Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Adam Tušer
Depiction of Japanese Soldiers in American War Films
Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.
2015 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
...... Adam Tušer Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. for his valuable comments and feedback. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction...... 1
2. Propaganda and Film...... 4
3. Guadalcanal Diary...... 6
3.1. Film Overview...... 6
3.2. Plot Summary...... 7
3.3. The Japanese Inferiority and Animal-like Nature...... 10
3.4. The Tactics of the Japanese Soldiers Shown in the Films...... 16
3.5. The Savagery and Cruelty of the Japanese...... 20
3.6. The Dangerous Snipers...... 24
3.7. Summary...... 25
4. Letters from Iwo Jima...... 26
4.1. Film Overview...... 26
4.2. Plot Summary...... 27
4.3. Japanese Soldiers as Equals to the Americans...... 29
4.4. Japanese Soldiers as Individual Human Beings...... 32
4.5. Japanese Soldiers and Fanaticism...... 34
4.6. Summary...... 36
5. Japanese-American Relations after WWII...... 37
6. Conclusion...... 38
7. Works Used and Cited...... 41
8. Abstract...... 44
9. Abstrakt...... 45 1. Introduction
When two countries are at war, it is only natural that the people of those countries will come to dislike each other. This can happen without any intervention, or it can be enforced through propaganda, depicting the enemy as evil or inhuman, effectively turning one of the sides into a force fighting for the good of the world and the other into merciless killers with little redeeming qualities. The differences between the warring nations, whether racial or ideological, can be exaggerated and exploited to create distance between them, further pushing the idea that they are not "like us." The issue comes after the war itself ends. Some of the indoctrinated masses will still cling to the ideology forced upon them by the government and the hate of the particular enemy will become lodged in their culture. One example of this would be the Nazi regime.
While the war has obviously been over for decades, Nazis are still one of the go to enemies in media, whether films, books or even video games. However, during the war, the United States media did make the ideological differentiation between Nazis and Germans. This was not the case with the Japanese. John
Dower mentions that there was no Japanese equivalent to the "good German" in the wartime media (8). Hollywood's dehumanization of the Japanese in general supported the idea of the American national superiority. This utter dehumanization of the Japanese is unmatched in the media and ultimately lead to the two nuclear bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which even today remains as the only time nuclear weapons were ever used for warfare in history.
1 The aim of this thesis is to analyse American war films made during the
1940s, mostly focusing on the film Guadalcanal Diary (1943), and a film from the early 2000s, Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). The thesis will examine how
"the enemy," that being the Japanese soldiers, are depicted in each period, in what ways they are similar and how they differ. Films made during the war with
Japan are expected to be more influenced by propaganda and the Japanese should therefore be depicted in a more negative fashion. As to just how negative their depiction is and to what degree (if at all) does that change in the modern times will be discussed below. While the thesis does focus on the depiction of the Japanese soldiers, the accuracy of things such as weapons, uniforms or authenticity in general will not be discussed, as they are outside the point of the analysis, which aims to show the general image of the enemy.
Whether things such as the weapons were not actually used in the particular combat scenario, or whether the Japanese were portrayed by Chinese-
Americans actors, will therefore not be taken into account.
In a way, the two films share a lot of similarities. They are both about
American Marines landing on an island occupied by Japanese soldiers with a mission to drive them out, ultimately succeeding. The films were chosen for their high participation of the Japanese. They are seen rather often, especially in Letters, which is from their perspective. While films like Bataan do have a similar theme, the Japanese soldiers there rarely present themselves. Other films, however, might be mentioned if there are some useful points to be made, that are not present in the films that have been chosen for analysis. Both of
2 these films will be introduced with a short film overview, talking about the general information of the film, it's supposed location (Guadalcanal and Iwo
Jima) and a plot summary, allowing for an easier orientation when certain scenes are discussed.
The Japanese soldiers in the films made during the war are depicted as less than human, often compared to animals such as baboons. They are shown to be less intelligent, smaller and physically weaker than the Americans. In a direct engagement, they are quickly defeated and forced to retreat, or are simply mowed down by the superior American fire-power. They therefore rely on traps and ambushes, often striking American soldiers in the back, or taking shots from a jungle or a great distance, when the Marines have no chance of retaliating. They have no good qualities about them and are nothing but emotionless killers, who are utterly dedicated to their emperor and will not hesitate to kill and die for their country. Truly a unified, faceless horde of evil that will show no mercy and must be destroyed by the superior Americans to ensure peace. This is entirely different in Letters from Iwo Jima, where they are shown to be much more human, equal to the American soldiers they are fighting. They have wives and children waiting for them at home and would like nothing more than to return to them. They do not all fight for their emperor, but for their own survival. While some of them are influenced by the fanatical ideologies instilled upon them by the government, even to the point where some are willing to kill themselves rather than surrender, they are not unified in this belief. Most of them fight because they have to, some are recruited against
3 their will and do not at all embrace the idea of honour through self-sacrifice.
Their daily lives in the war camps are also quite similar to those on the
American side. All in all, both sides are depicted as human and equal to each other, completely negating any themes of good against evil. The image of the
Japanese has been slowly improved after the war, as the focus shifted more of the damaging influence war has on soldiers of both sides. By analysing the various aspects of their depiction, the thesis hopes to inform the reader of the danger of propaganda in media, which can have lasting effects on entire nations, instilling hate within them for decades. By recognizing these propaganda attempts they become easier to defend against, avoiding their influence and the deep wounds they might cause.
2. Propaganda and Film
The 20th century gave rise to a whole new medium, film. It combines sounds with moving picture to create an illusion of reality never before seen or heard.
The rise of European cinema was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, while the film industry in the United States flourished with the rise of
Hollywood. Films would often follow current events, sometimes truthfully, sometimes otherwise. Hollywood was no different when the war started. The attack on Pearl Harbour came unexpectedly, and was considered a betrayal. The support of American isolationism disappeared and the nation declared war on
Japan. This started a massive media campaign to dehumanize the enemy.
Unlike the Germans, who were European and therefore had some racial ties to
4 the United States, the Japanese were considered entirely different from the general population and would therefore be completely demonized. They were compared to animals, often monkeys and baboons. By making the Japanese not human, they would be easier to kill. In 1942, the Academy Award for best documentary went to Frank Capra's Why We Fight, the first in a series of seven documentaries about the war. These films were commissioned by the U.S. military. They were initially meant to explain to the American soldiers the involvement in the war itself, but were soon shown to the public to gather support for the war effort. Soon, films became a vital tool in influencing the public view, both to gather support and to inspire hate towards the enemy.
Anthony V. Navarro explains: "The media and propaganda were powerful and often silent weapons that targeted human emotions and psyches, and often caused people to feel and think things that they otherwise would not if not exposed to it."
The propaganda films made during this period had several functions.
Firstly, as mentioned, to dehumanize and create hatred towards the enemy and secondly, to inspire nationalism within the population, which would result in support of the war effort (recruitment of new soldiers, selling war bonds). This hatred, however, would become lodged deep within the culture itself and would therefore remain, even decades after the peace treaties had been signed and the dust had settled.
