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Reading Journal in Asian Film Culture: "Echoes of the Digital Age"


Echoes of the Digital Age
(November 29, 2016)

An old man living off as a beggar, a transvestite, a runaway, and an abandoned child – these are the protagonists of the Japanese animation movie “Tokyo Godfathers” (2003), and amidst the packaging (the very notion that it is an animation and not a live action movie), it talks about a compelling tale in the urban metroscape of Tokyo, and the struggles against societal stigma. Before I discuss further in detail, I would like to explain the foundation of the argument I wish to present – the availability of new media channels, the digital age, echoes the same burden and responsibility of its predecessor but with a wider audience and struggle for viability in an age of digital consumption, contributing to Japan’s transnational-isation through its production, distribution, and reception.

Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano (2013) briefly explains the historical context that contributed to the versatility of Japanese cinema, which allows for it to become the best mode of transnational product– that is, Japan’s own international relationship with other countries gave the impetus to the innovative cultural packagings over the years. She counter-argues Iwabuchi’s perception that the national identity remains intact despite the transnational movement of culture and ideologies. To her, transnational should first be understood as “the negation of the national [….] that since culture has always been migratory, it necessarily follows that transnationalism has historical continuity”(3-4). In other words, the national culture and identity of a country, in this case, Japan, evolves through each phase in history it comes into contact with others. First, introducing Koichi Iwabuchi’s concept of “odorless state” prevalent in characters of Japanese cinema (that they hold no particular position as categorised by society), and then using Kichi Matsuo’s analyzation of an earlier film series of the “Wataridori” (a journey of estranged characters along fictitious western towns moving around the Japanese archipelago) that reveals the social and cultural ideology of an era, it would seem to me that Wada-Marciano attempts to instil the notion of transnationalism as a gateway to understand the socio-political landscape of a given time.

Going back to the analysing the characters of the film, it is clear that they represent the minority, those who are not part of society’s accepted norm, and throughout the film, their encounters with the culturally contradictory society of Japan paints an even bigger picture. In one way, the film’s narrative is reminiscent of the watadori series, in that the cast moves geographically in their search for the abandoned child’s true parents, and it is through this movement that they explore the societal stigmas against the minorities or even the global notion of certain themes: such as the yakuza reputation, the illegal south american immigrants, the Buddhist notion of cleanliness and impurity of all things dirty, the vice of gambling, and symbolisms of Christianity. Here, the film describes a Japan that is no longer mono-ethnic and samurai-filled, otherwise packaged by most travel tours. In this sense, it felt very much like a social commentary, as well as a film of hope and redemption for the characters whom society had seemingly abandoned but have achieved something because they never gave up (which could be interpreted as nostalgia for the economic boom when hardwork paid off).

In conclusion, from a production’s point-of-view, the creation of the narrative alone composes of many transnational values, which makes me believe that the targeted audience is not merely the Japanese public, giving international viewers means of relating to, and further understanding of the international relations of Japan itself. Distribution through cinemas, the availability of DVD’s and even the illegal streamings in the Internet, allow for a wider-range of audience, which renders the producers powerless in terms of flow-control. Finally, the reception relies on transnational knowledge (from the cultural cues embedded in the narrative and those learned from our own experiences) to become effective. What occurs, then, is a borderless cultural exchange even if the viewers are not aware of it.

To end this, I quote Wada-Marciano: “With the loss of the studios as centers of production, the majority of filmmakers in Japan have found new production mode and thematic focuses that distinguishes their films from previous ones [….] the assimilation of digital media and the representation of the transnational”(15).

Word count: 713

References:
1. Tokyo Godfathers. Directed by Satoshi Kon. Performed by Tôru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki and Aya Okamoto. Japan: Mad House, 2003. Film.
2. Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo. “Introduction”, Japanese Cinema in the Digital Age, University of Hawaii Press, 2013.

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