The Masters' Gaze on Women in Hanamachi
巨匠が描いた花街の女たち
From March 17-19, I attended the Japan Foundation Film Series (Part 5) held by the Japan Foundation Forum, Akasaka. I wanted to write about it here as a way to recollect what movies I saw, and to add some of my thoughts and ideas on the event.
Here is the list of movies and a lecture I saw. I'm planning on posting my own thoughts and comments, bit by bit, by the title of each movie:
March 17 (Fri.)
19:00 YOSHIWARA THE PLEASURE QUARTERS
妖刀物語 花の吉原百人斬り by UCHIDA Tomu, 1960
This movie didn't really make a big impression on me, although I enjoyed it a lot. One reaction I had was that this is not a realistic portrait of Yoshiwara - something about the costumes and sets seemed too fake - kind of like watching the set of a US sitcom.
I went to this movie with my friend Koichi, who made a good comment - and I agree. The movie portrays focuses on the greediness, ambition, and mercenary characteristics of BOTH men and women. A husband and wife couple own the ageya (~pleasure house) and work together to take advantage of Jirozaemon, a naive customer who has fallen in love with Tamatsuru, the house's ambitious geisha.
Tamatsuru is an interesting case too. She is also greedy and quite mercenary in her relationship with Jirozaemon. Knowing that her client's obsession with her is her only potential tool for gaining access to the prestigious position of taiyu, she plays with Jirozemon's emotions in order to bleed him dry of all of his savings. In the end, when Jirozaemon experiences temporary financial straits, she and her brothel owners not only shun him, but feel no compunction in taunting and abusing his worth and self esteem.
By the end of the film series, I came to question how much agency the women of the pleasure quarters seemed to exhibit in each of the movies. In Women are Born Twice, for example, the main protagonist, Koen, seems to be in charge of her actions. It is her decision to leave the ageya to work as a hostess at her friend's cafe. She also tends to decide when to take vacation, with whom, and whom to see as her lover. By contrast, the women in The World of Geisha not only seem trapped in their line of work, but abused, sexually and psychologically. In one scene, we see the madame of a brothel practically raping a new apprentice.
In any event, with Tamatsuru in Yoshiwara we see more of a nuanced tapestry of agency, abuse and imprisonment. Tamatsuru is smart enough to figure out how to manipulate Jirozaemon, and to her credit, she does so skillfully and adeptly. Nevertheless, she is abused by her colleagues for having a history of working as a mere "street whore," before having been arrested and indentured to the ageya. At the end of the movie, Tamatsuru attains the coveted position of taiyu based primarily on her own cunning and resolve. Having achieved such success on her own merits, her character seems to announce that despite their hard lives, prostitutes and geisha can command their own destinies, albeit within the narrow and marginal walls of the pleasure quarters. However, in the last scene, screenwriter YODA Yoshikata reproaches the viewer for succumbing to this false sense of power and achievement with a one final, dramatic blow: Jirozaemon is witnessed stabbing Tamatsuru in the full splendor of her debut as the grand taiyu in a parade on the streets of Yoshiwara.
March 18 (Sat.)
13:30 WOMEN ARE BORN TWICE
女は二度生まれる by KAWASHIMA Yuzo, 1961
15:15 LECTURE: "Women in Hanamachi—Seen through the Japanese Cinema"
Lecture by TSUNEISHI Fumiko, Film Curator, National Film Center
18:00 THE WORLD OF GEISHA
四畳半襖の裏張り by KUMASHIRO Tatsumi, 1973
Starting in 1971, Nikkatsu film studios ("We place a value on Pleasure... More Feeling to More People") concentrated on making "pink films" with big budgets and famous directors. The company used the term "Roman Porno" to describe pink films.
My friends (Kathy and Jackie) and I debated over this movie over coffee as soon after we got out of the theater. Kathy and Jackie were convinced that the film was "porn," while I, on the other hand, was not so quick to agree. True, technically this film is described as an indisputable classic of Nikkatsu 'Roman Porno,'" in the Japan Foundation Forum movie series handout. So maybe I should just give it up, and agree with how other people see it, and perhaps with the genre in which it was probably intentionally created.
