A PUBLICATION OF THE ASIAN EDUCATIONAL MEDIA SERVICE Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies ✦ University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign A E M S
Vol. 1, No. 1 News and Reviews Spring 1998
The first chal- Teaching with Film: A New Textbook lenge in doing the >> by Karl G. Heider textbook was deciding which few years ago I began to write an introducto- little or no time for introduction, films to use. I first A ry cultural anthropology textbook which uses contextualization, and analysis. thought I would films to introduce cultural anthropology. It is The videotape revolution, even have only five focus called Seeing Anthropology: Cultural Anthropology as it has debased the visual quality cultures, and use Through Film (1997). Each chapter is built around of films, has opened new possi- only films on those one or two ethnographic bilities. 16mm projectors are five, thus achieving a films, and the book is sold to disappearing fast, but most certain redundancy, essay students shrink-wrapped instructors have access to VCRs, letting students soak with two videocassettes con- or even video projectors in class- up only what they taining short clips from each film. That amounts rooms, and many colleges have could understand to 21 clips for 17 chapters. This allows students expanded their reserve reading rather than a sprin- to do their homework—reading the chapters, rooms to include reserve video kling of dozens of viewing the clips—before class, and allows the viewing facilities, and it looks as if virtually all stu- exotic cultures. That instructor to use the class time for discussion and dents have easy access to VCRs where they live. didn’t work. Still, I concentrate on those five: lecture. Of course, the full films can also be I had already been experimenting with showing Japan, Bali (plus Malaysia), Dani (Irian Jaya/New screened in class, or made available as outside in class only short clips from ethnographic films, Guinea), Yanomamo (Venezuela), and !Kung viewing. I had been using film extensively in and in many films I could find a 10-minute section (Kalahari). I tried to choose films with good teaching anthropology for a long time, but I have which contains enough rich materials to make the ethnographic literature directly supporting them. become less and less enthusiastic about turning point of the class. (Of course, for some sorts of And of course, I was looking for films which were entire sessions over to a long film which leaves courses one would need to show the entire film.) continued on page 2
Contents Welcome ...... 2 How to Contact AEMS ...... 2 “Teaching with Film: A New Textbook” by Karl G. Heider ...... 1 “Japanese Wartime Film at the National Archives” by Roger W. Purdy ...... 9 Reviews of films and videos: The Spirit of Hiroshima ...... 3 Silk and Steel: New Roles for Indonesian Women...... 4 China News Stories ...... 5 Occupied Japan: An Experiment in Democracy ...... 6 The Gate of Heavenly Peace ...... 7 Hello Photo ...... 8 Puja: Hindu Expressions of Devotion . . . 8 – Osaka Story ...... 10 Pins and Noodles ...... 11 From the documentary Hello Photo. See review page 8. Guide to Distributors ...... 12 Asian Educational Media Service The Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS) is a pro- Welcome gram of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From the Center Director: Outreach is a central mission of the AEMS offers information about where to find audio- Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana- visual media resources for teaching and learning about Champaign. The Center provides various forms of services to help Asia, and advice about which ones may best suit your instructors in educational institutions from elementary schools to colleges needs. In addition to AEMS News and Reviews, in teaching about Asia. These include Center-organized training workshops published twice a year, services include a free call-in/ on Asia, a summer workshop on China for secondary school teachers, write-in service and a Web site. To add your name to participation in teacher-training sessions at national professional education- our mailing list, request additional copies of the al meetings, and development of curriculum units on Asia for use in social newsletter to use in workshops or to share with your studies classes. colleagues, or ask for help in locating resources, please contact us. To further increase our outreach activities and support the work of AEMS is made possible by generous support from George T. Yu teachers, with the support of the Freeman Foundation, the Center has The Freeman Foundation. Additional funding in established a new program, the Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS). 1998–99 will be provided by The Japan Foundation The new service provides an annotated, searchable database of audio-visual media materials on Asia on a Center for Global Partnership. Web site; in addition, AEMS also maintains a free phone service to answer queries and a video collec- For more information, contact: tion on Asia for browsing. It is the goal of AEMS to provide a comprehensive and informative database AEMS, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies of educational media materials on Asia which will assist instructors in their classroom teaching. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I have been an avid user of videos in my contemporary Chinese politics class. For example, the two 230 International Studies Building, MC-483 videos on China, China in Revolution 1911–1949 and The Mao Years 1949–1976, serve as excellent 910 South Fifth Street Champaign, IL 61820 introductions to China’s turbulent political developments from the early 1900s through the Cultural Revolution. Through the use of contemporary news films and interviews with individuals who experi- Telephone: 1-888-828-AEMS (1-888-828-2367) or 217-265-0640 enced firsthand the revolution, these videos bring to life the tumultuous years. “A picture is worth a Fax: 217-265-0641 thousand words” is nowhere better demonstrated than in these videos. E-mail: [email protected] I invite you to use AEMS as a resource to assist you in teaching about Asia. Please tell us about edu- Web: http://www.aems.uiuc.edu cational videos on Asia which you have found useful but are not included in our listing. We want to be Advisory Board the best and most comprehensive educational audio-visual database provider on Asia. Caroline Bailey, Program Associate, Asian Educational Media Service Burnill Clark, President and C.E.O., KCTS Television From the Program Director: “Upgrades.” When the agent at the air- Richard Gordon, Executive Producer, Long Bow line counter offers you an upgrade it means you get a more comfortable seat Group, Inc. on the plane and more personal attention from the cabin crew. When the Peter Grilli, Executive Director, Donald Keene Center for agent at the computer shop offers to sell you an upgrade it seems to mean: Japanese Culture, Columbia University “We think we finally fixed that little problem with the system—at your Karl G. Heider, Professor of Anthropology, University expense, of course.” of South Carolina Many of us think that the Internet needs an upgrade in both senses. We Laurel Kendall, Curator, Asian Ethnographic Collections, American Museum of Natural History; Adjunct want a more comfortable seat and a more user-friendly way to travel so that Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University cruising through mountains of infinite information does not demand infi- Marianna McJimsey, Executive Director of nite amounts of patience. Now in the late Nineties, people are talking about ASIANetwork, Inc.; Lecturer in History/Social David W. Plath a Second Web, and academic organizations are beginning to offer ratings of Studies