‘The Life of Oharu’ and ‘Rashomon’ is produced by the different director and released different year. Nevertheless, both films are related with the historical event, which is the postwar occupation of Japan. I will be using Noel Burch’s concepts “sense of victimization” and ”subjectivity” in the ‘To the distant observer’ to prove how well those films are reflected the situation and how they overcome with the historical event of Japan. Between 1945 and 1952, the situation of postwar occupation and rehabilitation brought big changes and effects in Japanese society. Their military, political, economic and social formats got restructured. During the struggles, the Japanese people develop the sense of victimization. It helps to develop the movements, …show more content…
As I mentioned several times, the story is based on people who are a witness of the specific event. But witnesses are telling the story from his or her perspective view for their own benefit. Moreover, as the story goes by, one can assume that they are trying to hide the truth. This raises the question of “subjectivity of truth” (Noel 297). The story of each different perspective has a different subjective viewpoint from the bandit, wife, samurai (through the medium) and woodcutter. This conflict story can relate with Japanese people who were confused by many different changes occurred during the occupation. This sudden change brought confusion to society of Japan and many movements got developed. This many movements help to develop the subjective view and made them stronger, but people were confused whom to believe or not. But at the climax of the film, showing woodcutter walking home with baby and the rain has stopped. This scene might analyze about continuing of carrying hope. Therefore, Kurosawa might want to deliver the message that going through struggles help to develop Japanese people to overcome the situation that they are
The book “Hiroshima,” written by John Hersey is an alluring piece coupled with an underlining, mind grabbing message. The book is a biographical text about the lives of six people: Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki, and Rev. Tanimoto, in Hiroshima, Japan. It speaks of these aforementioned individuals’ lives, following the dropping of the world’s first atomic bomb on 06 Aug 1945, and how it radically changed them, forever. John Hersey, the author of “Hiroshima,” attempts to expose the monstrosity of the atomic bomb, through his use of outstanding rhetoric, descriptive language, and accounts of survivors. He also attempts to correlate the Japanese civilians of Hiroshima to the American public, in hope that Americans
Much of what is considered modern Japan has been fundamentally shaped by its involvement in various wars throughout history. In particular, the events of World War II led to radical changes in Japanese society, both politically and socially. While much focus has been placed on the broad, overarching impacts of war on Japan, it is through careful inspection of literature and art that we can understand war’s impact on the lives of everyday people. The Go Masters, the first collaborative film between China and Japan post-WWII, and “Turtleback Tombs,” a short story by Okinawan author Oshiro Tatsuhiro, both give insight to how war can fundamentally change how a place is perceived, on both an abstract and concrete level.
John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" truly conveys the Japanese experience of American occupation from within by focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical aspects of a country devastated by World War II. His capturing of the Japanese peoples' voice let us, as readers, empathize with those who had to start over in a "new nation."
Known for her work as a historian and rather outspoken political activist, Yamakawa Kikue was also the author of her book titled Women of the Mito Domain (p. xix). At the time she was writing this work, Yamakawa was under the surveillance of the Japanese government as the result of her and her husband’s work for the socialist and feminist movements in Japan (p. xx-xxi). But despite the restrictions she was undoubtedly required to abide by in order to produce this book, her work contains an air of commentary on the past and present political, social, and economic issues that had been plaguing the nation (p. xxi). This work is a piece that comments on the significance of women’s roles in history through the example of Yamakawa’s own family and
Sumiko Higashi, author of numerous books, sociologically takes apart media films and newsreels that were available during the years of World War II. Her claim focuses around the title of “melodramas” in which she categorizes these types of propaganda films. Furthermore, she uses the works from different authors, such as Foucault, Michael O’Malley, and others, to argue the melodrama...
At first, the four main characters are all nameless but with the appellation---the father, the son, the daughter and the mother. Generally speaking, if authors want their writings to be understood easily, they always choose to set names for the characters, which also can avoid confusion. But in this novel, the author must mean to express a special meaning through the nameless main characters. On one hand, it is thought that the experiences of this nameless Japanese American family is not a single example but the epitome of what all Japanese American encountered at that time. Nearly 120,000 Japanese American were taken from their homes in the spring and early summer of 1942 and incarcerated in concentration camps by the United States government.(Roger Daniels, 3) On the other hand, what is more significant, the namelessness of the characters also indicates the loss of their identities. Because they are Japanese Ameican, they are different from the real American natives in their habits, w...