Among my reasons for not wanting to call this movie "porn" however were that for one, the acting was quite good - especially the women's acting. I thought that although the movie might portray situations which dehumanize women, this is distinctly different from dehumanizing theactuallyy women who act out the characters in the movie. I wonder, how can a movie dehumanize women if it serves as a showcase for women's skills for nuanced and thoughtful acting.
In addition, I thought the movie perceptively and humorously ribald. M-W defines "ribald" as 'depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society,' a definition which many might decide categorically situates the movie in the realm of "pornographic." But I disagree. There are number of movies, songs, and books (i.e. "There's Something about Mary") which reference sex "impolitely" andmischievouslyy, but are not intended to cause sexual excitement.
March 19 (Sun.)
13:30 THE WOMAN OF THE RUMOR (aka The Woman in Question)?
噂の女 by MIZOGUCHI Kenji, 1954
15:30 UNDER SILK GARMENTS
偽れる盛装 by YOSHIMURA Kozaburo, 1951
18:00 NIHONBASHI
日本橋 by ICHIKAWA Kon, 1956
Of all the movies, I liked this one the least. But honestly, I was pretty tired of watching endless dramas (melodramas?) about poor, abused women at this point. This was the third movie of the day, and the only way I could face it was by downing a quick jug of beer across the street at Pronto during the hour intermission.
Jackie, my new friend, also saw the movie and agreed; the movie was overly dramatic and after the first 60-70 minutes, one found oneself wondering when the movie was going to end. Another reason I thought the movie was worse than the others was that the acting was pretty pitiful, and the sets reminded me more of sets from the theater. Backgrounds, such as cityscapes, were simply created by hanging pastel posters behind the actors and a few maginal props.
Another thing that I was tired of at this point was the overriding theme in these Japanese movies that people's lives were destined to misery. Perhaps that is the central and realistic theme of the Yoshiwara, but in these movies there was an added element of practically choosing the most miserable - self-flagellating? - destiny utterly possible.
Here is the list of movies and a lecture I saw. I'm planning on posting my own thoughts and comments, bit by bit, by the title of each movie:
March 17 (Fri.)
19:00 YOSHIWARA THE PLEASURE QUARTERS妖刀物語 花の吉原百人斬り by UCHIDA Tomu, 1960
This movie didn't really make a big impression on me, although I enjoyed it a lot. One reaction I had was that this is not a realistic portrait of Yoshiwara - something about the costumes and sets seemed too fake - kind of like watching the set of a US sitcom.
I went to this movie with my friend Koichi, who made a good comment - and I agree. The movie portrays focuses on the greediness, ambition, and mercenary characteristics of BOTH men and women. A husband and wife couple own the ageya (~pleasure house) and work together to take advantage of Jirozaemon, a naive customer who has fallen in love with Tamatsuru, the house's ambitious geisha.
Tamatsuru is an interesting case too. She is also greedy and quite mercenary in her relationship with Jirozaemon. Knowing that her client's obsession with her is her only potential tool for gaining access to the prestigious position of taiyu, she plays with Jirozemon's emotions in order to bleed him dry of all of his savings. In the end, when Jirozaemon experiences temporary financial straits, she and her brothel owners not only shun him, but feel no compunction in taunting and abusing his worth and self esteem.
By the end of the film series, I came to question how much agency the women of the pleasure quarters seemed to exhibit in each of the movies. In Women are Born Twice, for example, the main protagonist, Koen, seems to be in charge of her actions. It is her decision to leave the ageya to work as a hostess at her friend's cafe. She also tends to decide when to take vacation, with whom, and whom to see as her lover. By contrast, the women in The World of Geisha not only seem trapped in their line of work, but abused, sexually and psychologically. In one scene, we see the madame of a brothel practically raping a new apprentice.