Education, The Colorado College ’Net sites that are proving useful and reliable. Sharon Wheaton, C.E.O., E.T. Interactive Multimedia Diana Marston Wood, Associate Director, Asian Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh Textbook teaching a wide variety of other courses on Asia Editorial Board (Faculty and staff of the University continued from page 1 and interested in this general approach, let me of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.) briefly describe the Asian films: Nancy Abelmann, Associate Professor of Anthropology didactic, conveying textbook-like information • The Goddess and the Computer is Stephen and East Asian Languages and Cultures rather than being more evocative and impression- Lansing’s film about the Balinese irrigation sys- Clark E. Cunningham, Professor Emeritus of istic. These last two criteria eliminated many of tems backed up by his books and articles (1991, Anthropology the best recent ethnographic films, and often 1993, 1995). I use it for the Introductory Chapter Roberta H. Gumport, Assistant Director and Outreach Coordinator of the Center for East Asian favored old standards. I tried to choose films rep- to give a picture of anthropological research which and Pacific Studies resenting different culture types and different is both theoretical and applied. Jacquetta Hill, Professor of Anthropology and of world areas, but a disproportionate number of • Releasing the Spirits is a film by Timothy Educational Psychology the films chosen show Asian cultures (Japan, Asch about a group cremation ceremony in a Blair Kling, Professor of History Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Balinese village. It is supported by Lansing’s gener- George T. Yu, Professor of Political Science and Director Guinea). Readers who are interested in a cultural al book on Bali (1995) and it features a woman, of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies anthropology textbook can request a copy from Jero Tapakan, who is described in other films and Allyn & Bacon. But for most readers, who are in the book by Linda Connor et al. (1986). I use Staff it for the chapter on ritual. Program Director: David W. Plath Program Coordinator/Editor: Rebecca Payne 2 DESIGN: EVELYN C. SHAPIRO AEMS is part of this larger effort to tame the wild Web. I’ve been thrilled, and actually a little surprised, by the enthusiasm, even excitement, that our academic colleagues—who usually play it cool—exhibit when they hear what AEMS is trying to achieve. You can judge the results for yourself by sampling our first crop of media reviews, in this issue of the newsletter. So we are up and running. But nobody in the organization is ready to claim that the concept has been perfected. Tell us where we need to issue an upgrade.
From the Program Coordinator: In July of last year I came to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to assume the position of Program Coordinator. I am responsible for coordi- nating the day-to-day operations of the program from developing The Spirit the database, Web site, and publications to helping you locate audio-visual resources for teaching and learning about Asia. It is of Hiroshima my goal, and the program’s mission, to promote interest in and >> Produced and directed by Geoffrey Poister. Distributed by National Asian American understanding of Asian cultures and peoples. I am committed to Telecommunications Association. 56 minutes. 1996. Rebecca Payne helping you by doing my best to provide you with accurate, timely, and useful information about available resources. he Spirit of Hiroshima is an introduction to Thanks to the generosity of The Freeman Foundation and the support of Professors George Yu T the issues surrounding the atomic bombing and David Plath and the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, a program, founded by the late of Hiroshima and to the attempts by Japanese in Professor Jackson Bailey of Earlham College and designed to help educators in finding audio-visual that city today to make its legacy meaningful to resources on Japan, found a new home at the University of Illinois. In this phase of the program, themselves and to future generations. It is a well- we have expanded in a couple of ways. First, we have increased coverage in our database to include intentioned but not altogether successful film that resources on all parts of Asia. Second, we have begun to include reviews of resources on our Web will be most useful with younger audiences, who site. In this work, we have been encouraged by and have greatly benefitted from the expertise of will respond to its emphasis on the experience of our national advisory board, on-campus editorial board, and panels of reviewers. We very much children. Older and more sophisticated viewers appreciate the efforts of all of these individuals and the contributors to this inaugural issue of the will want better storytelling and a more thorough AEMS newsletter. analysis of the political, military, and humanitari- I invite you to visit our Web site
3 Textbook continued from page 3 • How to Behave is made by Vietnamese film- makers in the form of a documentary, although I suppose that it is actually scripted. It explores vari- ous Vietnamese cultural concepts like “the people,” “kindness,” and “leprosy,” and I used it for the chapter on Psychologies and Cultures. It is the only film of the 21 not made by Westerners, and the only one made by people of that culture, so it serves several different purposes. • House of the Spirit, made by the American Friends Service Committee, describes the (success- ful) attempts of two insightful American physicians to understand the medical culture of Khmer refugees in the U.S. It is not specifically ethnographic, and in fact the two physicians show no indication of knowing anything about anthro- pology, but their understandings of the Khmer are just what we hope from an anthropological imagi- nation, and I use it for the Applied Anthropology chapter as a positive example. Silk and Steel: In the text, each film is introduced with a sketch of the culture, a description of the film New Roles for Indonesian Women itself, and some set-up questions which are in- >> Produced by Susan Fleming and Andrew Ogilvie. Distributed by Filmakers Library. tended to sharpen the students’ viewing. I have 56 minutes. 1996. used the package twice for introductory cultural ilk and Steel is about a television journalist who also soft. In telling this, it is she who speaks the anthropology classes, and am about to rethink and Swishes to make a film about Indonesian line about silk and steel that gives the film its title. rewrite for a second edition. With thousands of women pushing the boundaries of women’s roles. Through the lawyer we also meet labor orga- films to choose from (see Heider and Hermer This is a film about the making of a film. Along nizers who risk getting fired or even killed, and a 1995) one can make all manner of combinations. this narrative line are strung several intercut por- client who brought charges of sexual harassment My editor at Allyn & Bacon, Sylvia Shepard, traits of women whose achievements set them apart against her boss, a university administrator, and spent an inordinate amount of time (and produc- in some way. The journalist, a human rights lawyer, lost the case. At home, the lawyer works in the tion money) arranging permissions to extract the and a religion teacher receive most of the attention, kitchen with her full-time housekeeper, and like 21 film clips and market them with the text. but as the journalist and her team of camera men most working women everywhere, finds that, In the end, no one turned her down, but none and reporters travel throughout Jakarta interview- despite her professional work outside the home, of us had ever heard