Paper short abstract:

This paper considers the ways that the genre of American film noir was adapted in "Nikkatsu Action" crime films such as Rusty Knife (1958), Branded to Kill (1967), and A Colt is My Passport (1967) to convey some of the faultlines of rapid socio-economic and cultural change in 1950s/1960s Japan.

Paper long abstract:

This paper considers the ways that the genre of American film noir was adapted in "Nikkatsu Action" crime films to capture and convey some of the faultlines of rapid socio-economic and cultural change in 1950s/1960s Japan. Although film and popular culture have been utilised as lenses through which to consider socio-economic change in this period in Japan, few works have specifically considered film noir.

The term film noir was initially used by French film critics with reference to wartime and postwar American urban crime films. These films were noted for their depictions of alienation conveyed through dark lighting, extreme camera angles and a focus on criminality; traits that have been read as a response to the disillusionment in American society in the aftermath of WWII.

During the 1960s Nikkatsu Studios released a series of noir-inspired urban crime films aimed at a teenage audience. Contrary to Toei Studio's conventional ninkyo eiga (chivalrous yakuza films) which underscored traditional social values by depicting a hero submitting to authority, the protagonists in these "Nikkatsu Action" films did not display loyalty to a group such as family, gang or company. Instead, they were depicted as entirely individualistic, akin to the protagonists of American film noir. In their depictions of lone outlaws that existed outside of the confinements of traditional Japanese society, the Nikkatsu films constituted "a rebellion against tradition dressed in the trappings of American film noir" (Vick, 2015, p. 23), appealing to the disillusionment felt by many young Japanese with regards to traditional social structures and their supposed obligations to it.

This paper examines how several "Nikkatsu Action" films, such as Rusty Knife (1958), Branded to Kill (1967), and A Colt is My Passport (1967) utilised conventions of film noir in order to subvert traditional Japanese conceptions of social obligation, thereby providing an unsettling representation of postwar Japanese society. Thus, these Nikkatsu noir films, just like other film from this period, provide a useful tool to reflect on the conditions of immediate postwar Japan.

Paper short abstract:

I will analyze the role of "The Scientist" in Japanese cinema, a notion related both to the construction of hegemonic masculinity and scientific nationalism. I will analyze postwar representations of the mad/sad/rad scientist in pop culture and how it correlates with the construction of identities.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I will trace the role of "The Scientist" in Japanese cinema, concentrating mostly on films that could be labeled kaiki eiga, fantastic films inclusive of, but not limited to, horror and science fiction. I will utilize the notion of a functional bundle, "a mental unit that is invented, mind-grapping, attention-grabbing and widely communicated" (Grodal 2009).

I will concentrate on films by Honda Ishiro, Tsukamoto Shinya, Kurosawa Kiyoshi as well as the recent Hayabusa films. These works represent two distinct postwar periods during which kaiki eiga appeared in large: the 1950s/1960s, and the 1990s/2000s. The Scientist in these films appears as an invention, a cultural artifact that performs certain functions in film which, in this particular case, are related to the construction of hegemonic masculinity and masculine ideologies of postwar Japan. Scientific stories of the former period were much concerned with bodily metamorphoses (変身) as representations of past ideologies, whereas contemporary films utilize the motif of psychological transformation (変心) of the protagonist. I suggest this cinematic shift correlates with a wider societal paradigm shift. In the 1950s and 1960s scientists appear as harbingers of destruction, calling for attention not only towards the destructive role of nuclear science, but also its pivotal role in the construction of Japanese nationalism and masculinity. However, in the 1990s and 2000s scientists have come to manifest a double-fold functionality. They either appear as representations of the anxiety felt towards the hegemonic masculine identity of a salaryman or as symbols of new hope brought to the people by the advances of Japanese science.

This paper will not only utilize a relatively new theoretical framework for the study of Japanese cinema, but also contribute greatly to the study of masculinity in Japanese popular culture. In addition, the notion of "scientific nationalism" is never far behind as the status of the emasculated, empowered, emancipated Japanese male is negotiated.