Theorizing Excess and the Abject

This chapter establishes a theoretical framework for chapter 7, which deals with characterizations and tropes that resist categorization. Using Art Historical theorizations of the abject, including the work of Hal Foster and Julia Kristeva, abject bodies and national identities are explored in the historical context of early post-war Japan. The impact of abject imagery on the spectator is hypothesized using Ella Shohat and Robert Stam’s account of the ‘schizophrenic spectator.’ Case studies include Teshigahara Hiroshi’s Woman of the Dunes (Suna no onna, 1964).

The Suffering Mother Trope

Chapter 2 analyses the ‘suffering mother’ trope, comparing the character to contemporary depictions of modern housewives. The historical contexts of the period are explored, positioning the mother trope in relation to post-war social change. Finally, changes in the mother trope after the 1950s are investigated and contextualized within discourses of war guilt and anti-nuclear protest. Case studies include the popular hahamono ‘mother film’ Tragedy of Japan (Nihon no higeki, Kinoshita Keisuke, 1953), and Being Two Isn’t Easy (Watashi wa ni sai, Ichikawa Kon, 1962).

Introduction

The introduction describes the historical contexts and theoretical framework of the book, beginning with an outline of the method of research. A brief literature review of affect theory in the Japanese context is followed by an introduction to Yoshimoto Takaaki’s Communal Fantasies (Kyōdōgensō ron, 1968). Giles Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition (1968) is juxtaposed with Yoshimoto’s philosophical investigation of repeated tropes in Japanese cultural production to form a theoretical framework for the analysis of selected repeated motifs in female cinematic representation that follows. Social changes during the occupation of Japan (1945-1952), particularly as regards roles and rights for women, are presented as key socio-political and historical contexts for the analyses of popular film texts which follow. The chapter concludes with a sample case study analysis of Mizoguchi Kenji’s Five Women Around Utamaro (1946).

Women in the Public Sphere

Chapter 5 analyses positive motifs related to hope and healing in the characterization of nurse and schoolteacher roles. This positive affect contrasts with the threatening representation of young women in the public sphere embodied by the ‘modern girl,’ or moga character. The second part of this chapter contextualizes this post-war character in relation to the pre-war moga, making a case for the post-war gangsters molls played by Mihara Yōko as a post-war equivalent. Case studies include One Wonderful Sunday (Subarashiki nichiyōbi, Kurosawa Akira, 1947), Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi, Kurosawa Akira, 1948), Twenty Four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi, Kinoshita Keisuke, 1954), and the Line series (Ishii Teruo, 1958-1961).

Bodies of Excess

The final chapter deals with recurring motifs that resist categorization, motifs which can be understood as excessive or abject. From the streetwalking sex workers known as panpan, to the shape-shifting female monsters of the horror genre, this chapter considers the affective impacts of representations of the female Other. Excessive star personae such as that of Kyō Machiko are analysed alongside characterizations drawn from myth and legend to demonstrate that the female Other is a recurring trope throughout literature, film, and even journalism. The final section considers the excessive abject icon as a representation of the sublime. Case studies include Women of the Night (Yoru no onnatachi, Mizoguchi Kenji, 1948), White Beast (Shiroi yajū, Naruse Mikio, 1950) and Gate of Flesh (Nikutai no mon, Suzuki Seijun, 1964).

Conclusion

The concluding chapter considers the implications of repetition on film, returning to the work of Gilles Deleuze and Yoshimoto Takaaki introduced in the first chapter to ask; Does repetitive film content shape our understanding of the world? What kinds of limits to our understanding can repetitive imagery create? And finally, what kind of media content would help us to imagine new and more equal ways of living?

Post-war Housewives and the Tsuma-mono

The historical development of the post-war housewife role is described, contextualizing the following analysis of Ozu Yasujirō’s tsuma-mono film A Hen in the Wind (Kaze no naka no mendori, 1948). The chapter presents a chronological account of the development of the housewife trope on-screen from the early postwar period into the 1960s. Hybrid characters composed of stereotypical ‘mother’ and ‘wife’ characteristics, which began to appear from the early 1960s, are analyzed in the last section of the chapter. Case studies include Repast (Meshi, Naruse Mikio, 1951), The Happiness of Us Alone (na mo naku mazushiku utsukushiku, Matsuyama Zenzo, 1961), and Mother (Haha, Shindō Kaneto, 1963).

Schoolgirls and Bourgeois Daughters

Moving from domestic to public female character tropes, this chapter investigates trends in the representation of young women on-screen. Youthful female representation is contextualized in the ‘New Life’ discourses of the early post-war era. This chapter engages with extant scholarship on the shōjo, making a case for the young female characters of the early post-war as successors to the earlier shōjo characterizations. The case of the Hiroshima Maidens and early atomic discourse positions the shōjo as victim, while depictions of youthful female sexuality lend the trope connotations of hope and post-war rebirth. Case studies include Spring Awakens (Haru no mezame, Naruse Mikio, 1947) and Children of the Bomb (Genbaku no ko, Shindō Kaneto, 1952).

Post-war Stars and the Japanese Studio System

Chapter 1 describes the structure of the post-war Japanese studio and star systems. The concept of star persona is introduced, blending the work of film theorist Richard Dyer with contemporary Japanese magazine and newspaper accounts of individual stars. The media construction of the personae of popular post-war stars are explored as a means to understand how wartime and pre-war conduct and activities could be sutured into a post-war public persona compliant with the demands of the occupation censors. The Tōhō studio strikes (1946-1948) are explored as historical background for the positioning of film stars as larger than life ‘every persons.’ Case studies include the star personae of Hara Setsuko, Misora Hibari, and Yamaguchi Yoshiko.