5 3. Guadalcanal Diary
3.1. Film Overview
The film Guadalcanal Diary was directed by Lewis Seiler. This film was made in
1943, only one year after the Battle of Guadacanal, which was fought between
7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943. The film premièred in the USA around 27
October 1943 which was about ten months after the end of the Guadacanal
Campaign (Guadalcanal Diary, IMDB). It was therefore one of many films made during that period that were based on real military operations. It was based on a book by the same name, written by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis, published in 1942, in which he recounts his time with the Marines during the
Guadalcanal Campaign. The producers expressed their appreciation for the
Marines, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard, but the Marines remain as the focus of the film, to a point where even the credits are accompanied by the Marine
Corps Hymn. As Ernest Giglio puts it: "The film was based on eyewitness accounts, yet it contained stock characters that appeared in most war movies: the stereotypical group of tough sergeants, sensitive chaplains and the typical melting-pot of G.I. Platoon featuring rural southerners, ethnic and racial minorities, and the always-present wise guy from Brooklyn" (180). The film was an early example of the period's realism, focusing less on combat and action scenes, and more on the day to day lives of the Marines. When Hollywood approached the U.S. Marine Corps for help in the making of the film, they required a rewrite, making it more accurate. In the end, the film was very faithful to the book itself, and it's depictions were considered very realistic for
6 the times (Dixon 98).
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal, was a series of land and sea clashes fought between August 7, 1942 and
February 9, 1943 on and around Guadalcanal, one of the southern Solomon
Islands, in the South Pacific. It was the first major offensive and a decisive victory for the Allies against the Empire of Japan in the Pacific theatre. One of the goals was to capture and hold strategically placed airfield, later called
Henderson Field, which was still under construction by the Imperial Japanese
Navy when captured by American forces, who went on to complete it. While the landing at Guadalcanal was unopposed, it took the Americans six months to defeat the Japanese in what was to turn into a classic battle of attrition. The
Japanese have made several attempts to retake the airfield, but ultimately failed and abandoned the effort. Both sides endured heavy losses. However, the
Japanese suffered a far greater toll of casualties, forcing their withdrawal from
Guadalcanal by February 1943 (Chen, Guadalcanal Campaign).
3.2. Plot Summary
The plot of the film starts on July 24, 1942, when a large group of American
Marines are sailing on ships somewhere in the South Pacific. One can get an idyllic view of the soldiers lazily lying on the deck, talking, singing and laughing.
They think that they are on manoeuvres, but soon, the orders arrive. They are to attack the Japanese strongholds on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, parts of the
Solomon Islands. After the initial landing they would head on to capture an
7 airfield, which the Japanese have almost completed. The Marines are not experienced in jungle warfare, but are eager to prove themselves. Everything goes smoothly, there are no Japanese soldiers in sight. The landing is uncontested.
They reach a village without any contact, other than taking three prisoners. The captured Japanese labourers are referred to as monkeys and are otherwise being insulted by the troops, but the American medics humanely treat them. They find the airfield near the abandoned village, again without any opposition. One of the Marines even starts to think that "there isn't a Jap within a thousand miles of here!" (Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal Diary). However, he is quickly proven wrong when he gets shot by a Japanese sniper. As night falls, the Marines are seen patrolling near the jungle, on the lookout for any incoming ambushes. No open attack comes, but in the morning, one of the Marines is found dead, with a large wound on his back.
The Americans dig in and prepare for defending the airfield. They are later informed that there is an encampment of Japanese soldiers near the village of Matanikau. According to the captured Japanese labourers, they are starving, have only a few weapons, and are ready to surrender. A patrol is sent on two boats to investigate and capture them. On the way they are ambushed by an enemy submarine, which starts shooting at them. Unable to retaliate, one of the American transporters is sunk. However, before the submarine can destroy the other transport, it is blown up by the American shore battery fire.
They pick up the survivors of the sunken transport ship and head on towards
8 the shore. They decide to wait for the cover of darkness, as they were surely revealed to the enemy by the gunfire, even though the prisoners insist that the enemy is unarmed and ready to surrender. This, unfortunately for the Marines, turns out to be a trap set up by the Japanese soldiers. Ironically, the prisoner is one of the first to get shot by these ambushers.
By the time morning comes, most of the Americans are dead. Only one of the Marines, Private Jesus "Soose" Alvarez (played by Anthony Quinn) manages to survive by swimming away, while the Japanese charge in, savagely beating and stabbing the now lifeless bodies of the Marines. Some try to shoot the survivor, but ultimately fail. He informs his fellow soldiers of the massacre that occurred. They decide to come back to avenge their fallen friends, this time in force. They are successful in their quest for revenge, as the Japanese are driven away by barrages of mortar fire and a superior force of American
Marines.
No longer inexperienced soldiers, these now battle-hardened veterans achieved victory and return to their base camp near the airfield. The initial enthusiasm and recklessness are gone, however, as they have learned not to underestimate their enemy. The spirits are lifted as mail arrives. One catches a glimpse of the daily lives of the soldiers in the camp, when they are not out fighting in the jungle. They are reading through their mail, some are playing musical instruments, or are simply chatting with each other, joking and laughing. This calm scene is then interrupted by an incoming Japanese air raid and the American Marines rush for cover.
9 The film then skips to October 10, when reinforcements arrive. The Army men are welcomed by the cheering Marines and they prepare to once again strike out against the Japanese, who have taken positions in nearby caves.
They were heavily fortified and would not retreat. With the use of grenades and other explosives, the Americans are successful at rooting out the enemy and return to camp. This time, they are bombarded by the Japanese navy at night, and are forced to hide in bunkers to survive. What follows is a touching scene where the soldiers are praying together for their lives.
In the morning, they bury those that did not survive the night and start the preparations for another strike against the Japanese. This would be the final push against the enemy, in an attempt to once and for all take control of the island. With tanks, planes and a massive force of Marines and soldiers, they attack. They rout the enemy, push them towards the beach and completely obliterate them. After the victory, a letter from the command is read, commending all the soldiers for their bravery, strength and tenacity. They have achieved complete victory and now control the island. The Army stays behind to secure the area, while the Marines move out.
3.3. The Japanese Inferiority and Animal-like Nature
The physical features of the Japanese soldiers are often exaggerated and mocked. The films directed in the 1940s are full of insults regarding, among other things, their height and facial features. This can be observed not only in films, but in propaganda materials in general. For example, many posters made
10 during the war included caricatures of the Japanese soldiers, with their teeth drawn incredibly large, wearing the stereotypical round glasses. While these features obviously cannot be similarly exaggerated in the films, they can be
(and are) mentioned and mocked by the American soldiers, whether jokingly when in company of other Americans, or aimed directly at the enemy during combat, meant to insult the Japanese soldiers directly.
