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Paper short abstract:

Takamine Hideko starred in a number of films directed by her husband Matuyama Zenzō. Analysing both the films and the two artists' public image, with a focus on their partnership, can help us to gain a better understanding of the perception of each individual's persona and their films.

Paper long abstract:

The public persona of a film star can, as proposed by Richard Dyer in his seminal work Stars (1979), be understood as a "star text" that is constantly constructed and shaped by different texts and contributors, such as the star's public appearances and utterances, the films he or she is featured in, the public discourse about the star and his or her films in the media and among audiences, and the role of the industry presenting films and star in publicity material.

When analysing Takamine Hideko's star persona we can identify a number of key elements signifying the actor's agency in playing an active and conscious role in contributing to its construction. One of these elements is her relationship to her husband Matuyama Zenzō. Their marriage in 1955 was picked up in the news as a love marriage based on Takamine choosing a relatively unknown assistant director. Consequently, the partnership between Takamine and Matsuyama, who would become a director in his own right and make a number of films featuring Takamine in the lead role, was shaped by the idea of a marriage between two professionals collaborating both at home and at work as equal partners. Films which they created together as a 'team' include "Namonaku mazushiku utsukushiku" (Happiness of Us Alone, 1961) telling the story of a hearing-impaired couple expressing their love and managing the hardships of their life through sign language or "Sanga ari" (The Bridge Between, 1962) telling the experience of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii before, during and after the Second World War. Analysing these films and the two artists' public image, with a focus on their collaboration, can therefore help us to gain a better understanding of both: firstly, the public image of the two stars as a couple at home and in the film studio; and secondly, the perception of their films, as influenced by the public awareness of the two artists' teamwork.