement with the Japanese student movement, postwar anti-American sentiments, and critiques of Stalinist tendencies of the Left. Turim also considers Oshima's surprising comedies, his experimentation with Brechtian and avant-garde theatricality as well as reflexive textuality, and his essayist documentaries in this look at an artist's gifted and vital attempt to put his will on film. |
Contents
Cultural Iconoclasm and Contexts of Innovation | |
Cruel Stories of Youth and Politics | 25 |
Rituals Desire Death Leaving Ones Will on Film | 59 |
Signs of Sexuality in Oshimas Tales of Passion | 123 |
Warring Subjects | 155 |
Popular Song Fantasies and Comedies of Iconoclasm | 183 |
Documents of Guilt and Empire | 213 |
Feminist Troubles on a Map of Split Subjectivities | 244 |
Whither Oshima? | 267 |
FILMOGRAPHY | 272 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 289 |
INDEX | 297 |
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Common terms and phrases
allegory audience avant-garde Battle of Tokyo Bawdy Song becomes Brechtian camera Celliers Celliers's Ceremonies characters cinema Cinematography close-up comedy context courtesy of Oshima critical critique culture desire dialogue Director display documentary Empire of Passion fantasy female fiction film's filmic filmmaker flashback Fog in Japan frame genre Hanako iconoclasm imagery images imaginary Japa Japan Japanese film Kabuki Kichi Kiyoshi Korean Lawrence Makoto male Masuo mirror montage Motoki Music narration narrative nese Night and Fog Okinawan Oshi Oshima Nagisa Oshima Productions Oshima's films Pacific War play political postwar present psychoanalytic question rape Realm relationship repetition representation Ritsuko role Sato scene Script Seki sense sequence Setsuko sexual Shinjuku Thief Shochiku shot structure student symbolic Takemitsu Toru takes Terumichi theater theatrical theoretical Three Resurrected Drunkards tion Tokyo traditional unconscious Ushiyama Junichi village violence Violence at Noon visual Voice-over voyeurism woman women Yanoi Yasuko young Youth Zengakuren