East 362 | Fall 2021 Tuesday & Thursday 4:35

Home , Double Suicide, Sisters of the Gion

INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE CINEMA – EAST 362 | FALL 2021 TUESDAY & THURSDAY 4:35 – 5:55 PM | SHERBROOKE 688 295

Eureka / Yurīka (Aoyama Shinji, 2000)

Instructor: Suzanne Beth Contact: [email protected] Office hours: Thursday 3:00-4:30 PM, room 262 To avoid crowding in the Department, please make sure to set up an appointment in advance within the office hours slot. Remote meeting (skype, zoom, etc.) can also be arranged.

OBJECTIVES This course is an introduction to Japanese cinema, its history and major filmmakers, focusing on the ways in which their films speak to the contexts – historical, political, cinematographic – in which they were produced. Cinema in Japan bears deep and complex relationships with the process of modernization undergone by the country since the second part of the 19th century, the wide-ranging effects of which can be observed as well in its technical, aesthetic and political cultures. From its inception, Japanese film production spoke to issues that remain central throughout the 20th century, in particular the ambivalence of Japan’s encounter with modernity. Taught from a mainly historical perspective, this course covers the development of Japanese film from the first projections at the end of the 19th century through to contemporary film production, touching upon the characteristics of early film culture (including the importance of the benshi and the complex legacy of the country’s theatrical tradition), the discourse on cinema voiced by emerging critics in the 1910s, the pressure put on the film world by its war-time uses first by the Japanese state and, then, by its occupation forces, and the political and aesthetic demands of the “New Wave” in the 1960s. This course aims especially to contextualise Japanese film in its social, cultural and historical dimensions. By the end of this course, students should be able to analyse the visual and audio treatment of such issues and to understand the ways in which these are woven together.

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION The course pedagogy depends upon students’ sustained engagements: their close reading of the texts, their engaged discussions in class, their active attending both to the screenings of films (and film excerpts) and to the lectures presented in class. Attendance is thus mandatory, and participation is expected.

COVID With the covid pandemic still unfolding, all of us must do our best to protect each other. As of 24 August 2021, courses at McGill are supposed to be held in class, with no physical distancing. However, proper procedural mask wearing (i.e. covering both mouth and nose) is mandatory. Of course, these protocols are subject to change in the course of the semester depending on Public Health guidelines. Updated information for students is available here: https://www.mcgill.ca/coronavirus/health-guidelines/health- guidelines-mcgill-students If you are sick and/or required to self-isolate, please contact me so that you can catch up the material covered in class.

MEDIA POLICY No cell phones are allowed during class and screenings. You may use laptops to take notes during lectures, however no screen devices are allowed during screenings.

EMAIL ETIQUETTE Respectful communication is expected from all students enrolled in the class, which means that: - Except if it is a real emergency, don’t send emails during the weekend. - You should include salutations at the start and the end of your message and, if I reply to an inquiry you made, reply to acknowledge my message.

IMPORTANT NOTE (1) McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/ for more information). Simply put: do not copy, paraphrase or translate anything from anywhere without saying from where you got it. (2) In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. (3) In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change. (4) If you have a disability, please contact the instructor to arrange a time to discuss your situation. It would be helpful if you contact the Office for Students with Disabilities at 514-398-6009 before you do.

CINEMA RESOURCES (LIBRARIES) Cinémathèque québécoise (http://collections.cinematheque.qc.ca/docu_recherche.asp) McGill and the other universities in Montreal (Concordia, Université de Montréal, UQÀM)

MANDATORY READINGS AND SCREENINGS The readings will be available on myCourse. The DVDs of the films mandatory for the course are on reserve at the library.

ASSIGNMENTS & EVALUATION 1/ MID-TERM EXAM (2x15%=30%) – TUESDAY 19 & THURSDAY 21 OCTOBER – IN CLASS Because of the class duration, the mid-term will be divided into two parts, that will take place during Week 8: - Mid-term #1 (15%) on Tuesday 19 October - Mid-term #2 (15%) on Thursday 21 October This exam aims at assessing your comprehension of the material covered in class, which includes the films and the readings for each week, as well as the lectures. The questions will ask for short and medium-length answers. The criteria will be the precision and clarity of your answer. Note that the two parts will cover different parts of the course, so the questions will be different on Tuesday and on Thursday. You need to attend both classes to take the full exam.