of such an arrangement, ing and filming various women at home and at she, rather than her husband, feels responsibility and it took Shepard’s best negotiating skills to work, viewers also meet a batik merchant, young for the children and the household. achieve this. textile factory workers, a parliamentarian, an entre- This film will be appropriate for advanced It is too soon to tell how successful this preneur educated in computer science, and even a high school or for college classrooms, especially if attempt to integrate films and teaching will be. I rap artist. the students have some preparation on the politi- have heard mainly positive reactions, mainly from The film clearly sketches the women’s distinct cal constraints under which journalists must friends using the package both in Introductory personalities and work environments. The journal- operate in Indonesia, the debates and different Cultural Anthropology and for Ethnographic Film ist is a fashionable, high-powered, high-energy perspectives that characterize Islam in this country, courses. But it is only one of many possible ways mogul who speaks almost exclusively in staccato and the rocky history of labor activism. While Silk to take advantage of the flexibility of video to English as she leads a brainstorm session about the and Steel could also be used in women’s studies enhance our teaching. ✦ story line and whips her staff into action. The classrooms to good effect, students who have sub- teacher, daughter of a man who also taught reli- stantial knowledge about Indonesia will be able to Bibliography gion, educates young Muslim women about get the most from the rich images and interviews Bestor, Theodore. 1989. Neighborhood Tokyo. ✦ sexuality and about parity in their relationships in this film. Stanford: Stanford University Press. with men. She starts from the assumption that >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Connor, Linda, Patsy Asch, and Timothy Asch. “there is not just one Islam”—religion has to fit the Rita Smith Kipp is Professor of Anthropology at 1986. Jero Tapakan: Balinese Healer. changing circumstances and lives of people. She Kenyon College. She teaches a course on the Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. wears a loose, transparent scarf over her head when Cultures of Southeast Asia, and her research is teaching, but most of the young women in her focused on Indonesia. She has two articles forth- Geertz, Hildred. 1968. “Latah in Java: A classes wear the jilbab and speak of the duty of coming about gender in colonial missions. Theoretical Paradox,” Indonesia, 3: 93-104. someday serving their husbands. We learn that, in Silk and Steel: New Roles for Indonesian Women Heider, Karl G. 1997. Seeing Anthropology: her own family, her husband does much of the is available from Filmakers Library. Price is $295 Cultural Anthropology Through Film. Boston: child care, and that she encourages her children of for sale and $75 for rental. Allyn & Bacon. both sexes to be androgynous, that is, strong but 4 Heider, Karl G. and Carol Hermer. (Eds.). 1995. Films for Anthropological Teaching. Eighth Edition. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association. Lansing, J. Stephen. 1991. Priests and Programmers: Technologies of Power in the Engineered Landscape of Bali. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ______. 1993. “Emergent Properties of Balinese Water Temple Networks,” American Anthropologist, 95 (1): 97-114. ______. 1995. The Balinese. Forth Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Simons, Ronald C. 1997. Boo! Culture Experience, and the Startle Reflex. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Winzeler, Robert L. 1995. Latah in Southeast Asia: The History and Ethnography of a Culture- Bound Syndrome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Videography China News Stories >> Produced and distributed by the Noodlehead Network. 23 minutes. 1997. Farm Song is available from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Media Production his video consists of I do have one or two minor Group. Price is $75. T eight separate seg- quibbles. Several of the segments The Goddess and the Computer is available ments, each on a different ...this should be were shot in Chengde and some from Documentary Educational Resources. aspect of Chinese life and of the student narrators mispro- Price is $245 for purchase and $60 for rental. lasting from two to three a welcome and nounced the city’s name. I also minutes each. The video think that the statement that House of the Spirit is available from the American was made during a trip to (urban) Chinese adults do not Friends Service Committee. Price is $100. very useful China in 1997 by a group wear highly colored clothes is How to Behave is available from First Run Icarus of American middle video for use in overstated. While this might be Films. Price is $375 for purchase and $75 school students who were the norm in northern China and for rental. involved in developing the precollegiate with older Chinese in many parts of urban China, it is less the case Latah: A Culture Specific Elaboration of the Startle the stories and doing the further south, especially Shanghai, Reflex is available from Indiana University on-camera narration. classroom... and with young adults. All in all, Instructional Services. Price is $99 for pur- The segments cover this should be a welcome and chase and $30 for rental. Clothes, Spare Time (leisure activities), Food, the Forbidden City, very useful video for use in the precollegiate class- Neighborhood Tokyo is available from University School, Transportation, Buying Stuff, and Jobs. room, although its appeal would be greatest to of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Media Overall, they do a nice job in covering each of the students in the middle range of the suggested Production Group. Price is $35. topics in a short time. For example, in the seg- grade levels (grades 4–12). ✦ Releasing the Spirits: A Village Cremation in ment on Spare Time, they show a number of >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Bali is available from Documentary activities from adults playing chess and card games Roberta H. Gumport is Assistant Director and Educational Resources. Price is $245 for pur- to different sports (all ages) and several kinds of Outreach Coordinator of the Center for East chase and $40 for rental. popular entertainment. The viewer is left with an Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of appreciation of the wide range of leisure activities Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She organizes a available to the Chinese. The segment which offers >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> summer workshop on China for secondary school the least information is the one on the Forbidden Karl G. Heider is Professor of Anthropology at teachers and will lead a group of teachers to China City. The narrative is somewhat disconnected, giv- the University of South Carolina. His research is this summer. ing the impression that there was no clear idea of focused on Indonesia. He is author of China News Stories is available from what the producers wanted to get across to the Ethnographic Film (1976), Grand Valley Dani: Noodlehead Network. Price is $89 including pub- audience. While the major focus of these video Peaceful Warriors (1997, third edition), and Seeing lic performance rights. For individuals and segments is on young people, the adult world is Anthropology: Cultural Anthropology Through Film libraries not needing public performance rights, included as well. Also, wherever possible they have (1997) and co-editor of Films for Anthropological the price is $49. included short interviews (one or two questions) Teaching (1995). with Chinese.
