Research Topic

A New City of Lost Souls

Films have captivated the world for more than one hundred years now. Movies bring people together, make them think, entertain them, teach them, and have even become a source of art and inspiration for the world over. America has always been the shining beacon of the film industry with Hollywood at its center. Despite the power of Hollywood, the international market has had a strong influence on American film because of how popular, unique, and different the films were. Entire generations of directors discovered their style through the imitation and study of these foreign films. One of the biggest foreign markets, one that continues to be important worldwide, is the Japanese film industry. Despite the popularity of these international film markets most American and French criticism, in relation to foreign films (obviously excluding French films), tends to focus on particular directors and movements rather than the industry as a whole or in relation to the culture he are in. The Japanese film industry is very strong and has been successful in world markets and home markets.

This study would like to take a step towards creating a more comprehensive criticism. It will combine some directorial criticism using the highly acclaimed director auteur Takashi Miike (1960- ) and then taking it further by studying how he was influenced by the culture and how his films are representative of the culture. It will specifically focus on homosexuality and nationalism, which is what he likes to focus on and put in his films. This research will use the films that have been translated into English as well as much information on the other films that have not been translated. From his oeuvre I will explore some consistently reappearing themes, motifs, and ideas that are explored in his films by doing in depth analysis on two films. There will also be a study of homosexuality, nationalism, and a more basic overview of the culture in general and in closer relation to the two main subjects.

The purpose of this study would be to create a better understanding of the filmmaker and his works in relation to the history/culture of the Japan. This could create a new way of studying the relationships and influences on media and art as well as a new method of historical and sociological criticism. This study will include mostly literature research, but also intense filmic research involving close readings of two films which have little to no scholarly writing on them. This also could shine new light on the director and maybe help to reignite some interest in the Japanese film industry.

There are a number of weaknesses and limitations to this study. A lot of information cannot be expunged due to linguistic boundaries. Many of the director’s films still do not have English translations, have not been released on video, or have been lost. That means that many of them are unavailable to me because I do not speak or read Japanese well enough, but I am going to try to find as much information as possible that has been translated. This always leaks into the Japanese literature and criticism, which is also mostly unavailable to me. One of the other glaring weaknesses is simply the fact that I am American and most of the writing about everything Japanese that I will be able to access will be American, which means that a certain amount of disconnect will be present in all this work because it comes from an outsider who has not lived and cannot be a part of that culture.

Hopefully this study can open up critics and viewers to a new way of exploring meaning and relevance to films in other cultures as well as our own. It can help us to achieve greater understanding of the way that history, culture, and media relate and how he intertwine to become inseparable from each other. This can lead to further developments in an academic world by creating a new way of getting students interested in foreign countries with film and help them to both look at things from many different angles. It will help them understand the importance of not judging another country without understanding that we cannot because we are not a part of that culture, but we can do whatever we can with the media and literature that we can to better appreciate their way of life.