When a small group of captured labourers is being brought in, the
Americans standing around have this to say: "It's only three monkeys on a rope." Another one chimes in: "Pretty small, eh?" The third soldier quickly adds:
"Ugly, ain't they?" The last one finishes with a question aimed at one of the prisoners, who obviously does not speak English: "Hey, Snow White, where's the rest of the Seven Dwarves?" (Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal Diary). This is the first time in the film one can notice that the Japanese are being (among other things) compared to animals, or are thought to be somehow less than human. In a later scene, one can see a Japanese prisoner leading the American
Marines towards the village of Matanikau. Neither his hands nor feet are tied, but he has a leash around his neck, which is held by one of the Marines. An image of a person walking their dog comes to mind, further indicating both their animal-like (or inhuman) nature, and their inferiority to the Americans.
This theme is apparent throughout the films (as well as propaganda posters and other materials) and is mentioned when talking about aspects other than physical appearance. Their diet, for example, is also compared to that of animals (or at least something not fully human), such as when in Guadalcanal
11 Diary, the American soldiers capture an enemy encampment and are searching through it for supplies, finding some food. One of the soldiers has this to say: "I thought these monkeys lived on fish heads and rice" (Richard Tregaskis'
Guadalcanal Diary). The idea of the Japanese soldiers being able to survive on a diet a "regular" human could not is also quite widespread in the 1940s war films (Bataan, for example). Another commonly mocked feature of the Japanese soldiers were their eyes, often accompanied by a pair of thick round glasses and what is often referred to as "buck teeth" in the films. The glasses were sometimes used to stress the shape of their eyes and it showed that every
Japanese, including near-sighted people, had to go to the battlefield to die for the emperor; and Japanese people were inscrutable as their eyes were hidden behind their glasses (Xiaofei 20). In Guadalcanal Diary, while reading a
Japanese propaganda flier urging the soldiers not to run, one of the soldiers pulls at the sides of his eyes (trying to imitate a person of Japanese descent) and says in broken English (another often used stereotype, although rarely heard in war films): "It make Tojo1 very unhappy." In the very same pamphlet, the "help from the imperial heaven" is also mentioned, to which one of the soldiers replies: "Only God's children go to heaven!" The Japanese are (literally in this case) being demonized. Their facial features being mocked is quite a common thing in the films, with lines such as "Scratch one squint-eye" and "I could have sworn I felt his buck teeth" (Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal Diary).
These features were exaggerated in other propaganda materials in order to
1 Tōjō Hideki, soldier and statesman who was prime minister of Japan (1941–44) during most of the Pacific theatre portion of World War II and who was subsequently tried and executed for war crimes (Tōjō Hideki).
12 make them appear foreign or unattractive, and to further distance them from the Americans (or humans in general, as discussed below). Sometimes the close-ups of the Japanese soldiers' faces were even used to "frighten a viewer with the sense of alien, unsmiling beings" (Basinger 138).
The physical weakness of the Japanese is also stressed in the close quarters combat scenes that sometimes appear in the films. In Guadalcanal
Diary, on several occasions one can notice an American soldier being attacked
(often from behind, implying cowardly tactics) by an enemy (and sometimes more than one), but has no trouble quickly dispatching them, whether with the butt of a rifle, or barehanded. The Japanese soldier is thrown down and killed in a matter of seconds. They are also shown to be less intelligent than the Marines and are often outsmarted by them. A soldier manages to draw out a Japanese sniper hiding in a tree by making loud animal noises. The sniper pokes his head out with a puzzled look on his face and is shot instantly. When the Japanese run away from the incoming Marines, the narrator mentions that "In his pell-mell retreat, the enemy has not even destroyed his equipment" (Richard Tregaskis'
Guadalcanal Diary). They left valuable supplies and equipment for their enemy, a tactical mistake to be sure.
Another interesting thing of note is how extremely rarely does one get a chance to hear the Japanese soldiers talk. This is likely another attempt by the film-makers to make the enemy seem unintelligent or animal-like, as being able to speak is a clear sign of civilization. Xiaofei also mentions that "by refusing to give Japanese soldiers the chance to talk about their understanding of the war,
13 the film-makers assumed that Japanese were not able to think individually"
(22). While the Americans chatter among themselves constantly, often telling jokes and exchanging laughs, even singing on occasions, the Japanese soldiers never sing, never laugh and never speak. They only scream as they charge the ranks of the Americans.
The believed inferiority and inhuman nature of the Japanese soldiers and race their race in general is implied when before the battle, on of the soldiers is asked how he feels about killing people. His response is resolute: "It's kill or be killed, ain't it? Besides, those ain't people" (Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal
Diary). The Japanese are constantly being referred to as less than human, often compared to animals such as baboons or monkeys. They would also be depicted as hiding in caves, which enforced the image of their subhuman or even animal-like nature and would sometimes be compared to rats and other vermin by the Americans. The image of a subhuman primate was key to undercutting the humanity of the enemy. By making the Japanese less human, they would be easier to kill (Navarro). In Gung Ho!, another 1940s American film, volunteers are recruited for a hazardous mission. Each soldier is asked why he is willing to risk their lives deep in enemy territory. One of the Marines simply replies: "I just don't like Japs."
The supposed intellectual and physical inferiority of the Japanese was stubbornly believed throughout the war, even despite their both technological and military successes. This notion is well summarized in Guadalcanal Diary, when the narrator informs us that: "We outshoot them, we outfight them and
14 we usually outguess them." The idea of the Japanese soldiers being animals is also enforced when the American soldiers refer to fighting the enemy as
"hunting the Jap." They were to be hunted down and exterminated. According to T. R. Moreman, the demonization of the Japanese served "to improve morale, foster belief that the war in the Far East was worthwhile and build the moral component of fighting power." It was suggested that "the JAP is a fanatic and therefore a menace until he is dead!... It will be our fanatical aim to KILL JAPS.
Hunt him and kill him like any other wild beast!" (103). The hunting and killing of the Japanese was encouraged both at the front lines and back at home in the US, where things went so far that hunting licenses were made available for the general population (Jap Hunting License). Obviously these were not real licenses that would give people the right to kill the Japanese, but it is a perfect representation of the racist attitudes of the time.
The theme of the Japanese being compared to animals is also reflected in the depiction of the Japanese snipers, who often climb up trees and hide in the treetops to ambush the unsuspecting American soldiers. There is a clear connection to primates and the words "tree climbing monkeys (or apes)" can be heard quite often across most of the war films made in this era. In Guadalcanal
Diary, for example, one frustrated soldiers asks: "Hiding up in the trees like apes. Why don't they come out in the open and fight?" These snipers, however, in contrast to the other attributes shown in the films, are often shown to be incredibly dangerous foes, and become almost a force of nature, choosing who will live and who will die. This is very apparent in the film Bataan, where a
15 group of American soldiers are beset by these snipers night and day and who are slowly being picked off by the unseen enemy. This is one of the few occasions where they are shown to be a force to be reckoned with, not to be underestimated and are shown to be somewhat respected or even feared by the Americans. It will be further discussed below.
