University of Cincinnati

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI May 20, 2008 Date:___________________ Christa A. Knox I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Art in: Art History It is entitled: Ukiyo-e, Madame Chrysantheme and Babel: The Persistent Stereotype of Japanese Women from 1885 to 2007 This work and its defense approved by: Miki Hirayama, Ph.D. Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________Diane Mankin, Ph.D. _______________________________Diane K. Smith, MA _______________________________ _______________________________ Ukiyo-e, Madame Chrysanthéme and Babel: The Persistent Stereotype of Japanese Women 1885-2007 A thesis submitted to the Department of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Art History of the School of Art of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning 2007 by Christa Knox B.F.A, Art Academy of Cincinnati, 2001 Committee Chair: Dr. Mikiko Hirayama Abstract In this thesis I explore the ways in which Japanese women are viewed in twenty- first century western culture in conjunction with ukiyo-e prints. Critical to this discussion is an investigation of how nineteenth-century European and American travelers viewed Japan and its inhabitants. Images of women in ukiyo-e, woodblock prints and paintings which were exported and sold in western bazaars, shaped the western misconception of Japanese women that has persisted into the present. Japanese goods representing graceful and statuesque women and beautiful men, combined with female impersonators in Kabuki theater, formed a fairy-tale image of Japan as an exotic culture that could easily be dominated by the West. By looking at a variety of artwork from nineteenth-century publications to contemporary films, I reveal the early misconceptions that transformed the Japanese into the “Other,” and how the racial stereotype survives into the twenty-first century. Acknowledgements There are many I would like to thank for their assistance in the completion of this work. First, Dr. Mikiko Hirayama for all your knowledge, time, dedication and most importantly, for encouraging me to truly explore the subject. Dr. Diane Mankin and Professor Diane Smith, for you time, encouragement and feedback which allowed me to present the ideas within. To my parents, JoAnn and Lee, for everything, I thank you. My brother Kenny for listening to my thoughts late at night and for all you do. To Tammy Brandenburg, for listening to it, chapter by chapter, your support and time to write when I needed it most. A big thank you to my daughter, Trinity, for the understanding and quiet time when I needed to work and you wanted to play. To all of you who where there for me, I can never thank you enough. Table of Contents List of Illustrations i Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Ukiyo-e Print in the West 14 Chapter 2 Madame Chrysanthéme, Madame Butterfly 22 and the Image of Woodblock Prints Chapter 3 Sayonara and Babel: 30 The Weak, Mute, Sexualized Japanese Other in Hollywood Conclusion 39 Illustrations 44 Bibliography 57 List of Illustrations Figure 1. Omon of Shinyoshiwara. Circa. 1903. http://www.oldtokyo.com/yoshiwara.html Figure 2. Kitao Shigemasa. Two Girls Standing, One Holding an Open Book. Circa. 1770s. Hanging Scroll, color on silk. From the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Galleries Digital Collection: http://www.asia.si.edu/visitor/history.htm Figure 3. Kitao Shigemasa. Two Girls Standing, One Holding an Open Book. Circa. 1770s. Woodblock print. Figure 4. Hosoda Eishi. Oiran and Fireflies. Circa early nineteenth century. Hanging Scroll, color and gold on silk. From the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Galleries Digital Collection: http://www.asia.si.edu/collections.singleObject.cfm?ObjectId=607. Figure 5. Suzuki Harunobu. Lovers Parting Sorrowfully. Circa mid-eighteenth century. Woodblock print. From The British Museum Digital Collection: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/ search_results_ids.aspx?IdNum=1906%2c1220%CO.669. Figure 6. Kashosai Shunsen. Oiran Parading. Circa early nineteenth century. Woodblock print. From The British Museum Digital Collection: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/ search_results_ids.aspx?IdNum=1906%2C1200%2CO.196. Figure 7. Ueno Hikoma. Pierre Loti, Pierre Le Cor and O-Kane-san. Circa 1885. From Jan van Rij, Madam Butterfly (2001), 31. Figure 8. Ying Huang as Cho-Cho-San. From Madame Butterfly, DVD (2002). Figure 9. A Japanese Actress, Cosmopolitan (1900). From the collection of Dr. Greg Waller, University of Indiana. Figure 10. Miyoshi Taka as Hana-Ogi. From Sayonara, DVD (1957,). Figure 11. Miyoshi Taka as Hana-Ogi. From Sayonara, DVD (1957,). Figure 12. Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko, film still from Babel, DVD (2006). Figure 13. Rinko Kikucki as Chieko, film still from Babel, DVD (2006). i Figure 14. Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell, film still from Basic Instinct, DVD (1992). Figure 15. Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell, film still from Basic Instinct, DVD (1992). Figure 16. Bathing. From Abercrombie and Fitch Christmas Field Guide (2003). ii Introduction An elitist look at Japan by the United States and Western Europe fostered a misconception of the East as the Other, which fully took hold in the nineteenth century. The term Other, one of the key terms in the study of Orientalism, was first discussed by Edward Said (1935-2003) in 1978.1 It refers to the representation of the Orient in western consciousness which states that the Other, those that are non-Western European decent, are considered inferior or alien to the West. Thus, the discourse of Orientalism, which originated in England and France, primarily focuses on countries of the former Ottoman Empire states that those countries east of France are culturally inferior to the West.2 Victorian societies of the West, however, orientalized the people of Japan as well. First published in France in 1709, 3 the French translation and subsequent dissemination of the novel The Thousand Nights and One Night stories, or Alf Layla wa-Layla 4 helped to classify the many people of the Near East under one unifying umbrella, that of the exotic, oriental Other, to the western eye. The export and commercial distribution of Japanese arts in the latter half of the nineteenth century, specifically ukiyo-e woodblock paintings and prints, lent to the subsequent orientalization of the Japanese people and culture as well those in the Near East. Though an Orientalist attitude and colonial domination have primarily focused on the Arab lands in the Near East, they had just as much impact on how Japanese woodblock prints were viewed in the West. 1 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979). 2 Ibid. 3 Thousand Nights and One Night was first published in French by Jean Antoine Galland (1645-1715). Current English edition is available and was published by Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) in 1885. 4 The original date of publication is unknown, but several original manuscripts date to 800-900 AD. 1 My thesis is not merely an investigation of ukiyo-e works, but the transition of the Japanese artworks from their original context into a contemporary orientalist context in western culture. As the beauty and allure of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter were introduced to the West, Japanese culture became a mere commodity in the West, fueled by Japonisme and the search for the exotic. The desire was not to enjoy the beauty of the images, but rather to own and repress the subjects; this would continue for generations, in novels, operas, and even Hollywood films. With the translation of the Arabic fairy tale, which invaded the Victorian collective consciousness, Orientalism was further emphasized by artists such as Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824- 1904)5 and his paintings of slave markets and harems, sights which the artist never witnessed but rather created from his imagination. These highly detailed images illustrated the romantic notion of the Orient and came to represent the desired image of the region. In the modern world of the mid-to late nineteenth century, they provided a fantasy world where western society could break free of the invading industrialization. The need for western societies to escape their own progress led to the desire for domination and colonization of the lands in the Near East and East Asia6. This need to control and dominate the Other coincided with the mystique associated with cultures deemed exotic by the industrialized west, creating what Guy Debord (1931-1994) later 7 dubbed the “commodity of the spectacle.” 5 Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter in the historical and Orientalist styles. His romantic images of the Orient are so closely related to Orientalist thought that his paintings are reproduced on nearly every publication relating to the subject. Many of his works were shown at the Salon of 1857 and helped fuel the publics’ desire for colonization and imperialism into the Ottoman regions. 6 In contemporary scholarship, the term Near East usually refers to the countries of Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, while East Asia refers to the countries of China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea and Taiwan. 7Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: Zone Books), 1995. 2 The spectacle, as discussed by Debord in his 1967 publication The Society of the Spectacle,8 is “not a collection of images; rather, it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.”9 This concept leads to the understanding that the spectacle is not only an event but also the appearance that it creates, a social relationship within the collective society that is mediated by the images created by the members of that society.10 The concept of the spectacle in society stretches as far back as Plato and his allegory of the cave from the Republic.11 In Book VII of the Republic, Socrates discusses the authenticity of images, a critique of the spectacle within a discourse of power and knowledge.

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