5 Occupied Japan: An Experiment in Democracy Hiroshima >> Produced by Oregon Public Television. Distributed by PBS Video. 60 minutes. 1996. continued from page 3
he American Occupation of rights for women, labor, land viewers’ emotions. The film also acknowledges at T Japan following World War II is reform, censorship, war crimes trials, several junctures that Japan had been waging an surely one of the most fascinating Hirohito, etc), it is also concerned aggressive war in Asia and that Hiroshima and its chapters in human history. Where with giving voice and visage to a environs were military targets, however; and else can one go for a practicum in broad spectrum of people, across Masuda Tsutomu, the painter, asserts that Japan intercultural transformation that gender, class, ideological and national had in fact provoked the bombing by its aggres- benefitted most, if not all, involved. lines. Occupation officials like sion. The film thus provides a well-balanced, albeit Where else has democratic reform Faubion Bowers are included, and so essentially anecdotal, account of the Hiroshima worked as well as in Japan from are Eleanor Hadley and Beate Sirota catastrophe. 1945-1952? Yet, this story Gordon, who is credited with ensuring For adult viewers, the film is unsatisfying. The has often been told as one of civil rights for women in the postwar witnesses, particularly Ms. Matsubara, sincere as American values overcoming constitution. Prominent politicians like they undoubtedly are, seem scripted and wooden. Japanese culture, the imposition Gotoda Masaharu, Hashimoto Ryutaro Their accounts are poorly integrated into the story of democracy “from top down” and Ishihara Shintaro are interviewed, of the Tonais’ journey and easily overwhelm it, by the U.S. military on the silent, suffering and so is a group of Japanese farmers making it seem superfluous. There is little real Japanese folk. This new video claims that it will who lived through the food shortages of the early analysis of the reasons why the bomb was dropped challenge this America-centered perspective on the Occupation. Such a personal approach to history or its long-term signficance. We do not get to Occupation, “arguing for a distinctively Japanese is bound to appeal to college students and many know the Tonai family well enough to identify evolution that occurred in tandem with American teachers as well, and it can make the subject with them, nor are pertinent questions about their objectives.” The larger goal is to redress the approachable and enjoyable. obvious ambivalence toward Hiroshima’s identity unequal relationship between a superior America Overall, I think this video is an excellent as the first city decimated by nuclear weapons and a subservient Japan that many feel has charac- educational tool for advanced high school and broached. terized U.S.-Japan relations until recently. undergraduate students. By foregrounding individ- The Spirit of Hiroshima is thus best suited for These presentist concerns are evident through- uals and their relationships to historical events, it younger, less critical viewers. For more advanced out the video. One technique that is particularly brings to life the difficult issues at play in the U.S. high school and college audiences, alternatives effective is the use of interviews with Japanese Occupation—and their impact on contemporary would include the ABC News special Hiroshima: from a variety of walks of life who lived through U.S.-Japan relations. I have reservations about Why the Bomb Was Dropped (1995) and Enola Gay the Occupation (prominent politicians, farmers, how this video might be used in some classrooms, and the Atomic Bombing of Japan (History female entertainers) and with American officers since the relationship between this new evaluation Channel, 1995), which interrogate the bombing and GIs who were “on the spot” during the of the U.S. Occupation and a resurgent Japanese from “revisionist” and mainstream positions reforms. Memories and commentaries supplied by cultural nationalism is only hinted at in the video respectively. John Junkerman’s Hellfire: A Journey these people are then juxtaposed with a good deal (How many viewers will recall that Ishihara is the From Hiroshima (First Run Icarus Films, 1987) of footage from the period, ranging from the sur- notorious nationalist who urged his fellow examines the work of the painters Maruki Iri and render on board the USS Missouri to recent Japanese to just say “no” to the U.S.?). Some will Toshi, and does a superior job of approaching the protests against U.S. troops stationed in Japan. In surely celebrate this video as evidence of the bombing through the work of artists who devoted addition, analysis and commentary is provided by endurance of indigenous Japanese culture over their lives to exploring its meaning. ✦ leading American scholars of Japan John Dower American arrogance. But to do so would simply be >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> and Chalmers Johnson. (But why no Japanese his- to ignore the powerful testimony by many David G. Goodman is Professor of Japanese torians? Is it because we are supposed to privilege Japanese who experienced the Occupation and Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana- native voice while ceding the right to interpret who, like Gotoda Masaharu, remind us that those Champaign. He is the author of After Apocalypse: Japanese history to Americans?) In the end, the “American” cultural values of the Occupation are Four Japanese Plays of Hiroshima and Nagasaki video merely suggests that history is understood now very much at home in Japan today. ✦ (1994, reprint edition). through the lens of the present, and that changes >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Spirit of Hiroshima is available from in the U.S. and Japan’s relative strengths are shap- Kevin M. Doak is Associate Professor of History NAATA Distribution. Price is $265 for purchase ing how we understand the Occupation today. and of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the and $75 for rental. Consequently, Occupied Japan: An Experiment University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He Enola Gay and the Atomic Bombing of Japan is in Democracy adopts what might be called a “dis- specializes in modern Japanese cultural and intellec- available from Library Video Company. Price is cursive” approach to the controversies surrounding tual history, nationalism, and romanticism as social $19.95. military occupation. The objective, reinforced by ideology. His current research focuses on the idiom Hellfire: A Journey From Hiroshima is available the concluding remarks of the narrator, NPR’s of race and ethnic-nationalism in prewar Japan, from First Run Icarus Films. Price is $390 for pur- Robert Siegel, is to suggest that the significance of prewar Japanese political culture, and romanticism chase and $100 for rental. the U.S. Occupation of Japan is still under con- and modernism in twentieth-century Japan. He is Hiroshima: Why the Bomb Was Dropped is struction, and the best we can do is be sensitive to author of Dreams of Difference: The Japan Romantic available from Social Studies School Service. Price the opinions different people have on the matter. School and the Crisis of Modernity (1994). is $89. Hence, while the video covers all the essentials of Occupied Japan: An Experiment in Democracy is the Occupation period (a new constitution, civil available from PBS Video. Price is $39.95.
