Han Heroes and Yamato Warriors: Competing Masculinities in Chinese and Japanese War Cinema

An exploration of collective memory through the lens of East Asian film during World War II. Taking the "tidal wave" of memory in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century as its starting point, this monograph explores the collective memory of World War II in East Asia (1937-1945) through film. Weiss argues that Chinese, Japanese, and American remembrance of World War II is intertwined in what she terms a "memory loop," the transnational mediation and remediation of war narratives. Gender is central to this process, as the changing representation of male soldiers, political leaders, and patriarchal father figures within these narratives reveals Japanese and Chinese challenges to each other and to the perceived "foundational" American narrative of the war. This process continues to intensify due to the globally visible nature of the memory loop, which drives this cycle of transmission, translation, and reassessment. This volume is the first to bring together a collection of Chinese and Japanese war films that have received little attention in English-language literature. It also produces new readings of popular war memory in East Asia by revealing the gendered dimensions of collective remembrance in these films.

Nhật Bản ngữ nguyên văn:
1980 niên đại lấy hàng, Nhật Bản と Trung Quốc の chiến tranh ánh họa は, まったく dị なる phương hướng に hướng かい, それぞれナショナリスティックな ngữ りを phát đạt させてきたと khảo えられている. しかし, ánh họa とはトランスナショナルな đại chúng ký ức の kỹ thuật であると khảo えるヴァイスは, こ の lạng quốc の ナショナリズムと căn thâm く kết びついた chiến tranh ánh họa の biểu tượng に, lãnh thổ một nước を càng える lẫn nhau の tác dụng や phản tác dụng の ループがあることを phát thấy していく. Bỉ nữ が Đông Kinh trọng tài, chiến sĩ の biểu tượng, レイプ, giải hòa といった ánh giống イメージ の trung に lãnh thổ một nước を càng える ký ức の đan xen を bắt える tay tế は tiên やかである. Quyển sách はそれ tự thể, buổi trưa の ngôn ngữ を hoàn toàn に lý giải し, Nhật Bản で trường く mộ らす trung でこ の quốc の người 々 の ý thức の うごめきを thâm く lý giải し, フィルム・スタディーズはもちろん, アジア の gần hiện đại sử やカルチュラル・スタディーズ, ジェンダー・スタディーズを biết したヴァイスでなければできない vượt biên な đạt thành である.

Tác giả tóm tắt

Amanda Weiss

Amanda Weiss is assistant professor of Japanese at Georgia Institute of Technology.

“This awesome book shows how Chinese and Japanese films about the Second World War both reflect and shape memories of that conflict. Moreover, by analyzing movies about the war and the ensuing ‘competing masculinities,’ Amanda Weiss skillfully discloses their impact on subsequent conceptions of race, gender, and identity. Highly recommended.”
—Kam Louie, University of Hong Kong

“Amanda Weiss, who views film as a significant mode of popular memory traveling beyond national border, discovers a loop of mutual interaction in the representation of Chinese and Japanese war films deeply intertwined with the nationalism of both countries. Her skill in capturing the intersection of cross-border memories in visual images such as the Tokyo Trials, warrior, rape, and reconciliation is remarkable. This is a transcendent achievement that could only be accomplished by Weiss, who fully understands both Japanese and Chinese languages and deeply understands the movements of consciousness among the people of these countries during her long stay in Japan and China.”
—Shunya Yoshimi, University of Tokyo