3.4. The Tactics of the Japanese Soldiers Shown in the Films
The notion of the Japanese soldiers being physically inferior to their American counterparts has already been discussed. However, their tactics also differed greatly from the Marines. They were shown to be fighting in a somewhat cowardly manner, hiding in the treetops as snipers, or waiting for the American soldiers to pass by only to shoot them in the back, as is shown many times in
Guadalcanal Diary. They would often lure them into ambushes, or plant booby- traps2 on their equipment, which would kill or at least severely injure anyone trying to use said equipment, or simply pick up a souvenir Japanese sword. The
Japanese would use certain kinds of grenades or land mines to set these up.
These were a real danger and one can notice that it is one of the first things the soldiers in Guadalcanal Diary are warned about: "Watch out for booby traps. Don't go around picking up anything the Japs leave laying around."
Wang Xiaofei in his article claims that "The Japanese soldiers were also portrayed as sons of the jungle. They shot American soldiers in the back and they pretended to surrender only in order to kill GIs. Frightening as they were,
2 A hidden explosive device that would explode when the object it is connected to is touched, moved, or otherwise manipulated (Booby Trap).
16 those images often reflected actual stories that appeared in American newspapers and magazines" (19).
Another one of their "tricks" was to play dead, waiting for an opportunity to strike an unsuspecting foe, often in the back. When Private Johnny "Chicken"
Anderson (played by Richard Jaeckel) tries to pick up a Japanese sword (as a
"souvenir promised to a certain party") from a soldier, whom he assumes to be dead, notices at the last second that he is alive and is reaching for a gun. While he is able to quickly dispatch this enemy, he is then shot by another Japanese soldier, hiding in a nearby tree. He survives, however, and in an ironic turn of events ends up using the enemy's tricks against him, when he plays dead and then guns down a trio of enemy soldiers, who pass him by, while exclaiming:
"That's one you taught me, Tojo!" (Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal Diary). The enemy is once again outsmarted by the Americans.
One of the major scenes in Guadalcanal Diary revolves around a group of captured Japanese labourers, who convince the American soldiers to head towards the village of Matanikau, where there are supposedly many Japanese soldiers, mostly without food and weapons, who are willing to surrender. This, however, turns out to be a lie and the soldiers are ambushed by the prepared
Japanese force, who overwhelm the much smaller group of Marines, that have nowhere to run and brutally dispose of them (the cruelty of this act will be discussed later). Only one American soldier survives by running into the water and swimming away, while a group of about fifteen enemy soldiers try to shoot him down and fail, once again showing them to be quite incompetent.
17 While the Marines were heading towards the village of Matanikau on boats, they are attacked by a Japanese submarine. Unable to defend themselves, one of their boats is destroyed, before the submarine is finally sunk by the Marine shore battery, an event which is accompanied by a symbolic scene of the Japanese flag raised from the submarine slowly sinking with it into the ocean. The Japanese attacked when there was no fear of retaliation, as they were not aware of any weapons nearby capable of sinking them. The submarine can also be considered to be one of the stealthier vessels (at least compared to regular ships) and is therefore an excellent way to further show the Japanese as using cowardly ambush tactics against the Americans. Xiaofei agrees and says that "just as jungles were perfect places for the Japanese infantry to hide, the submarine was perfect for a guileful people who preferred to lurk under the water" (23). This enforces their image as cowards, who only attack when there is little to no possibility of the enemy returning fire. This is repeated throughout the film, with a naval bombardment and a night air raid, where they bomb the temporarily helpless Americans, who are forced to hide in bunkers and other temporary shelters. It is also a major theme in Bataan, where a group of Americans are guarding a bridge from the enemy, but are beset by snipers, who hide in the treetops and pick them off one by one.
Rarely does one find a scene in which the Japanese soldiers face the enemy of similar or greater numbers head on and even if they do so, they either retreat immediately, or are gunned down easily by the Americans. This is apparent by the end of Guadalcanal Diary, when the final assault on the
18 Japanese positions happens. The enemy is quickly routed and is pushed back towards the beach, where they are killed, unable to run away. This scene is very similar to the Matanikau ambush mentioned above, only this time, the roles are reversed and the film is therefore accompanied by orchestral music, thus working to enforce the "heroic display" being shown. In what could be called a "fair fight," the Japanese always lose to the Americans, thus stressing the notion that they are inferior to their Marine counterparts and must rely on tricks and subterfuge to even stand a chance against their betters. Often even if they are in the majority, they still take massive losses as every American is able to kill many soldiers before dying, a notable example being the last stand in
Bataan, in which Sgt. Bill Dane (played by Robert Taylor) guns down dozens of
Japanese soldiers who are charging his position, as the film goes to credits, but not actually showing the sergeant’s death. Many films of the period would show similar themes and as one reviewer of the time observed, they were "about one man who mows down 50 Japs with a machine gun" (Johnson).
At one point in Guadalcanal Diary, the narrator tells us a curious statistic:
"True, we have killed four, five, six or even ten for every man we've lost. That's statistics." While this statistic is likely made up, it is clear that this is another attempt by the film-makers to show to the audience that the American soldier is many times stronger, smarter and better than the Japanese one, who must rely on dirty tricks to even have a chance of defeating him.
19 3.5. The Savagery and Cruelty of the Japanese
The Japanese soldiers are depicted as having no emotions, even in relation to their comrades. They are shown to be cruel and savage, and their tactics reflect that. They show no mercy towards the Americans, a feeling that is at least somewhat mutual between the two factions. However, they are also not above killing civilians, shooting their own soldiers, or torturing POWs. In Guadalcanal
Diary, when the American soldiers are heading towards the village of
Matanikau, they are lead by one of the Japanese labourers they captured, who claimed that there are only a few enemy soldiers there, who, without food and weapons, are willing to surrender. This, however, turns out to be a trap set up by the Japanese, who quickly open fire on the Marines. Among the dead it is possible to notice the dead prisoner, who was obviously shot by the enemy, who must have known that he would be leading them there, but did not care enough to try to save him.
Another example of the Japanese not caring for their own is shown later in the same film, when Private Johnny "Chicken" Anderson (played by Richard
Jaeckel) tries to pick up a Japanese sword (as "a souvenir promised to a certain party") from a soldier, is shot by another Japanese sniper, hiding in a nearby tree. Here is the fundamental difference between the two parties involved.
While one of the Americans crawls forward, picks up the wounded private and then makes his way back to a medic to have him looked after, viewers are shown a certain spirit of camaraderie between the soldiers, manifesting as the willingness to sacrifice oneself to save the other. These heroic acts of the
20 Americans trying to save an injured buddy of theirs is a common sight in the films of that period. However, such is not the case with the Japanese soldiers, who show no such care for their fellow soldiers. In the same scene, when said private is being carried away, they come under fire from a pair of Japanese soldiers, one of which is mounting a heavy machine gun. After a while one of these machine gunners is shot. If they were Americans, the other soldier would surely try to help his fallen comrade, take him to a medic, or at least in some way express anger or sorrow at the unfortunate event that occurred. In this case, however, the other soldier does not even waste a second to look at his fallen "friend," and without any sign of emotion or hesitation grabs the machine gun and continues to fire, only to be killed a second later. The Japanese are presented as emotionless, which is somewhat related to their image as animals.