6 —“…the students helped the government defeat them by a lack of cohesion and com- mon goals….” —“…as the students claimed to be arguing for democracy, their own movement became increasingly more like the government they were fighting by denouncing those who disagreed with them as traitors….” Of course, a teacher can select half-hour portions of this film and still find it useful for focusing on the intensity of this political movement, its violence and irrationality, its comradeship and idealism, or its disillusionment with politics. But I urge upper level high school teachers as well as college instructors to devote four hours to this thoughtful visual source. How effective is this documentary outside the context of a course focused on China? Just this spring one of my colleagues teaching “Introduction to Comparative Politics” committed four 75-minute classes to China. In the first class he presented a background lecture; during the The Gate of Heavenly Peace next two classes students watched all but the first >> Directed by Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon. Produced by Peter Kovler, Orville Schell, and Lise Yasui in 20 minutes of The Gate of Heavenly Peace; within association with Independent Television Service and WGBH/Frontline. Distributed by National Asian American the last class they discussed students’ questions Telecommunications Association. Two versions: 189 minutes or 150 minutes. 1996. and reactions to the film. In addition, the instruc- etween the tumultuous events of China • historical perspective is provided through a tor shared with students information gleaned from BSpring, 1989, and 1995, Richard Gordon treatment of the 1919 May fourth movement, the film’s Web site:
ello Photo contains results of Nina unacknowledged interactions, some welcome, HDavenport’s one year of travel through India others not so. For example, in some scenes, peo- with a 16mm camera. Several times we actually see ple, usually children, are competing to get their her using her camera in mirror-image. The tone faces in front of the camera; in others we see and perspective are framed by Davenport’s use of a people standing back, taking more of a passive Lord Krishna quote at the very beginning of her and tolerant pose and attitude. We are regularly film: “Open your eyes and see my thousands of reminded, in a reflexive stance, that we are always understanding—of images of a broad variety of forms, diverse, divine, of many colors and shapes. getting what a person-with-a-camera has seen— locations, people, activities and topics, some for Of course with the ordinary eye, you can not see sounds of both operating film and still cameras are public access, other more in private contexts. In me.” The mood is one of walking around and see- heard at regular intervals. And as part of a voice- addition to images of film production Davenport ing what there is to be seen. All that I have to say over commentary, we learn about the paradox of includes scenes of oxen blocking traffic, a polo in the following review comes from this premise. wanting to be seen accompanied by the dislike of match, workers in a jute factory, a traveling circus, The film is largely an exercise in seeing the being looked at. preparations for a wedding, erotic sculpture (We filmic results of physical interactions of people, The film is largely about questions of me- hear: “Please help yourself to take a photograph.”), places and things with a person (female) using a diated representation starting with references to men and women in chains, elephants blessing motion picture camera. We see the results of look- Bombay’s prolific film industry—these scenes people, beggars as well as a school for the blind ing-with-a-camera and, in places, being-looked- seem to bookend and punctuate the total film. including men and boys reading Braille texts (an at-with-a-camera in both acknowledged and Davenport offers viewers a rich array—but little continued on page 11
in the teacher’s packet are also available on a Web accurate descriptions of one set of beliefs about site
8 Japanese Wartime Film at the National Archives >> by Roger W. Purdy
shuttle service from DC, few years ago, while revising my dissertation If a picture is relations of the Pacific Rim. A on Japan’s wartime news media, I thought I and phone numbers. It The film’s argument is certainly would turn a section on the consolidation of the will also link you to the strained when seen today, but newsreel industry into a brief article. In a classic NAIL Search (NARA worth a 1,000 words, it does give the students an example of “academic mission creep,” what origi- Archival Information understanding of how Japan nally was intended as a short article has since Location) web pages. The then moving images would present its case for the mushroomed into a major Archives’ entire film col- causes of the war in China. I research project: how the lection is reportedly must be worth a have also come across in the essay Pacific War was portrayed to accessible though NAIL. collection several Japanese pro- the Japanese through news- The search is done 1,000 words to duced promotional films on reels. It also lead me to the collection of through keyword. Keep China and Manchuria which confiscated wartime Japanese film held by the in mind that the terms the nth degree. could be unusual, but useful National Archives and Records Administration used in describing the primary sources for research (NARA). I have found this collection to be a material are those of the For students of the projects on Japanese immigra- resource treasury for both research and teaching. creating agency—in my tion and colonization. One of the great values of the