The Body and Japanese Cinema
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THE BODY AND JAPANESE CINEMA Ana Došen A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Media and Communications Singidunum University 2017 ©2017 Ana Došen All rights reserved Faculty of Media and Communications Singidunum University CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL __________________________________ This is to certify that Ph.D. thesis of Ana Došen has been approved by the Examining Committee For the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thesis committee: _______________________________________________ Dr Aneta Stojnić, thesis supervisor (Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University) _______________________________________________ Dr Jovan Čekić, member (Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University) _______________________________________________ Dr Zoran Skrobanović, member (Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade) ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Body and Japanese Cinema By Ana Došen The dissertation The Body and Japanese Cinema examines the notion of body in context of Japanese culture, specifically in a film domain. Throughout this study converging the cultural and philosophical models of both East and West, the focus is on various aspects of the body perception generated and mediated in Japan. This dissertation is the first attempt in Serbian scholarship, on Japanese cinema, to explore the corporeal perspective of Japanese identity. The first part of the dissertation features an extended analysis of the Japanese cultural outlook dealing with the questions of body and language, silence and visual space. Even though this is a study on nationally determined culture, it opposes to drawing the conclusions on the Japanese uniqueness following the Nihonjinron discourses of homogeneity. Rather, the focus is on the issues of heterogeneous taxonomy that could provide a platform for better understanding of Japanese culture as well as to offer a standpoint from which it is possible to indicate the similarities and differences of other, not necessarily national, identities. Without any intention of cultural essentialism, I argue that due to distinctive attributes and specificity of Japanese language and in addition, firmly established communicative practices that indicate intuitive understanding that goes beyond spoken words, the visceral perception is the crucial point of the Japanese film viewing. Second part of this study is a close analysis of selected movies from the filmographies of well-known Japanese cineastes. In particularly, this work proposes the taxonomy that deals with invisible aspects of the body in Japanese cinema. Chosen filmmakers whose opuses have been here reinterpreted are familiar to the audience outside Japan but their work is located on the furthest edges of mainstream, rendering them a somewhat outsider position. Here, the prominence is found in perspective that these filmmakers' attitudes resist the "official" Japan imagology which fixates the corpus of what is intended for foreigners to understand. Their body of work contrives effective communicative strategies that allow kaleidoscopic and more diverse insights of Japan. Keywords: Japan, cinema, phenomenology, Nihonjinron, silence, visceroceptiveness, the invisible REZIME Telo i japanski film Doktorska disertacija Telo i japanski film preispituje fenomen tela u kontekstu japanske kulture, tačnije kinematografije. Ukrštajući kulturalne i filozofske modele Istoka i Zapada, fokus ovog rada je na različitim aspektima percepcije tela zastupljenih u Japanu. Ovaj istraživački rad predstavlja prvi pokušaj sagledavanja korpocentrične perspektive japanskog identiteta i njenog predstavljanja kroz medij japanske kinematografije u domenu srpske akademske zajednice. Prvi deo rada bavi se detaljnom analizom japanskih kulturoloških modela koji ukazuju na pitanja odnosa tela i jezika, tišine i vizuelnog prostora. Iako se rad zasniva na određenju nacionalno definisane kulture, izbegava se izvođenje zaključaka o japanskoj "posebnosti" prisutnih u Nihonđinron diskursu o homogenosti. Tačnije, fokus je na pitanjima heterogene taksonomije koja bi mogla omogućiti platformu za bolje razumevanje japanske kulture, kao i stanovište sa kog je moguće ukazati na sličnosti i razlike drugih, ne nužno nacionalnih identiteta. Bez namere upuštanja u kulturološki esencijalizam, ideja ovog rada je da se istakne visceralna percepcija kao ključna tačka u procesu japanskog doživljaja filma zasnovanog na specifičnim karakteristikama i pojedinostima japanskog jezika, kao i na čvrsto utemeljenim komunikološkim praksama, što upućuje na intuitivno razumevanje koje prevazilazi modus reči i govora. Drugi deo rada predstavlja analizu odabranih filmova iz opusa istaknutih japanskih sineasta. Preciznije, rad predlaže model originalne sistematizacije tih filmskih dela, baziran na nevidljivim aspektima tela u kontekstu japanske kinematografije. Odabrani filmski stvaraoci, čija se dela ovde reinterpretiraju poznati su i izvan granica Japana, ali je njihov rad smešten na krajnje granice mejnstrima, čime zauzimaju donekle autsajdersku poziciju. Od izuzetnog je značaja činjenica da se poetike ovih filmskih autora snažno opiru imagologiji "zvaničnog" Japana koji fiksira određeni, poželjni korpus znanja namenjenog prevashodno strancima. Nasuprot tome, njihova dela stvaraju efektivne komunikološke strategije koja omogućavaju kaleidoskopske i slojevite uvide o Japanu. Ključne reči: Japan, film, fenomenologija, Nihonđinron, tišina, viscerocepcija, nevidljivo Note of Japanese names: Japanese names are written in the usual Japanese style, the surname followed by first name. Long Japanese vowels are not marked with macrons but instead with vowels used in Japanese language except in the case of common words (such as topographies). Japanese terms are generally italicised (e.g. haragei). TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Against homogeneity – Empire of Nihonjinron ....................................................................... 21 Corpocentric Japan ................................................................................................................... 34 Surpassing the Language ......................................................................................................... 57 Silent Bodies: Japanese Taciturnity and Image Thinking.........................................................70 Anatomy of Silence.......................................................................................................... 71 Performing silence…………………………………………………………………........78 Reflecting silence………………………………………………………………..............85 Visceral perception & Cinema .................................................................................................. 91 Merleau-Ponty & Phenomenological Touch (ing) of Cinema………………………….94 Toward Sensuous Cinematic Phenomenologies……………………………...……….102 Japan & Visceral Cinematic Experience………………………………………………112 Rediscovering National Identity though the Erotic: Incestuous and Orgiastic in the films of Imamura and Miike ................................................................................................................ 130 Please grant me the part of my body ............................................................................. 135 Have you ever done it with your dad ............................................................................ 143 Godzilla's Body: Reviving Memories through Collective Flesh ............................................ 149 Mnemonic body ............................................................................................................ 151 Relentless phantom limbs ............................................................................................. 154 Anime Body ............................................................................................................................ 162 Corporeal Mediascapes of Kon Satoshi's Anime .................................................................... 178 Running into an Illusion .............................................................................................. 179 Embodied Delusions ..................................................................................................... 185 Dream(ing) Bodies ....................................................................................................... 189 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 198 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 202 Filmography ........................................................................................................................... 211 What is so ghastly about exposed intestines? Why, when we see the insides of a human being, do we have to cover our eyes in terror? Why are people so shocked at the sight of blood pouring out? Why are a man's intestines ugly? Is it not exactly the same in quality as the beauty of youthful, glossy skin? [...] Why does there seem to be something inhuman about regarding human beings like roses and refusing to make any distinction between the inside of their bodies and the outside? If only human beings could reverse their spirits and their bodies, could gracefully turn them inside out