They are not above shooting their own if it means they can also hit the
Americans and show no care for their fellow soldiers. They show no mercy for the lives of the civilians either, as often in these films, they bomb a military installation, injuring and killing soldiers, but also civilians and the already wounded.
Bataan, for example, opens with a bomb raid on an American camp.
What follows is a graphic scene full of violence aimed against both the soldiers and the civilians. Not even women, children or the wounded are spared of such cruelty. The Japanese here are depicted as ruthless, cold and not above killing innocent people to achieve their goals. They want will do whatever it takes to defeat the Americans and do not care about deaths of civilians, or even their
21 own soldiers. Another example of the Japanese cruelty is in Guadalcanal Diary.
After the Americans are ambushed while on their way towards the village of
Matanikau, as the lone surviving soldier swims away, he turns around for a moment, witnessing a gruesome scene as the Japanese soldiers charge forward, towards the dead Americans, and savagely attack their now lifeless bodies, beating them with the butts of their rifles and stabbing them with their bayonets. It is also possible to notice that sometimes the Japanese soldiers shooting at Americans are visibly smiling (Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal
Diary). Their cruelty and brutality towards the American soldiers, as well as civilians and the wounded being shown only served to underline the believed savage and animal-like nature of the Japanese soldiers and would further strengthen their image as the ultimate enemy.
The Japanese in the American war films were also defined by their fanaticism and their willingness to do die for their emperor. In Guadalcanal
Diary, before the attack on the Japanese forces hiding in caves, the narrator explains: "The men behind those machine guns are fanatics. They'll die at their posts, some chained to their weapons, rather than surrender." As someone who is utterly dedicated to their cause, the Japanese, as they were depicted, would rarely surrender, could not be negotiated with and would not be stopped by any means other than violence.
Another example of the Japanese being depicted as mindless killers was in the film Back to Bataan. The Japanese would kill everyone who stood against their authority. The orders to do so were given by the villain of the film, general
22 Homma, who did so with a smile on his face. When one of the soldiers asks the principal of a school to take down the American flag in front of it, he refuses and is then threatened, only to be ultimately hanged at the very same flagpole.
In Bataan, one of the soldier sees an enemy soldiers just standing out in the open. When he takes aim, he is stopped by a fellow Marine, who explains that it was Salazar, a Filipino soldier, who was captured and tortured by the Japanese forces and then hung on a tree. Showing the Japanese soldiers to be violent killers was an easy way to make the viewers dislike them, and prove that the cause of the Americans is just. This image of a cruel sub human Japanese has spread beyond just the soldiers, and soon, all Japanese were thought to be like this. Xiaofei explains: "By depicting all Japanese people as cruel and treacherous, psychological racism created a 'Japanese-solidarity myth,' which was simply not true. The diversity of Japanese people was too often ignored"
(20).
The Japanese torturing or otherwise abusing the POWs would also sometimes be shown. This was another way to show the cruelty of the
Japanese aimed against the Americans and helped the film-makers influence the audience. In contrast to this, the Japanese would only rarely be taken captive, as they would either charge the enemy and die, run away, or take their own lives by committing seppuku3, another example of their implied fanaticism.
3 Ritual suicide by disembowelment with a sword, formerly practised in Japan by samurai as an honourable alternative to disgrace or execution. Another term for hara-kiri (Seppuku).
23 3.6. The Dangerous Snipers
In many ways have the film-makers tried to give as negative of an image of the
Japanese as possible. They are shown to be weaker, less intelligent and even subhuman. However, they are clearly still a dangerous foe, who does not fight fair, but hides and deceives the Americans. A common occurrence in the
American war films are the Japanese snipers. While they are not often visible, their work becomes apparent quickly. They are an unseen force, a beast lurking in the jungle ready to strike at their enemy. Especially during the night do the
Marines become vulnerable to attacks from the jungle and even if they stand guard, some never make it through the night. The Americans show a certain amount of fear as well as respect towards their enemy, no matter how much they hate him. In Guadalcanal Diary, a piece of advice given to the soldiers is heard: "Keep an eye out for snipers all the time. See a bunch of bananas in a coconut tree, shoot 'em down. That makes sense, don't it?" While this may seem a bit paranoid, the enemy is indeed shown to be well camouflaged and often strikes in the back. In Bataan, for example, a group of American soldiers is tasked with keeping a bridge destroyed. Day and night they are surrounded by enemy snipers, who slowly but surely kill most of them. The snipers would often climb up and then hide in the treetops, hence the comparison to monkeys or other primates. In the films they would act as an unseen and unknown danger, ready to strike at any moment. This contrasts with the idea of the
Japanese being inferior to the Americans. They were shown as "subhuman, inhuman, lesser human, superhuman" (Dower 9), but never as simply human,
24 thus still keeping the distance between the two factions, nations and races.
On the other hand, once this enemy reveals himself, they become just as weak as any other soldier and are mowed down by the Americans. During the final charge at the end of Bataan is one of the few cases in the whole film where the viewers clearly get to see the Japanese soldiers out in the open.
While during the film many Americans died to sniper fire with only a small chance to fight back (again one can notice a theme of the Japanese cowardly attacking without the possibility of retaliation), in this last stand each of them is able to take down dozens of the enemy soldiers, who just blindly rush their position only to die instantly. They are the ultimate enemy with no redeeming qualities and must be utterly obliterated for the United States to survive.
3.7. Summary
Guadalcanal Diary, as well as other American war films of the period, completely dehumanizes the Japanese soldiers, depicting them with some of the worst qualities imaginable, while pushing aside everything that would have made them appear human. They are shown as savage, unintelligent, sub- human or with animal qualities (including comparisons with monkeys, baboons, rats and so on), smaller, weaker and in every way inferior to the American soldiers. They must rely on ambushes and traps to kill the Americans, but are easily defeated in a direct engagement. The Japanese are also utterly dedicated to serving the emperor and will not hesitate to take lives, or even sacrifice their own. They do not take prisoners and show no mercy, so they deserve none.
25 4. Letters from Iwo Jima
4.1. Film Overview
The film Letters from Iwo Jima was directed by Clint Eastwood and was released in 2006. As the title suggests, the film is about the battle of Iwo Jima, an island in the Pacific. It was shot from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers stationed there. It is a companion piece to Eastwood's other film, Flags of our Fathers, released in the same year (Letters from Iwo Jima, IMDB). The two films were shot at the same time. Letters from Iwo Jima received considerable acclaim when it was released and did much better at the box office than its companion. This was also the first time an American director made an
American film which was almost entirely in Japanese. As James King puts it,
Eastwood "was determined to make a film that vanquished mindless generalizing about the Japanese" (30). By making the film from the Japanese perspective, he made the soldiers look much more human, compared to the propagandistic views implanted in the 1940s cinema, depicting them as savage, sub-human and even animal-like.
