National Identity and Nationalism in Japanese Cinema

• Authors: Loska K.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Japanese cinema from its very beginning was involved with the nationalist discourse. Film was used by the Japanese government to present and upkeep traditional values, that were to limit foreign influences from spreading immorality and vice. These tendencies grew in the interwar period characterized by expansionist politics, growing nationalism and militarism. A new type of national cinema (kokumin eiga), was needed. Its purpose was to show the Japanese spirit, uncontaminated by western influences, not only at the level of contents and style, but also in the production methods. This type of cinema was to be represented by historical films (jidai-geki), celebrating the glorious past, and praising patriarchal social structure and feudalism, as well as representing the aesthetic ideal. Also war films and documentaries were to conform to the ideological guidelines dictated by those in power. The author lists various examples of Japanese films representing nationalist tendencies, and places them both within historical and theoretical setting..

Keywords

EN

JAPANESE CINEMA; NATIONALISM

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Sztuki PAN
• Journal: Kwartalnik Filmowy
• Year: 2008
• Issue: 62-63
• Pages: 81-90
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Loska K.

• K. Loska, Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Wydzial Zarzadzania i Komunikacji Spolecznej, Instytut Sztuk Audiowizualnych, ul. Pilsudskiego 13, 31-110 Kraków, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08PLAAAA05376