2/ FINAL PAPER (10% + 40% = 50%) – 8 NOVEMBER & 15 DECEMBER The take-home final essay will be research-based and dedicated to one of the four films (all of which are on reserve at the library) or to one of the two historical topics listed below. If you choose to study one of the films, the purpose of its analysis will be to present the film, its context and the aesthetic stakes it raises. If you choose one of the general topics, the purpose will be to present its historical and institutional background, the theoretical stakes it raises, as well as film and/or filmmakers key to its unfolding. Further details will be provided in class. It should be 2300-2500 words in length (8-10 pages, double-spaced). Be sure to give it a title and to provide a bibliography of the works cited at the end. Films: When A Woman Ascends the Stairs / Onna ga kaidan wo noboru toki (Naruse Mikio, 1960) Double Suicide / Shinjū: Ten no Amijima (Shinoda Masahiro, 1969) Extreme private eros love song 1974 / Kyokushiteki erosu koiuta 1974 (Hara Kazuo, 1974) Hana-bi / Fireworks (Kitano Takeshi, 1998) Historical topics: Transition to sound in Japanese cinema Pink films The final paper will have two components: - A preliminary bibliography (10%), which should be uploaded via myCourse by Monday 8 November at 4 PM. This should include the film or subject you have chosen and a short text (~300 words) explaining the reasons of your choice, as well as a preliminary bibliography of at least 5 sources (books, articles and/or book chapters) that you plan to use for your final paper. - The final paper (40%), which should be uploaded via myCourses by Wednesday 15 December at 4 PM.

3/ REFLECTION ON A CLASS (10%) – ANY CLASS BETWEEN WEEK 2 & WEEK 13 In this short take-home essay (~500 words), you will make a connection between the material covered in class and issues raised by something outside of the course – be it the other courses of the program in which you are enrolled, readings, films seen outside this course, etc. This paper should show your engagement with the course’s material and the ways in which it contributes to your personal reflections. It should be submitted at the beginning of the class following the one commented on by the essay.

4/ PARTICIPATION (10%) – DISCUSSIONS ON MYCOURSE Four discussion forums will be created on myCourse throughout the term, which will be dedicated to the films related to the course. Take part in at least two of these conversations by sharing your comments and reflections, and by engaging with other students’ posts. Even when you disagree, these exchanges must, of course, remain respectful and constructive.

CLASS SCHEDULE

WEEK 1 — THURSDAY 2 SEPTEMBER INTRODUCTION

WEEK 2 — TUESDAY 7 & THURSDAY 9 SEPTEMBER EARLY FILM IN JAPAN FILM I Was Born But... / Umarete wa mita keredo... (Ozu Yasujirô, 1932) READING Komatsu Hiroshi, “Some Characteristics of Japanese Cinema Before World War I,” in Reframing Japanese Cinema: Authorship, Genre, History, Arthur Noletti, Jr. and David Desser (eds.) (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992) 229-258.

WEEK 3 — TUESDAY 14 & THURSDAY 16 SEPTEMBER FROM KATSUDŌ SHASHIN TO EIGA FILM Humanity and Paper Balloons / Ninjô kami fûsen (Yamanaka Sadao, 1937) READING Aaron Gerow, “The Benshi’s New Face: Defining Cinema in Taisho Japan,” Iconics 3 (1994) 69-86.

WEEK 4 — TUESDAY 21 & THURSDAY 23 SEPTEMBER MIZOGUCHI KENJI FILM Sisters of the Gion / Gion no shimai (Mizoguchi Kenji, 1936) READING Chika Kinoshita, “The Benshi Track: Mizoguchi Kenji’s The Downfall of Osen and the Sound Transition,” Cinema Journal 50: 3 (Spring 2011) 1-25.