In any event, with Tamatsuru in Yoshiwara we see more of a nuanced tapestry of agency, abuse and imprisonment. Tamatsuru is smart enough to figure out how to manipulate Jirozaemon, and to her credit, she does so skillfully and adeptly. Nevertheless, she is abused by her colleagues for having a history of working as a mere "street whore," before having been arrested and indentured to the ageya. At the end of the movie, Tamatsuru attains the coveted position of taiyu based primarily on her own cunning and resolve. Having achieved such success on her own merits, her character seems to announce that despite their hard lives, prostitutes and geisha can command their own destinies, albeit within the narrow and marginal walls of the pleasure quarters. However, in the last scene, screenwriter YODA Yoshikata reproaches the viewer for succumbing to this false sense of power and achievement with a one final, dramatic blow: Jirozaemon is witnessed stabbing Tamatsuru in the full splendor of her debut as the grand taiyu in a parade on the streets of Yoshiwara.
March 18 (Sat.)
13:30 WOMEN ARE BORN TWICE女は二度生まれる by KAWASHIMA Yuzo, 1961
15:15 LECTURE: "Women in Hanamachi—Seen through the Japanese Cinema"
Lecture by TSUNEISHI Fumiko, Film Curator, National Film Center
18:00 THE WORLD OF GEISHA 四畳半襖の裏張り by KUMASHIRO Tatsumi, 1973
Starting in 1971, Nikkatsu film studios ("We place a value on Pleasure... More Feeling to More People") concentrated on making "pink films" with big budgets and famous directors. The company used the term "Roman Porno" to describe pink films.
My friends (Kathy and Jackie) and I debated over this movie over coffee as soon after we got out of the theater. Kathy and Jackie were convinced that the film was "porn," while I, on the other hand, was not so quick to agree. True, technically this film is described as an indisputable classic of Nikkatsu 'Roman Porno,'" in the Japan Foundation Forum movie series handout. So maybe I should just give it up, and agree with how other people see it, and perhaps with the genre in which it was probably intentionally created.
Among my reasons for not wanting to call this movie "porn" however were that for one, the acting was quite good - especially the women's acting. I thought that although the movie might portray situations which dehumanize women, this is distinctly different from dehumanizing theactuallyy women who act out the characters in the movie. I wonder, how can a movie dehumanize women if it serves as a showcase for women's skills for nuanced and thoughtful acting.
In addition, I thought the movie perceptively and humorously ribald. M-W defines "ribald" as 'depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society,' a definition which many might decide categorically situates the movie in the realm of "pornographic." But I disagree. There are number of movies, songs, and books (i.e. "There's Something about Mary") which reference sex "impolitely" andmischievouslyy, but are not intended to cause sexual excitement.
March 19 (Sun.)
13:30 THE WOMAN OF THE RUMOR (aka The Woman in Question)?噂の女 by MIZOGUCHI Kenji, 1954
15:30 UNDER SILK GARMENTS
偽れる盛装 by YOSHIMURA Kozaburo, 1951
18:00 NIHONBASHI
日本橋 by ICHIKAWA Kon, 1956
Of all the movies, I liked this one the least. But honestly, I was pretty tired of watching endless dramas (melodramas?) about poor, abused women at this point. This was the third movie of the day, and the only way I could face it was by downing a quick jug of beer across the street at Pronto during the hour intermission.
Jackie, my new friend, also saw the movie and agreed; the movie was overly dramatic and after the first 60-70 minutes, one found oneself wondering when the movie was going to end. Another reason I thought the movie was worse than the others was that the acting was pretty pitiful, and the sets reminded me more of sets from the theater. Backgrounds, such as cityscapes, were simply created by hanging pastel posters behind the actors and a few maginal props.
Another thing that I was tired of at this point was the overriding theme in these Japanese movies that people's lives were destined to misery. Perhaps that is the central and realistic theme of the Yoshiwara, but in these movies there was an added element of practically choosing the most miserable - self-flagellating? - destiny utterly possible.
posted by annmerry at 3:37 PM
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