Divine Work, Japanese Colonial Cinema and its Legacy

Description

For many East Asian nations, cinema and Japanese Imperialism arrived within a few years of each other. Exploring topics such as landscape, gender, modernity and military recruitment, this study details how the respective national cinemas of Japan's territories struggled under, but also engaged with, the Japanese Imperial structures. Japan was ostensibly committed to an ethos of pan-Asianism and this study explores how this sense of the transnational was conveyed cinematically across the occupied lands. Taylor-Jones traces how cinema in the region post-1945 needs to be understood not only in terms of past colonial relationships, but also in relation to how the post-colonial has engaged with shifting political alliances, the opportunities for technological advancement and knowledge, the promise of larger consumer markets, and specific historical conditions of each decade. Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Images Notes on Japanese, Chinese and Korean Names Acknowledgements Introduction Aims and objectives Chapter outlines Notes Part 1 Colonial Cinema and the Imperial Machine Chapter 1 Constructing the Cinematic Japanese Empire: Taiwan and Korea The colonial modern Korea, censorship and language Conclusion Notes Chapter 2 Nations in Harmony: Imperial Cinema Manchuria and images of harmonious living Bright lights and city spaces: Shanghai and Hong Kong South East Asia Conclusion Notes Chapter 3 Landscape and the Space of the Colonial Moment Natural, original and primitive Modern city and rural Korea Mapping the greater Empire: Trains in the colonial imaginary Manchurian dreamscapes Conclusion Notes Chapter 4 Army Recruitment Films Conclusion Notes Chapter 5 ‘Good Wife, Wise Mother’: Articulations of Womanhood Objects of nationhood Education, gender and nationhood The ambiguous nature of the modern girl Military labour and gender Conclusion Notes Part 2 Contemporary Manifestations and the Legacy of Empire Introduction to Part Two Chapter 6 Remembering the Empire Taiwan: Nostalgia, affection and market politics Korea and the impact of global cinema trends From the masculine hero to the female spy: Chinese cinematic remembrances South East Asia Conclusion Notes Chapter 7 Japan Remembers, Japan Forgets Under the stars and stripes: American and Japan in the post-war period Shin-Toho and a return to a heroic war ‘We need men prepared to live … if no one tries to survive, our dying will be in vain’: Imperial hegemony reinstated from the 2000s onwards Variations in the narrative Conclusion Notes Chapter 8 Representing the Rape of Nanjing Looking West: UK, USA and German visions of Nanjing Conclusion Note Chapter 9 Legacy of Empire Co-production as cooperation Travelling symbols: East Asian transnational stardom Conclusion Notes Bibliography Selected Filmography Index