Politics, Porn and Protest: Japanese Avant-Garde Cinema in the 1960s and 1970s

210 Pages·2011·1.467 MB·English

by  Isolde Standish

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JAPANESE AVANT-GARDE
CINEMA IN THE
1960s AND 1970s
B Y
I S O L D E S TA N D I S H
2011
The Continuum International Publishing Group
80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
www.continuumbooks.com
Copyright © 2011 Isolde Standish
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the permission of the
publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Standish, Isolde.
Politics, porn, and protest : Japanese avant-garde cinema in the 1960s and
1970s / by Isolde Standish.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes filmography.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-4470-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8264-4470-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-3901-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8264-3901-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Motion pictures–Political aspects–Japan. 2. Motion pictures–Japan–History–20th
century. 3. Experimental films–Japan–History–20th century. I. Title.
PN1993.5.J3S73 2011
791.430952–dc22 2011003730
EISBN: 978-1-4411-4439-3

Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in the United States of America
To recognize untruth as a condition of life: that, to be sure, means
to resist customary value-sentiments in a dangerous fashion; and a
philosophy which ventures to do so places itself, by that act alone,
beyond good and evil. (Nietzsche 1990: 36)
Better be wrong and murder no one than be right in a slaughter-
house. (Albert Camus quoted in Cohen-Solal 2005: 305)

CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
Notes on Translation and Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Film and Philosophy: Towards
a Cinema of Praxis 15
2 The Art Theatre Guild: Theatres of Death and the
Challenge of History 49
3 Overcoming History: Originary Societies,
Pornography and Terrorism 79
4 Documentary and Performance 115
Refl ections 145
Notes 157
Filmography 165
Select Bibliography 171
Appendix: Historical Chronology 177
Index 187

— vii —

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Japanese names are given in the Japanese order of surname and first
name. In the case of film titles, where standard known English translations
exist I have followed custom. In the case of films made by Yoshida (Kijū)
Yoshishige, I have also given the French titles as many of his films have
been released recently on DVD in France. In the Filmography I have given
the titles in Japanese in kanji (Chinese ideograms) to avoid confusion.
In most cases I have taken the Japanese readings for the romanization of
film titles from the Pia Cinemakurabu Nihon Eiga Hen 2007 annual film
reference. I have also drawn primarily on this source for the readings of
names, the birth and, where applicable, death dates of filmmakers and
actors. Alternative sources included the Kinema Junpō publications of the
complete directory for directors (1988), actors (1991) and actresses (1991).
As with film titles, I have included the dates of filmmakers and actors in
the first reference to them in each chapter. I have done this as some readers
may wish to read a chapter as a discrete entity. In regard to the dates of
historical and literary figures, I have drawn primarily on the fifth edition of
the Kōjien (Iwanami Shoten) and the Nihon Daihyakka Zensho Nipponica
Lite Pack CD-ROM (Shogakukan 2003).
I have made use of macrons to indicate long vowel sounds when
transliterating Japanese names and words. I have excluded them from
well-known place-names, such as Tokyo and Kyoto. All translations from
the Japanese are my own unless otherwise stated. Quotations from
Japanese films were taken both from the videos/DVDs during repeated
viewings and from screenplays when available. However, in the cases of
the following films, which have been released with good quality English
language subtitles, I have stayed close to the subtitled translations –
Insect Woman (1963), The Pornographers (1966), Under the Flag of the
Rising Sun (1972), Extreme Private Eros Love Song 1974 (1974) and The
Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987).
— ix —