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Shoshimin-eiga

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Shōshimin-eiga(Tiểu thị dân ánh họa),[1]literally "petty bourgeois film" or "lower middle class film",[2]is agenreof Japaneserealistfilmswhich focus on the everyday lives of ordinary or middle class people.[3][4][5]An alternate term for theshōshimin-eigais the pseudo-Japanese wordshomin-geki,literally "common people drama",[2]which had been invented by Western film scholars.[1]The termshōshimin-eigaas a definition of a specifically Japanese film genre presumably first appeared in 1932 in articles by critics Yoshio Ikeda and Ichiro Ueno.[6]

Themes

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Film historians Joseph L. Anderson andDonald Richiedefine theshōshimin-eiga(addressing it asshomin-geki) as "[e]ssentially a film about proletarian or lower-middle-class life, about the sometimes humorous, sometimes bitter relations within the family, about the struggle for existence, [...] the kind of film many Japanese think of as being about 'you and me'."[7]

In her bookNippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s,Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano sees theshōshimin-eigadepicting a "newly emerging modern subject, the salaried man, and his middle-class family", which "appealed to a broad cross-section of social classes", thereby helping to create "a modern national subject". Through their portrayal of social inequalities and capitalism's extended reach on daily life in the shape of company hierarchy, these films suggested a split between Japan's call for modernisation and the longing for the "mystic cohesion" of a "traditional" past. At the same time, theshōshimin-eigawas criticised for a lack of genuine political content especially from thepolitical left.[5]

History

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The beginnings of theshōshimin-eigaare assigned to theShochikufilm studio and its directorYasujirō Shimazuin the 1920s.[7][8][9][10]Yasujirō Ozu,a former assistant of Shimazu, andMikio Naruseare two prominent directors considered to work primarily in the field of theshōshimin-eiga.[3][4]Others includeHeinosuke Gosho[3]andKeisuke Kinoshita.[11]Kenji Mizoguchi,although having repeatedly turned to modern subjects, the oppression of women under a patriarchical system in particular, is usually not assigned to the genre canon.[3]

Important early (and extant) examples of theshōshimin-eigaare Shimazu'sOur Neighbor, Miss Yae(1934),[1][7][9]Ozu'sTokyo Chorus(1931) andI Was Born, But...(1932),[1][5][9]and Gosho'sBurden of Life(1935).[1]Naruse's 1951 filmRepastis often cited as having launched a post-occupationrevival of theshōshimin-eiga.[3][12]Gosho biographer Arthur Nolletti, Jr. regards the early 1960s as the end of the genre's golden age,[13]with its themes moving mainly to television.[11]Both he and film historian Catherine Russell see it sustained in works like theTora-sanseries.[11][14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcde"Shōshimin-eiga"(in Japanese). Kotobank.Retrieved22 May2023.
  2. ^ab"Cambridge Dictionary Japanese–English".Retrieved17 December2020.
  3. ^abcdeBerra, John (2012).Directory of World Cinema: Japan2.Intellect. pp. 304–305.ISBN9781841505510.
  4. ^abRussell, Catherine (2008).The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity.Durham and London: Duke University Press. p. XV.ISBN978-0-8223-4290-8.
  5. ^abcWada-Marciano, Mitsuyo (2008).Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s.University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 12–13, 49–50.ISBN9780824831820.
  6. ^Yuki, Takinami (2018). "Modernity, Shoshimin Films, and the Proletarian-Film Movement". In Choi, Jinhee (ed.).Reorienting Ozu: A Master and His Influence.Oxford University Press. p. 139.ISBN9780190254971.
  7. ^abcAnderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959).The Japanese Film – Art & Industry.Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
  8. ^Miyao, Daisuke (2014).The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Cinema.Oxford University Press. p. 111.ISBN9780199731664.
  9. ^abcJacoby, Alexander (2008).Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day.Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press.ISBN978-1-933330-53-2.
  10. ^Bock, Audie (1985).Japanese Film Directors.Kodansha International. p. 105.ISBN9784770012142.
  11. ^abcNolletti Jr., Arthur (1997). "Recasting of Make Way for Tomorrow". In Desser, David (ed.).Ozu's Tokyo Story.Cambridge University Press. p. 50.ISBN9780521484350.
  12. ^Richie, Donald (2005).A Hundred Years of Japanese Film(Revised ed.). Tokyo, New York, London: Kodansha International. p. 117.ISBN978-4-7700-2995-9.
  13. ^Nolletti Jr., Arthur (2008).The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter through Tears.Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 13.ISBN978-0-253-34484-7.
  14. ^Russell, Catherine (2011).Classical Japanese Cinema Revisited.Bloomsbury Academic. p. 19.ISBN9781441133274.
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