National case the U.S. military— TV generation, the If a picture is worth a Archives’ holdings of these wartime films is that and not necessarily the thousand words, then moving there are few restrictions on making your own vocabulary of a Japan spe- information from images must be worth a thou- video copies. For broadcast quality copies, which cialist. Yasukuni Shrine sand words to the nth degree. are made from the originals, you will need to go may be listed as a film images is often For students of the TV genera- through a professional film company. But, by “Japanese temple.” Also, tion, the information from film using your own VCR and video-camcorder, you the terms are not consis- easier to understand images is often easier to under- can also make tapes from Archives’ reference tent from item to item. I stand than from texts. Films, copies which are suitable for research and class- found my material than from texts. such as those from the room use. The Archives also have facilities for through a variety of key- Archives, can then be the first duplicating reference copies already on video. The word searches using such step in helping students devel- cost for the tape and a two-hour block of time terms as “Japanese newsreels,” “confiscated film,” op analytical skills for both images and textual with the duplicating recorder is $15. (The Library “enemy records,” as well as the individual names sources. As for research, although I have watched of Congress also has a large collection of these of the newsreel production companies. Once you many times the newsreel coverage of the emperor’s wartime newsreels which can help in research, but find the listing of a relevant film or two, you can arrival at Yasukuni Shrine and his presiding at mil- unfortunately its collection cannot be copied.) quickly discern what keywords you should use. itary parades at the Yoyogi Parade Grounds, each The National Archives’ film collection is (To limit the NAIL Search to just film, set the on- viewing can offer new insight. Having my own housed in the recently constructed annex, known screen parameters to “moving images” and video copy of these films allows me to go back, as Archives II, at 8601 Adelphi Road in College “motion picture, sound and video branch.”) The re-watch, and reflect on what is being shown, Park, Maryland. The research room for the mov- description given through NAIL does not always something that could not be done if my viewing ing images collection is well equipped with VCRs list the type of film—newsreel, educational, travel- was limited to just while I was at the Archives. and flat-top projector tables. Many of the films ogue—but it often gives a detailed list of the The copies also help in better rendering some sort have already been transferred to video. These tapes subjects in the film as well as indicates its length of translation of the staccato-paced newsreel narra- are on open-shelves and can be readily viewed on and if it has sound. The medium’s format—either tion. The films I have analyzed so far have not the VCRs or copied with your own equipment tape or film—is not found in the NAIL Search, produced any “smoking gun” that will radically without having to wait for them to be pulled from however. For that information, you will need to alter our perception of wartime Japan. But I the closed stacks. Unfortunately many of the earli- consult the preservation binders in the research think they will help in understanding what the er-made tapes have the number counter burned room. (From my experience, most of the twelve Japanese were shown and told about why and into the image. Those films not transferred to hours of tape I have made were already transferred what they were fighting for; as well as why their video must be paged from the stacks—films are to video by the Archives.) memory of this tragedy is often at odds with that paged about four times a day—and will need to be Besides newsreels, the Archives also have a of the U.S. ✦ variety of Japanese films which can be used for viewed on the flat-top projector tables. The pro- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> both teaching and research. Through the serendip- jector tables are of good quality, and with a little Roger W. Purdy is Associate Professor of History ity of archival research, I discovered and copied a practice, it is a relatively simple task to video the and the Coordinator of the East Asian Studies silent film version of the classic Chu‒shingura image on the table’s screen with a camcorder. Program at John Carroll University. He has just which I plan to use in an upcoming history course While it is necessary to go to Archives II to finished an article, “The Imperial Screen Test: The on the samurai. I have also made copies of view and copy the films, one can easily find what Image of the Sho‒wa Emperor in Wartime Japanese wartime propaganda film: some produced by the is in the collection via the National Archives and Newsreels” and is beginning work on a second U.S. and some produced by the Japanese. This Research Administration’s web page at article on how Japanese newsreels portrayed the term I showed an English language Japanese pro-
9 minority in Japan. The father is indeed betwixt and between; in a fascinating dialogue he tells his son of the discrimination he has experienced in Japan and then goes on to say that there is really nothing that he likes about Korea (He admits that this is sad.), and finally that there is nothing par- ticular that he likes about Japan either—“Japan is a place I happened to find myself in.” Additionally there are other border stories featured, particularly that of Nakata’s younger brother who joined the Unification Church (Reverend Moon) and mar- ried a South Korean woman who now resides with – him in Osaka as he prepares to take over the fami- ly business (money lending and pachinko parlors) in place of his filmmaker eldest brother. We are also introduced to one of his sisters who was ini- tially disowned by the father for having married a Japanese man; she tells us, though, that the mar- riage has worked because of his tolerance and tastes for Korean food. – Osaka Story is presented in a familiar and meandering fashion; we follow the director/ – narrator on his own journey home. The camera Osaka Story follows the details and landscapes of daily living >> Produced by Toichi Nakata. Distributed by First Run Icarus Films. 75 minutes. 