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major military operation, in which the
Americans attacked and successfully captured Iwo Jima, an island 1,200 km south of Tokyo. The goal of the operation was to use the island as staging grounds for further assaults against the Japanese, but its strategic value became somewhat controversial with increasing losses. Japanese soldiers were dug in, with bunkers, artillery and a net of tunnels throughout the whole island
(Chen, Battle of Iwo Jima). The battle itself was immortalized by a famous
26 photo by photographer Joe Rosenthal, in which five soldiers are raising the
American flag on Mount Suribachi.
4.2. Plot Summary
The film starts in present times (2005), where a group of archaeologists are making digs on the island of Iwo Jima. In one of the tunnels, they discover letters buried under the ground. The film then goes back to 1943 on the very same island, where a group of Japanese soldiers are digging trenches. A new face arrives on the island, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (played by Ken
Watanabe), who has come to take over the command of the garrison. They soon learn that the Japanese Combined Fleet has been destroyed and they would have to rely only on their own men and resources, as no support would come from the fleet. Kuribayashi orders the soldiers to give up on building beach defences (with which the other officers disagree) and decides to start constructing a series of tunnels in the mountains.
In February 1945 they are attacked by American planes. A few days after the air raid, the American ground forces land on the island. While they do suffer heavy casualties, what remained of the beach defences is quickly overwhelmed.
As the American assault continues, one of Kuribayashi's officers pleads with him to allow him to commit suicide, but is refused and ordered to take his men and fall back to the northern caves. The officer, however, disregards the orders of his superior and tells his soldiers to kill themselves. Many of them follow through with it, but Saigo (played by Kazunari Ninomiya) convinces one of the
27 other soldiers that they would serve the emperor better, if they fought on instead. They meet up with other survivors and together make their way towards the other garrison.
They report to Lieutenant Ito, a fanatical Navy officer, who decides to execute them for their supposed cowardice. He is stopped by Kuribayashi, who confirms that he indeed gave the orders to retreat and asks him to further stay put. Ito refuses to just hide in the caves and gathers his troops to charge the
American ranks. Saigo and his friends are planning to leave the caves and surrender, as they cannot go on fighting. His friend is captured, but is later killed by the Americans and Saigo is forced to stay with the Japanese and move towards Kuribayashi's group. After regrouping, the general tells Saigo to stay behind as he and the other soldiers charge the Americans once more. He also asks him to burn various documents and letters. Saigo does not burn the documents, but buries them instead.
Kuribayashi is seriously wounded during the attack. Fujita, the general's adjutant, drags him away from the battle. By the next morning, the Japanese forces have been overrun, and the Americans have taken the rest of the island.
In pain and slowly dying, Kuribayashi orders Fujita to behead him. As Fujita raises his sword, he is shot by a Marine. Soon, Saigo finds the dying
Kuribayashi, who asks him to bury him, so that the enemy would not find his body. He then shoots himself with his pistol and Saigo drags him away. Saigo is later discovered by a group of soldiers and is captured. The film ends with the
Japanese archaeologists finding the letters that Saigo buried.
28 4.3. Japanese Soldiers as Equals to the Americans
In Letters from Iwo Jima, the Japanese soldiers guarding the island not only get plenty of screen time, one can also get a glimpse of their daily lives, a theme that was largely avoided by the films made during the 1940s, where they were only seen attacking, running away, or hiding in the jungle, preparing an ambush on the American Marines. Debra Ramsay says: "Letters from Iwo Jima presents the battle from the perspective of the Japanese and challenges the central tenets in the wartime's media representations of the war: the extreme dehumanization of the Japanese" (92). In a way their lives and those of the
Americans are not that different. They live at their camp, talking with each other, asking where the others came from, or if they have someone waiting for them at home. The very same scenes can be seen in Guadalcanal Diary, only this time, it is the Japanese complaining about the bad food and having to dig trenches. Letters from Iwo Jima is an attempt to show the Japanese as equal to the Americans, in an effort to break their stereotypical portrayal as less than human, even animal-like. Letters achieves this by mirroring the daily lives of the
American soldiers, showing the Japanese in very similar situations. Dashing for cover during an air raid, hiding from the falling shells, looking after one another, officers encouraging their troops, writing home to their families and receiving letters in return. All this can be seen in both films, only on opposite side. The film really tries to make the point that the Japanese soldiers were just as human as the Americans, not the savage animals intend on killing that the war media made them out to be.
29 Another important thing to note is the fact that the film itself is almost entirely done in Japanese, which contrasts with the older films, where one would barely even hear the Japanese soldiers speak. This was done to further enforce the Japanese as sub-human, savage and unintelligent. Letters being entirely in Japanese counters this, but not only by giving them the chance to speak, but also by depicting them as intelligent and individual beings. Some of the officers are also fully capable of speaking English, and throughout the film get a chance to put this particular skill to use. The older films often avoided scenes from before the war, when the Japanese and the Americans were still friendly towards each other. Letters counters this with flashbacks, such as when
General Kuribayashi was in the United States for a visit, and was attending a party in his honour, held by American Army officers. They consider each other to be friends and he even receives a gift an M1911 pistol (which was a standard military side arm of the period). The equality and friendship between them is apparent.
In another scene, one of the American soldiers is captured by the
Japanese. Colonel Nishi orders their medic to treat the injured soldier, even though they are running low on medicine and the others would rather kill him.
When questioned by the soldiers, he responds with: "You would expect the same, wouldn't you?" (Letters from Iwo Jima). The wounded soldier and the
Colonel then start talking about their days in the US in a rather casual manner.
The Colonel raced horses during the Olympic games in Los Angeles, before the war, when the nations were friends, not enemies. The scene is further enforced
30 by the fact that after talking briefly, they introduce themselves and shake hands. The idea of an American and a Japanese soldier shaking hands would be unheard of in the 1940s films, as they talk to each other and treat one another as equal. When the soldier dies of his wounds, the Colonel reads out loud a letter from his mother, telling him not to worry about them and to come back home safely. This kind of letter could have just as easily been delivered to any of the Japanese soldiers, further stressing out the fact that both nations are equal and similar to each other. As much as the older films would have us believe otherwise, soldiers on both sides had mothers, wives and children and would have liked nothing more than to stop the fighting and return home to them.
When General Kuribayashi arrives to the island, they carefully and thoroughly plan their strategy. While they do take defensive positions and ambush the Americans as they land on the shores, their combat tactics are also different from the 1940s films. Gone are the scenes where American Marines are being shot in the back by a Japanese soldier pretending to be dead, or snipers hiding in the palm trees, shooting at the enemy who can not retaliate.
The Japanese are fighting a force much larger than their own, but fight on with bravery and ferocity. They do not scatter before the American charge as they do in Guadalcanal Diary, but make their last stand on the island. They are depicted as equally strong and brave as the American Marines.
31 4.4. Japanese Soldiers as Individual Human Beings
In the films made in the 1940s, the Japanese soldiers are depicted as being emotionless killers, utterly fanatical and dedicated to their emperor, with no other purpose than to hunt down and kill Americans, not caring for the lives of their fellow soldiers or their own survival. In Letters from Iwo Jima, this is different, and while some of the soldiers can indeed be seen blindly charging the enemy ranks, or committing suicide, not all of them do this. The film breaks the monolithic view of the Japanese as all being the same, and gives the characters personalities and different opinions on the war. Some, for example
Saigo, do not care about winning the war and just want to go home. As Saigo puts it: "We should just give the island to the Americans and then we can go home" (Letters from Iwo Jima). Although he does get punished by his superior officer, who overhears him complaining, it becomes instantly obvious that not all the soldiers are willing to give their lives defending every inch of the
Japanese soil.
