Japanese+Pop+Culture+Cinema

__**Japanese Cinema**__



History

Japanese Cinema falls under seven major categories based on their characteristics. There is Anime (Japanese animation), Jidaigeki (involving Samurai), Horror, Cult Horror, Kaiju (monster films), Pink Films, Yakuza Films, (mobsters). The first two films ever produced in Japan were Bake Jizo (Jizo the Spook), and Shinin no Sosei (Resurrection of a Corpse). The first major actors or stars in Japan were Matsunosuke Onoe and Tokuko Nagai Takagi. Onoe was the first male actor in Japan. He has stared in over 1,000 movies. Even though they were for the most part only short films, he still remains noted as the first actor. His roll of fame lasted from 1909 to 1926. Takagi was the first female actress that started out as an actress and dancer. She then carried that out through her films. She has also appeared in a few American Films also. When Japan first started to show their production films they would hire benshi narrators. This is when there would be a person that stands alongside the screen and does the voices for the actors/actresses. This caused the film producers to have to produce their films as "silent." So if you were to watch the film without a benshi narrator there would be no voices for you to hear. Japan's 1923 earthquake and the bombing during World War II stopped the film production in Japan for some time. Also some of their films were lost. This time was called the "Silent Era." For more information on the history of Japan's Cinema click [|here] **__ Types of Films __** **__    Anime     __** Filmmakers in Japan were struggling in the business of entertainment. They were losing business to foreign country's productions such as France, Germany, United States, and Russia. With Disney starting to come into play Japan started to lose all hope for ever gainimg success in the business. __After Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs__ was released, Japanese animators hit the gold! They took the Disney characters from that film and "simplified" them. This was done to cut down on the cost and so that there would be less frames. Eventually the style of animation caught on and now there are full length films using anime. Still it was originally done for a quick cheap way for animation. Anime means animation in Japanese so to anyone living in Japan these cartoons seem no different than our cartoons seem to us.



**__ Jidaigeki  __** These types of films generally refer to movies involving samurai. Jidaigeki means "period drama" which was a time in Japan's history between 1603 and 1868. They also can be called Chambara films which means "sword fight" since there are generally many fights between two different sides. The whole film will go through the lives of the important characters who are for the most part "ordinary people" who are then set out on a quest. Jidaigeki movies include makeup, language, plotlines, and catchphrases. For more information on facts about Samurai click  here.

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Horror   __** Japanese horror is referred to as J-Horror. For the most part all Japanese horror films follow the same guidelines or characteristics. There is a lot of anticipation of psychological horror or causing you to play mind tricks on yourself. Mostly there are ghosts or dead people in J-Horror movies. Japanese horror is know for its exorcism and dealing with religious ordeals. The main horror character is know for being a gray color that my sometimes be female. This is generally stated from the two famous Japanese films __The Ring__ and __The Grudge__. The success of these films has opened a large window for all other J-Horror films that follow their lead.



**__Kaiju__** The most famous Kaiju movies the infamous Godzilla. The term Kaiju means "strange beast." Kaiju films may also be called tokusatsu films. Inside of the world tokusatsu there is the word //tatsu,// which also means "flying beast." The base for all of these monsters is that they are usually large dinosaurs that are disturbed by humans and then seek revenge on all people by generally attacking a famous city in Japan. Still Godzilla remains the best know and most populare Kaiju, there are still many others. King Kong also is included in this group. Yet this would be considered more of an American version. King Kong doesn't always follow all of the characteristics of most Japanese Kaiju films.

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