WEEK 5 — TUESDAY 28 & THURSDAY 30 SEPTEMBER JAPAN AT WAR AND ITS CINEMA FILM Twenty-Four Eyes / Nijûshi no hitomi (Kinoshita Keisuke, 1954) READING Peter B. High, “Prologue” & “The New Spiritism – ‘A Progress of Souls’,” The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years’ War, 1931-1945 (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2003) 3-12, 382-410.

WEEK 6 — TUESDAY 5 & THURSDAY 7 OCTOBER KUROSAWA AKIRA AND THE POSTWAR FILM Stray Dog / Nora inu (Kurosawa Akira, 1949) READING Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, “Stray Dog,” Kurosawa: Films Studies and Japanese Cinema (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000) 147-178.

WEEK 7 — THURSDAY 14 & FRIDAY 15 OCTOBER OZU YASUJIRŌ FILM Good Morning / Ohayō (Ozu Yasujirō, 1959) READINGS Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, “Melodrama, postmodernism, and Japanese Cinema,” Melodrama and Asian Cinema, Wimal Dissanayake (ed.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005) 101- 126. Takahashi Osamu, “Brilliant Shadows: Ozu Yasujirō” (1) & (2), Japan Quarterly 31: 3 & 4 (Spring & Fall 1994) 269-277, 435-444.

WEEK 8 — TUESDAY 19 OCTOBER MID-TERM #1 — IN-CLASS

WEEK 8 — THURSDAY 21 OCTOBER MID-TERM #2 — IN-CLASS

WEEK 9 — TUESDAY 26 & THURSDAY 28 OCTOBER THE JAPANESE « NEW WAVE » FILM Night and Fog in Japan / Nihon no yoru to kiri (Ōshima Nagisa, 1960) READING Maureen Turim, “Cruel Stories of Youth and Politics” (Chapter 2), The Films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese Iconoclast (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 27-60.

WEEK 10 — TUESDAY 2 & THURSDAY 4 NOVEMBER VIDEO, INTERMEDIA AND CINEMA FILM Funeral Parade of Roses / Bara no sōretsu (Matsumoto Toshio, 1969) READING Yuriko Furuhata, Chapter 1 “Intermedial Experiments and the Rise of the Eizō Discourse” (excerpts), Cinema of Actuality: Japanese Avant-Garde Filmmaking in the Season of Image Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 13-16 + 23-52.

MONDAY 8 NOVEMBER PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE

WEEK 11 — TUESDAY 9 & THURSDAY 11 NOVEMBER DOCUMENTARY CINEMA IN JAPAN FILM Minamata: The Victims and Their World / Minamata: Kanja-san to sono sekai (Tsuchimoto Noriaki, 1971) READING Abé Mark Nornes, “The Postwar Documentary Trace: Groping in the Dark,” Positions 10:1 (Spring 2002) 39-78.

WEEK 12 — TUESDAY 16 & THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER HAUNTED CINEMA FILM Kairo / Pulse (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 2001) READING Michael Crandol, “The Ghosts of Kaiki Eiga,” The Japanese Cinema Book, Hideaki Fujiki and Alastair Phillips (ed.) (London: British Film Institute, 2020) 298-309.

WEEK 13 — TUESDAY 23 & THURSDAY 25 NOVEMBER POST-BUBBLE CINEMA? FILM Nobody knows / Daremo shiranai (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2004) READINGS Anne Allison, “Ordinary Refugees: Social Precarity and Soul in 21st Century Japan,” Anthropological Quarterly 85: 2 (Spring 2012) 346-367. Alexander Jacoby, “Why Nobody Knows – Family and Society in Modern Japan,” Film Criticism 35: 2-3 (Winter-Spring 2011) 66-83, 193.

WEEK 14 — TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER & THURSDAY 2 DECEMBER POST-FUKUSHIMA CINEMA FILM Storytellers / Utau hito (Sakai Kō, Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, 2013) [to be confirmed] READING Sabu Kohso, Chapter 2 “Catastrophic Nation,” Radiation and Revolution (Durham: Duke University Press, 2020) 55-86.

WEDNESDAY 15 DECEMBER FINAL ESSAY DUE