To further contrast with the theme in the 1940s films, where the
Japanese soldiers appear as a faceless mass of soldiers, the characters are given deep backstories through flashbacks and the letters they write home.
Before the war they had their own lives and families, some of them bakers
(Saigo) or clothiers (Kashiwara). Many of them were recruited against their will and are therefore reluctant to fight and die for their country. Even though some of the soldiers, especially the senior officers, do uphold the traditional ways such as honourable suicide or never retreating from the enemy (even if ordered
32 otherwise), the point Letters from Iwo Jima is making, compared to
Guadalcanal Diary, is that firstly, they are human beings with families and hobbies, and secondly, they are not all the same fanatical supporters of the emperor. Philip DiMare agrees: "Instead of representing them as some nameless, faceless, evil force of nature, in Letters from Iwo Jima, they are shown to be simple human beings who desperately miss their families and who, like most other young men in battle, cannot really understand why we must fight and die" (304). Most of the soldiers fight to survive, so they can return home, or to protect the future of their children.
Another thing worth noting is that the Japanese soldiers in the film are not emotionless killers, but are depicted as human beings who feel fear or sadness. They care about their friends and fear for their lives as the bombs are falling on their head, severely traumatizing some of them. When witnessing the deaths of their fellow soldiers, they cry. When General Kuribayashi is severely injured, Fujita tries to drag him away, towards the Americans, to surrender and get him some medical attention. This scene is very similar to Guadalcanal Diary, where Private Johnny "Chicken" Anderson (played by Richard Jaeckel) gets shot in the back, and the other soldier risks his life to carry him back to a medic.
They are also shown to care about the civilian presence on the island of Iwo
Jima, as they are shown to be evacuating a Japanese village from the island days before the actual invasion. Some of the soldiers are visibly tired of the war and are considering running away and surrendering to the American troops.
They did not enjoy killing and even helped an injured American Marine. This
33 was not the case in the 1940s films, where the Japanese were simply evil things to be shot, who gave no mercy, and deserved none in return.
4.5. Japanese Soldiers and Fanaticism
In the 1940s films, the Japanese were depicted as a unified fighting force, utterly dedicated to serving their emperor, carrying out orders and giving up their lives without hesitation. While this is also partially true in Letters, the difference is that not all the soldiers share in this dedication. As mentioned before, Saigo is tired of the war, and for all he cares the Americans can have the island of Iwo Jima. He, as well as many others, was recruited against his will, and so would like nothing more than to just go home to his pregnant wife.
Even before the recruitment he mentions that the Kempeitai4 came to his house, often asking for supplies for the war effort, practically ruining him. This shows that not all the Japanese were blindly obeying their government, but were often coerced into it by military police or propaganda. One of the soldiers,
Shimizu, was with the Kempeitai, but was dishonourably discharged for disobeying his superior's order to kill a family's dog, who was barking, which is, according to his superior officer, "disruptive of Army communications" (Letters from Iwo Jima).
Before the final charge against the Americans, the remaining soldiers, led by General Kuribayashi are considering surrender, but are interrupted by an incoming broadcast from the headquarters. They are played a song sung by
4 The Kempeitai were the military police of the Japanese Army. In occupied territories the Kempeitai had police jurisdiction, which they exercised ruthlessly. The Kempeitai acquired a reputation fully as vile as the German Gestapo (Kempeitai).
34 Japanese children, urging them to fight on, as "The fate of our Imperial country lies in the hands of this island" (Letters from Iwo Jima). This is obviously not true as the island is not very important strategically and the fact that no support at all has been sent to help. This shows that many of the soldiers simply had no other choice but to fight, or they would face severe punishment for refusing.
There is also a conflict between traditional code of conduct and a more modern thinking among the Japanese ranks. Ramsay claims that "the soldiers of Letters from Iwo Jima are at the mercy not only of war but of the governing body that sent them to fight" (92). When general Kuribayashi arrives on the island, he instantly clashes with the older general and his officers, who have a more traditional view on combat. After he suggests moving away from beach defences and instead to make tunnels in the mountain, most of the other officers are seen openly disagreeing with him. When Suribachi, one of the mountains on the island, is being overrun, the leading officer there asks General
Kuribayashi for permission to lead a suicide mission. He is refused and asked to retreat and fight on. He, however, refuses and commands the soldiers to kill themselves, as it is the "honourable" thing to do. The soldiers, some of which are crying and clearly disagree, kill themselves with grenades. The others, including Saigo, manage to retreat north, believing that fighting on is more useful than suicide. However, there they are met by Navy Lieutenant Ito, who punishes them for not dying as well and decides to execute them on the spot.
He is stopped by Kuribayashi, who confirms that he ordered them to retreat and
35 is told to stay put. Ito ignores the order, as he believes that they should charge the American ranks again and calls Kuribayashi "a weak American sympathizer"
(Letters from Iwo Jima) and leaves the caves. As Michael Koresky puts it:
"Letters from Iwo Jima is an inexorable trudge toward death, populated by those who aren't sure they're ready, even as their wartime philosophy tells them so." Some of the soldiers and officers are struggling with the philosophy imposed upon them by the regime, that values the deaths of their soldiers over their lives. This conflict of will to live and propaganda telling the soldiers to fight to the last or even kill themselves divides the soldiers, again showing that they are not a single mined group blindly following orders. The soldiers are merely victims of the ideology propagated during their times. This was not a "good war." There is no good or evil to be seen here, only death and suffering, to an equal measure on both sides.
4.6. Summary
Letters from Iwo Jima goes against the films made during the 1940s and depicts the Japanese soldiers to be just as human as the Americans. They feel fear, anger and the war has the same traumatizing impact on them as anyone else. A lot of the soldiers in the films have wives and children, and were recruited against their will and otherwise coerced into fighting for their country, when they would like nothing more than simply to return home and live their lives as before. While some of them are fanatical, they are far from the emotionless horde bent on killing Americans that they were in Guadalcanal
36 Diary. Both sides are equal, there is no good or evil. This contrasts greatly with the old films and is a great effort of the director in making the Japanese soldier equal to the Americans, without going so far as to glorify them in any way.
5. Japanese-American Relations after WWII
After the war ended, Japan was occupied by the Allied powers, led by the
United States. This occupation lasted until September 8, 1951, when the San
Francisco Peace Treaty (also known as Peace Treaty with Japan) was signed, granting Japan sovereignty. From this point onwards, Japan has been an independent country and an ally of the United States. As trade between the two countries expanded, Japanese people became less dependent on the United
States and with the newly formed alliance, they were now on equal terms. In the years that followed, the United States slowly returned all the territories that were taken during the war. As Japan turned into a Cold War ally against the
Communist China, the negative images of their people have slowly started to dissipate. After the Cold War, Japan and the United States were already long- term allies, as well as economic partners, their economies now intertwined. As the focus slowly shifted from strong military to a successful economy, Japan further prospered, giving rise to the question whether their newly found power could be a danger to the United States. While this did create some tension between the two countries politically, the two nations considered each other to be a close friend, a helpful military ally and an important business partner.
