Tuesday, 7/31, morning session - Kerim Yasar, USC

[Jennifer Place]

Midori, I was shocked too by the way the children behaved.  I have friends who are Japanese and Japanese American.  Neither of them would even consider treating their parents in such a terrible fashion.  I was wondering if the director chose to portray them in this manner as an exaggeration to warn about what would happen if the family fell apart?  What do you think?

[Jennifer Place]

Hi Donna,

I participated in an on-line class focused primarily on Hiroshima.  A number of very well done resources were suggested, especially on the occupation.  I will forward the titles to you when I return home.  (I'm sorry I can't recall them now).  Many of them include first person accounts.

[Jennifer Place]

I love the idea of the Benshi taking liberties to 'improve' the story.  I think it would be interesting to have students take on the role of Benshi for one short unfamiliar silent film or a section of it, video the presentations and then as a group compare presentations.  Good exercise for interpretation, observation and performance skills.  What did each 'Benshi' notice?  Choose to talk about?  How are the tellings different? 

Historically speaking, what a wonderful lesson about the importance of an individual.   

 

[Aileen Level]

I found the lecture on Japanese film to be particularly interesting since I previously taught English in Japan for several years. Before I moved there, I had heard about directors including Kurosawa and looked forward to improving my language skills by watching films. And yet, the theaters were full of American and British blockbusters with maybe one Japanese animated film. There wasn't a Japanese live-action film to be found anywhere near me (in a major city), and I was so confused. It was easier to find these films in LA! So it was helpful to see the professor's graph and learn that my time in Japan corresponded directly to the lowest point in the bar graph -- when Japanese films had their lowest percentage of the domestic market. It turns out that I just had the misfortune to be there when the industry was particularly weak. 

Now that we have streaming services and easy access to foreign films, I'm hoping I can fill in the gaps in my knowledge of Japanese movies by watching many of the movies on his list. (I've mostly only seen Miyazaki animated movies at this point.) 

As for class, it seems like the most logical way to incorporate them would be to include one of the period pieces in the 7th grade lessons on medieval Japan. I need to do more research to identify a good film to use since we didn't look at clips of this type of film.

[Juana Evink]

After yesterday's  lecture by professor Yasar, the reading on Ozu made much more sense. There a sentence from the reading, that really resonated with me, and I have to say that I agree with the author. When people refers to "Ozuesce" it can be an "empty analytic tool..". Ozu is much more than that, yet one can't denied that some directors seem to have been influenced by Ozu like Kaeedra. Some of the same themes are visible like the forsahdowing of someone's death, family relations, and ofcourse trains.

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

Thank you! My email is [email protected] if it is easier to send them via email. 

[Anthony Pollard]

Hello Everyone.

     Professor Yasar expounded on "Toyko Story" by Yasujiro Ozu, and it is of particular interest because there was an evident use foreshadowing. I will use this film to demonstrate style and teach the writing skill of foreshadowing, for a nonfiction text structure.

     This is an older film, so it will not be difficult for students to critically think about its literary conventions. 21st century students are highly intuitive, so they will infer several interpretations about the context of the film. Additionally, they can recognize social justice issues from the perspective of Japan (for example, the way childern treat their parents, compared to how they may feel parents should be treated.) This film has diverse content for which students may not normally be exposed.  

     On another note, we often perform visual productions as an alternate assessment. I like the idea of keeping the aspect of the camera lens 2 1/2 ft. off the ground for each scene, using one particular lens. This method is efficent for students to create an interpretation, in a specified amount of time. 

[Natali Ramon]

I was delighted to learn more about Japan’s robust film history. I had attended previous lectures on Japanese films and I was happy to learn more about it, and in this case, go into the intricacies of a golden age film like Tokyo Story.  It was very interesting to see how the culture of Japan was such a significant influence in a lot of the artistic choices made in the production of this film.  For example, the choice to film with a camera that is set 2.5 feet off the group would probably not meld well in a dinner scene in a western country.  It’s also really fascinating to see that the shots taken of Tokyo were very telling of the redevelopment of Japan in the post war period. I was also really appreciative of the insights professor Yasar gave us on the family dynamics presented in the film. If I were to incorporate this film into my classroom, I would probably use it in my unit that deals with family and community.  As I saw the theme of family unfold during the film, I was reminded of Gregory Nava’s film Mi Familia, which also deals with family dynamics.  Additionally, similarly to Tokyo Story, Gregory Nava’s film uses the Los Angeles backdrop as a way of story telling.  Additionally, he recreates Los Angeles at various moments in its history and it reminded me of how Ozu used the shots of Tokyo to show how far Japan had gotten in it’s process of rebuilding.  In my class, I would have my students examine the parallels between how Tokyo Story and Mi Familia both show family relationships as well as change within a city.  