1994. in urban Japan. – — saka Story offers filmmaker Toichi Nakata’s mother’s, namely how to deal with the fact that Osaka Story’s personal and family drama— O autobiographical sketch of personal and her Korean Japanese husband has a second wife and autobiographical style—will certainly hold family dilemmas. Director Nakata hails from and family in South Korea. Throughout the film, the attention of secondary and post-secondary – Korean-Japanese intermarried parents in Osaka, Mrs. Nakata ponders the meaning of a statement students. However, because the film engages in the home of Japan’s largest resident Korean popu- by her husband, namely that he will buy her a almost no historical or social explanation (e.g., lation. At the time of the grave site wherever she There is no broad overview of the history of filming, Nakata has returned chooses; she wonders if Korean settlement in Japan, Japanese colonialism – to Osaka from his film study ...there are numerous this means that he in Korea, etc.), the teacher will need to provide abroad in England. intends her to be buried this background information. Also, there are Two dilemmas echo fascinating alone, while he will be numerous fascinating cultural details (both Korean throughout the entire film. buried in South Korea. and Japanese) revealed in the film (e.g., Korean First, we learn that the film cultural details These meditations on ancestral worship, Japanese apartment living, a itself is motivated by death introduce us to the Japanese-style company meeting, etc.), but here Nakata’s personal struggle (both Korean and trials of her and her fam- again the teacher will probably need to consult over whether to spend the ily’s life because of the basic cultural materials on Japan and Korea. rest of his life abroad. This Japanese) revealed father’s hidden story. The With appropriate supplementary materials for struggle is particularly film is in part an investi- the teacher (and perhaps students), this film charged because he is an in the film, (e.g., gation in that Director would certainly enhance units on minorities in eldest son who is expected to Nakata visits South Japan, families in East Asia, and cultural conflicts – return to Osaka, marry, and Korean ancestral Korea with his father in in East Asia. ✦ live in a home to be built in part to explore his hid- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the vacant lot behind his worship, Japanese den life. Nancy Abelmann is Associate Professor of parents’ house. For Nakata, Both dilemmas are Anthropology and East Asian Languages and these demands take on par- apartment living, about border crossings, Cultures at the University of Illinois at Urbana- ticular significance because Japan and the West, and – Champaign. She has conducted field research in he is gay; in the final min- a Japanese-style Japan and Korea. Osaka Japan and South Korea, and among Korean utes of the film we learn that Story would offer student Americans in the United States. She is the author he has only now revealed his company meeting...) viewers a glimpse of the of Echoes of The Past, Epics of Dissent: A South sexual identity to his moth- complexities of life across Korean Social Movement (1996), and the co-author er. In subtle ways the film national borders. of Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los demonstrates how difficult it would be for a Although we learn a great deal about the authori- Angeles Riots (1995). – homosexual eldest son of a Korean-Japanese family tarian ways of the family father, we also are given a Osaka Story is available from First Run Icarus to negotiate dominant cultural and familial norms. sympathetic portrait of the difficulties of his life as Films. Price is $440 for purchase and $100 for The second dilemma of the film is his Japanese a member of a severely discriminated against rental.
10 acupuncture (the “pins” in his title) and its various Hello Photo uses (including the incorporation of computers continued from page 8 by some practitioners). Kwan also portrays the ways in which biomedicine can and cannot help ironic twist on the predominant ocularcentric per- in his condition, and problems associated with its spective) among several others. These use. The film nicely juxtaposes the plural nature juxtapositions are indeed intriguing and appealing of medical systems in Chinese communities with for certain kinds of questions, especially complex the ways in which patients utilize this plurality and cross-rally variable relationships of humans, (including prayer at temples and geomancy), and animals and machines. it shows Kwan’s own sometimes erratic approaches Viewers will be reminded of Man with a to both medicines and foods for his suspected Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov and other of his allergy. montage films, or more specific to India, Photo Similarly Kwan demonstrates the enormous Wallas by David and Judith MacDougall (1992), variety in Chinese cuisine as he tours restaurants though the latter has a much more direct atten- and markets of Hong Kong with his sister. tion to itinerant still photographers, it retains in Amusing puppets and people dressed as puppets places a similar enigmatic quality. tell a mythical story about Marco Polo’s encounter The value of the film is that it makes viewers with the dragon, Noodlesaurus, and a Chinese conscious of camera-people interactions, calling restaurant’s “noodle master” displays the technique into question what one really has when one has of making thin noodles by hand. The film uses pictorial representation of virtually any kind. everything from cinema verité to animation, his- This is a film about relationships that everyone torical photos, and medical charts, and blends knows exist but, for various reasons, do not want spoken English and sub-titles. to attend to in any sustained manner. It also can Pins and Noodles This sometimes humorous autobiographical be valued as a film about the politics of camera- description of his unsuccessful search for a cure use—who has the right to look, to film, or to >> Produced and directed by Arnold Iger and Paul Kwan. Distributed by National Asian American takes a dramatic turn when Kwan, back in San avoid the camera gaze. Several times we hear off- Telecommunications Association. 60 minutes. 