Eleanor Rao, 2004, Exile From Exile: Ironic Paradoxes in Joy Kogawa's Obasan, vol. 18, 2004. Issue title: Within Hostile Borders. Ann Arbor, MI: MPublishing, University of Michigan Library 2004. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.ark5583.0018.005
In the beginning of this story, one expects for the characters to follow the concepts that they represent. This story displays one man's journey to leave his home and comfort zone in order to fully explore his curiosity. He goes off into a forest and undergoes a life changing experience there. He encounters three different things that set him on the path to the journey of knowledge. This forest was symbolic of an assessment of strength, bravery, and survival. It took determination to survive in the forest and the young person entering into it would not emerge the same. Conversely, this story is more representative than realistic and the peril is of the character. This story is more of a vision or conscious daydream th...
Overwhelmingly the response of people in times of desperation is to survive at all costs and make the best of the situation. American history in the mid 20th century provides vivid example of desperate times such as those who were hit hardest by the era of the depression and also those who were displaced from their homes into Internment camps following World War II and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Comparing the fictional account of Julie Otsuka's novel, When the Emperor was Divine and the historical accounts of Japanese American women reveals the many different ways in which women handle themselves, not only through the events mentioned, but also through themes that both accounts share such as adversity, prejudice, and perseverance. The novel's account of the evacuation and imprisonment of Japanese American is a subtle and understated retelling of the horrific experience of the Japanese Americans. While the historical accounts describe the evacuation of Japanese Americans as one of the most horrifying experience anyone could have been through.
The whole film is recounted by undependable narrators, which in the end no truth can be determined. And yet, because none of the recitation can be reconciled, not even the woodcutter’s testimony, the film becomes a story of untrustworthy narrators from whom no truth can be concluded. Some form of optimism exists at the film’s conclusion, but the degree to which it can be accepted as true depends largely on the opinion of the viewer. This indeterminable vagueness continues as the film’s most captivating quality, in that connotation cannot necessarily be construed from the events in the picture, at least not within the story itself. More than one of the testimonies, if not all, together with the woodcutters, must be untruthful. The absurdity is that they aren’t lying only to the authorities; they are lying to themselves. These lies could leak into other extents of their life. For, if they continue to have confidence in the lie, they will misrepresent reality and may never be able to distinguish the fact from the fib if they continue to do so as they did in their
Matsumoto studies three generations, Issei, Nisei, and Sansei living in a closely linked ethnic community. She focuses her studies in the Japanese immigration experiences during the time when many Americans were scared with the influx of immigrants from Asia. The book shows a vivid picture of how Cortex Japanese endured violence, discriminations during Anti-Asian legislation and prejudice in 1920s, the Great Depression of 1930s, and the internment of 1940s. It also shows an examination of the adjustment period after the end of World War II and their return to the home place.
...ile the war is still happening. The lack of freedom and human rights can cause people to have a sad life. Their identity, personality, and dignity will be vanish after their freedom and human right are taking away. This is a action which shows America’s inhuman ideas. It is understandable that war prison should be put into jail and take away their rights; but Japanese-American citizen have nothing to do with the war. American chooses to treat Jap-American citizen as a war prisoner, then it is not fair to them because they have rights to stay whatever side they choose and they can choose what ever region they want. Therefore, Otasuka’s novel telling the readers a lesson of how important it is for people to have their rights and freedom with them. People should cherish these two things; if not, they will going to regret it.
Japanese Americans underwent different experiences during the Second World War, resulting in a series of changes in the lives of families. One such experience is their relocation into camps. Wakatsuki’s farewell to Manzanar gives an account of the experiences of the Wakatsuki family before, during and after the internment of the Japanese Americans. It is a true story of how the internment affected the Wakatsuki family as narrated by Jeanne Wakatsuki. The internment of the Japanese was their relocation into camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the naval forces of Japan in 1941. The step was taken on the assumption that it aimed at improving national security. This paper looks at how internment impacted heavily on Papa’s financial status, emotional condition and authority thus revealing how internment had an overall effect on typical Japanese American families.
Rashomon is a Japanese film that that was produced in 1950 by the director, Akira Kurosawa, which is considered one of the most important filmmaker in the history of cinema. Since early age, Akira Kurosawa had interest in samurai stories because his father was and shared his samurai experiences with Akira. In addition, writers such as Kanze Nobumitsu have said that Rashomon is an interpretation of the everyday life of the accident Japanese society. The old temple represents the ancient Raseimon gate, which fell in the 12th century and became a hiding places for thieves, individuals abandoned corpses and unwanted babies. In the film, a samurai is murdered and his wife is raped by a bandit, Tajumaro. The film follows the trial of the assassination
This book depicts how Japanese behaved both before and after the World War II. In this book, it describes how Japanese military slaves (a.k.a. comfort women) was made, what motivated Japan to do these abuses.