37 The vast majority of American population viewed Japan positively. This trend remained. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center claims that about two-thirds of Americans trust Japan a great deal or a fair amount and more than 80% prefer that the ties between the two countries remain the same or get even closer. On a more personal level, the Americans associate positive personality traits with the Japanese, and no negative stereotypes are largely believed. The Japanese are seen as hard-working and honest (Americans,
Japanese: Mutual Respect). The negative traits stressed in the 1940s films seem to have been mostly forgotten. This improvement since World War II has been significant and is therefore reflected in the media.
6. Conclusion
While it is obvious that the war time media would depict America's enemies as bad or evil, films like Guadalcanal Diary take this notion too far, exaggerating every little detail about the Japanese and twisting it to utterly dehumanize them, showing them as smaller, weaker, more cowardly and stupid compared to the Americans, who are shown to be superior in every way. Because the
Japanese are apparently inferior in every possible manner, however, the film- makers of the time also needed to figure out a way to also make them appear at least somewhat dangerous. They achieved this by making them employ tactics that might be considered rather cowardly by the viewers, such as pretending to be dead, only to shoot an American soldier in the back, or hiding up in the palm trees, taking shots at unsuspecting Marines. The image of the
38 Japanese snipers climbing the trees has also often lead to them being compared to various animals, most often monkeys or baboons. In general, if there was a way to take a shot at the Americans, whether through an ambush or an air raid, when there was little chance to retaliate, the Japanese were shown to employ it. However, when it came to a direct engagement with the enemy, whether during a last stand of the American soldiers scenario in Bataan, or the final push of the American forces in Guadalcanal Diary, the Japanese forces are killed by the dozens for every dead American soldier, as their supposed weaknesses become apparent again. They are also shown to be fanatics, completely dedicated to serving their emperor (pushing away and hiding the idea of them fighting for their own lives, or even their families) and are quick to kill and even die in his name. They are depicted as all unified in this belief and therefore turn into a sort of faceless mass of soldiers, one exactly like the other, with no emotion or personality whatsoever.
In contrast to this, Letters from Iwo Jima depicts the Japanese soldiers as equal and rather similar to the Americans, facing the same situations in their daily lives in a military camp, talking to each other, laughing and joking, complaining about the bad food and so on. They each have their own personality and a backstory, including the glimpse of their family lives, things that were largely avoided in the older films. Not all of them blindly obey the emperor, as most of them were recruited against their will and are simply trying to survive, so that they could go home, even if they have to surrender to get out of the terrible war. The theme itself moves away from the idea that there is
39 a good side and a bad side of the conflict and rather depicting the war itself as the evil, which affects both sides equally and rather destructively. Letters managed to show the Japanese soldiers in a much better light, equal to the
Americans, without going too far (glorifying them in any way). This is surely a step in the right direction, although it took decades for a film like this to be made. This is likely the result of ever improving relations between the two countries, who have become allies and economic partners after the war, and as they have stayed together, standing on the same side against possible threats, such as the Communist China and the Soviet Union, the negative image of the
Japanese has disappeared from the American media and the shift moved more towards portraying the war itself as a terrible thing that affects all the nations involved, eliminating the notion that there is a good side and a bad one.
By analysing the way the Japanese were portrayed in the films this thesis hopes to make the reader aware of the dangerous power films have to influence the public opinion on a particular group. It is necessary to be able to recognize these attempts, as they can have long-lasting impact on the general populace of entire nations and can even endanger citizens within those nations
(for example, the persecution of Japanese-Americans during WWII). The danger of propaganda is ever present and it is and will be used again and again
(demonization of Muslims, North Korea). It is up to the viewer to properly recognize these attempts in order to not be easily influenced by them, thus preventing the decades needed to heal the damage inflicted.
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43 8. Abstract
This thesis focuses on the depiction of Japanese soldiers in American war films.
The first part focuses on the film Guadalcanal Diary from 1943, as well as some other films made during that period, to examine the various ways the Japanese soldiers are depicted during a time of war, when media could have potentially been influenced by propaganda, attempts to dehumanize the enemy and provoke hate towards them, justifying the war and trying to earn the favour of the general population, which would result in easier recruitment and the selling of war bonds.
The second part of the thesis concerns itself with the film Letters from
Iwo Jima, made in 2006. While the concept of the film is rather similar
(American Marines landing on an island defended by the Japanese soldiers), this film is shot mostly from the Japanese perspective. The thesis examines how
(and if) any aspects of their depiction seen in the wartime films remain, and if so, in what magnitude. The thesis then gives some explanation as to how the relations between the countries improved, which likely had positive impact on the Japanese image in American eyes.
By analysing various ways in which propaganda creates a negative image of the Japanese, this thesis hopes to inform the reader of such danger in the future, making them aware and able to recognize further such attempts in order to not be influenced by them.
Keywords: Propaganda, American film, World War II, media, Japan
44 9. Abstrakt
Tato práce se zabývá ztvárněním japonských vojáků v amerických válečných filmech. První část se soustřeďuje na film Guadalcanal Diary z roku 1943, včetně několika dalších děl této doby, a zkoumá, jakým způsobem jsou japonští vojáci zobrazováni. Jelikož tyto filmy byly natočeny v době války, je pravděpodobné, že v nich bude možné objevit stopy propagandy. Je zde zřejmá snaha vytvořit negativní obraz Japonců coby nepřítele, který je ve všech ohledech slabší a jehož existence hraničí se zvířecí. Těmito pokusy filmy ospravedlňují tuto válku a snaží se získat podporu obyvatelstva, ať už zvýšeným náborem vojáků nebo prodejem válečných dluhopisů.
Druhá část se soustřeďuje na film Letters from Iwo Jima z roku 2006. I když je předchozím filmům tématicky velmi podobný, je natočen z pohledu japonských vojáků. Práce se pokusí analyzovat jak a jestli se jejich ztvárnění od dob druhé světové války změnilo, popřípadě v jakém množství jejich negativní obraz zůstal. Následuje vysvětlení toho, jak se vztahy mezi těmito dvěma národy postupem času od dob války zlepšovaly, což mělo positivní dopad na jejich zobrazování v amerických médiích.
Zkoumáním způsobů, kterými jsou Japonci takto ztvárněni se práce pokusí informovat čtenáře o nebezpečí propagandy, která může mít následky i poté, co konflikt mezi dvěma stranami dávno skončil. Pokud si těchto pokusů o vytvoření negativního smýšlení k jinému národu budeme schopni v budoucnu všimnout, bude snazší se jim ubránit.
Klíčová slova: Americký film, 2. světová válka, propaganda, média, Japonsko
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