1997. Francisco, has a stroke (like his father and older camera voices: “Tell me what are you doing?,” brother before him). The story progresses seam- “Are you looking for anything?,” and, for the title, his story by and about co-director Paul Kwan lessly to show how Kwan marshalls biomedicine, “Hello, hello.” T concerns his search for a cure for suspected physical therapy, food, herbal medicine, acupunc- For college-level film studies and aesthetic food allergies which are separating him from his ture, and family support to face his new challenge, objectives, the film might stand on its own—it is great love, food, and contributing to his social and how the notion of balance affects his a particularly rich text for communication and isolation owing to the importance of group meals approach to recovery. media studies. But for social science instruction, among Chinese. He also searches for his identity This film is for older audiences, grade 11 to the film must be accompanied by some form of which he feels he is losing. Kwan goes back and adult, and would be especially useful in courses on ethnographic information on Indian society and forth between Chinese culture, culture—in short, more contextual information is Chinese tradition- Asian Americans, needed. Specific learning contexts and specific al and biomedical Scheduled for national medicine and cul- interests of an instructor will determine the value practitioners, first ture, food and of this work. ✦ in San Francisco broadcast on PBS in culture, and >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> where he lives health care. It has Richard Chalfen is Professor of Anthropology at with his mother October 1998. some slow parts Temple University and member of the Asian and older brother in the middle, Studies Faculty. His courses cover visuality and who is recovering from a stroke, then in Taiwan but these are made up for by the general interest visual cultures (in U.S. and Japan) and relations and in Hong Kong where his sister lives. Kwan ✦ of the film and its dramatic conclusion. of cultural anthropology to home media and mass explores verbally and visually his Chinese roots >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> media. Research interests include indigenous (He grew up in a Chinese town near Saigon.); his Clark E. Cunningham is Professor Emeritus of imagery (Navajo, urban U.S. teenagers, Japanese childhood experiences there with the smell, Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Americans), and are currently focused on Japanese sounds, tastes and sights of tropical foodstuffs and Urbana-Champaign. He has been a long time home media. Major publications include Snapshot markets; and his family usage of traditional reme- Associate of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Versions of Life (1987), Turning Leaves (1991), and dies (which they continue in San Francisco) and Studies and served once as its Director. He took a Through Navajo Eyes (with J. Adair and S. Worth, their view that “food is medicine.” D. Phil. at Oxford University and has spent a 1997). Intertwined with this personal journey are well number of years doing research and teaching in Hello Photo is available from First Run Icarus illustrated discussions about Chinese medical tra- Indonesia and Thailand and teaching about Films. Price is $390 for purchase and $75 for ditions and particularly the notion of balance, Southeast Asia at Illinois. rental. which affects the use of both foods and medicines. Pins and Noodles is available from NAATA Photo Wallas is available from the University of He shows how herbal medicines are used and mis- Distribution. Price is $275 for purchase and $75 California Extension Center for Media and used, and nowadays how they are manufactured in for rental. Independent Learning. Price is $295 for purchase factories. He also experiences and describes and $75 for rental.
11 Asian Educational Media Service Non-Profit Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies Organization University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign U.S. Postage 230 International Studies Building, MC-483 PAID 910 South Fifth Street Permit No. 75 Champaign, IL 61820 Champaign, IL http://www.aems.uiuc.edu
Guide to Distributors Social Studies School Service, 10200 Jefferson Boulevard, Room Y411, >> A list of distributors mentioned in this issue of AEMS News and Reviews P.O. Box 802, Culver City, CA 90232-0802. American Friends Service Committee, Indiana University Instructional Support Tel: 800-421-4246. Fax: 800-944-5432. E-mail: 15 Rutherford Place, New York, NY 10003. Services, Bloomington, IN 47405-5901. Tel: [email protected]. Web site: http:// Tel: 212-598-0950. Fax: 212-529-4603. 800-552-8620. Fax: 812-855-8404. E-mail: SocialStudies.com. Documentary Educational Resources, [email protected]. University of California Extension Center 101 Morse Street, Watertown, MA 02172. Tel: Library Video Company, P.O. Box 580, for Media and Independent Learning, 800-569-6621 or 617-926-0491. Fax: 617-926- Wynnewood, PA 19096. Tel: 800-843-3620. 2000 Center Street, Fourth Floor, Berkeley, CA 9519. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: http:// Fax: 610-645-4040. Web site: http:// 94704. Tel: 510-642-0460. Fax: 510-643-9271. der.org/docued. www.libraryvideo.com. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: Filmakers Library, 124 East 40th Street, Suite NAATA Distribution (National Asian American http://www-cmil.unex.berkeley.edu/media/. 901, New York, NY 10016. Tel: 212-808-4980. Telecommunications Association), 346 Ninth University of Illinois at Urbana- Fax: 212-808-4983. E-mail: [email protected]. Street, Second Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103. Champaign Media Production Group, Web site: http://www.filmakers.com. Tel: 415-552-9550. Fax: 415-863-7428. Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, First Run Icarus Films, 153 Waverly Place, E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sixth Floor, New York, NY 10014. Tel: 800-876- http://www.naatanet.org. 230 International Studies Building, MC-483, 1710 or 212-727-1711. Fax: 212-989-7649. Noodlehead Network, 107 Intervale Avenue, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Tel: E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: http:// Burlington, VT 05401. Tel: 800-639-5680. Fax: 217-265-0640. Fax: 217-265-0641. E-mail: www.echonyc.com/~frif. 802-864-7135. E-mail: [email protected]. [email protected]. Zeitgeist Films, Ltd. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Web site: http://www.noodlehead.com/. , 247 Centre Street, 2nd Gallery, School and Family Programs, PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, Floor, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 212-274-1989. Education Department, MRC 707, Smithsonian VA 22314-1698 Tel: 800-344-3337. Fax: 703- Fax: 212-274-1644. E-mail: [email protected]. Institution, Washington, DC 20560. Web site: 739-5269. Web site: http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/. http://www.si.edu/asia/puja/start.htm.