[Natali Ramon]

Jessica,

I agree with your observation that Ozu’s films are very similar to films in Mexico’s golden age.  Immediately as we started to watch clips of Tokyo Story, I felt as if I was watching a Pedro Infante movie.  I started to do some research on films in the Mexican golden age that portrays family dynamics and I found Una familia de Tantas (1948) by Alejandro Galindo.  I have yet to watch it but in reading the synopsis, I read that the film deals with the issues of strict families, the patriarchy and it introduces of the concept of women’s liberation.  Given its time period and place, the film seems to be groundbreaking. Perhaps a great analytical perspective might be to focus on how old family conventions are broken down or challenged.  When I think of this theme, what comes to mind is the scenes from Tokyo Story we saw in which children ignore their grandparents.  That seems to go against the ideas of respecting your elders.

[Natali Ramon]

Wen,

I also noticed and appreciate the fact that a lot of the film we saw during this lecture feature the mundane aspects of life in Japan.  There is great value in films like these because it really allows the viewer to intimately get to know what daily life is like in Japan. Very often when films are full of special effects, we can’t really get to know a culture the way it must be on a daily basis.  I really like your idea of drawing parallels with Little Miss Sunshine.  Unlike the big blockbusters, Little Miss Sunshine is much more simple, down to earth, and it provides a more reasonable portrayal of life in the US and its family dynamics.

 

[Ann Huynh]

 

I will start by saying that I do not know much about Japanese cinema, except for the ones made by Hiyao Miyazaki since I am more interested in anime.  However, when I read the article, I would say that Japanese cinema is very prolific in Japan and that there are many well known Western directors who studied this Japanese director, Ozu Yasujiro, going as far as emulating his style.  For my class, I would like to show them snippets of the film, Tokyo Story, and talked about the family dynamics in the film.  Often time, when I think about Asian family, it is usually the oldest who will take care of the parents, but in this film, their children does not, but a widowed daughter-in-law.  This is a very different perspective from how I was raised.  This film might be challenging for my students because it is in black and white and it is slow.

[Nira Sun]

I wonder if that Mexican movie you mentioned used the similar camera angle as the Japanese one. I remember the Prof. addressed how the cameras were stationed 2 and half fee off the ground and the pillow shot. Camera angles can be perceived as our perspectives. Most of our students are the experiencing this new life style here compared to their parents who were educated with old fashioned concepts. Maybe we can help students to find the connection between the breakdown of families in the movie and some challenges / conflicts they are facing in real life now.

[Daniel Horowitz]

I also was fascinated with discovering the existance of live "actors" explaining the film. The equivalent in the US would be the piano players who added a live musical soundtrack to each film. With the cultural crossover of American films I can see why it was necessary for someone to explain what was going on. I am curious as to what was added to the movies, elements of creativity must have creeped in, perhaps even changing the plot to the Benshi's imagination.

[Daniel Horowitz]

Now I know the Japanese word for "period drama", thanks to it's association with Star Wars (Jedi). I have seen Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress", the movie that the original Star Wars was inspired from. The Magnificent Seven is another American film based on a Kurosawa movie, in this case it's a Western based on Seven Samurai.

[Stella Castro]

Tokyo Story- This movie was real entertaining for me as I saw an in depth look at an Asian family and their trial and tribulations. I did see the camera angle as Mr. Kerim Yasar  had mentioned, that one can see it so that the viewer can see the whole angle, but this meaning that the cinematographer would have to be squatting or on their knees, the whole time while filming. Quite tiring I presume. However, the movie was excellent, and I really enjoyed and laughed at how the father, would agree to things by saying, “Huh’” or,”yeah” in a cute way and funny way. The movie was over two hours long, but it was entertaining that it did not seem as long as that.  Professor Yasar, also mentioned about the trains in the background, and yes, I did notice them going by. The movie is about parents visiting their grown children in the city. The mother feels ill, goes back home, to the country.  The mother gets sicker, dies. The children must now come to her funeral in the countryside .But before the mother passes away she tell her children that when and if she or her husband pass away that they, (The children), do not have to come to their funeral as it is too far for them, it would be a costly expense for them, and an inconvenience. Imagine one not attending their parent’s funerals.  However, in the movie an ex daughter-in-law is so much nicer to them, than their own children, which does seem strange, as in Asian families the sons/daughters are supposed to have that Filial Piety towards their parents and engraved in their blood.  So having the ex- daughter in –law, doing more for her ex-in-laws is not of the norm in Asian families. This seems as an odd fact, however, maybe the time frame makes a difference it is a movie that is done very well, kudos to Mr. Ozu, and I think I will look up more movies by this director.  I like that the movie hints at the fact  that Asian families and their culture/s are  not as picture perfect as many people often think  so, and as I continue to do so. To date this is my third Asian film, and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying watching them. From now on, I think that I will start watching films that are made by the directors of the many different cultures.  I will get out of the box.

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