How do the death of the friend and the death of Taka respectively affect Mitsu?
Choose one or more questions to write the response. Your response should consist of 4-5 well written paragraphs. Feel free to combine some of the questions in developing your own argument. You dont need to write out the response questions you chose in your writing. Pose a question based on your thoughtful and critical viewing and reading experiences. The deadline is January 31 (Tuesday) 8PM
Oe Kenzaburo, Silent Cry
1. What can we tell about Mitsu and Taka respectively? What kinds of person is Mitsu? And Taka? What are differences between them? What is the nature of the relationship between them?
2. How do the death of the friend and the death of Taka respectively affect Mitsu? (What do their deaths imply about Japanese society in the 1960s?) Does Mitsu change after the death of Taka? If so how? (What does Mitsus wife tell him after Takas death?)
3. The novel juxtaposes the 1960 anti–Security Treaty movement in Japan with the civil rights movement of 1960s in the U.S., and the risings of 1860 and 1871 by the farmers against the authority. How does each character associate/dissociate himself (or herself) to/from these historical events? What commentary is the work making through the juxtapositions of these historical events? Is this methodology effective?
Oshima Nagisa Resurrected Three Drunkards
4. Oshima Nagisas film features three members of the folk-pop group of the 1960s “The Folk Crusaders” and the title of the film is taken from their mega hit song “Resurrected Three Drunkards (1967).” What filmic genres do you think this film would belong to and why? (an experimental film, comedy, satirical film, thriller,, war, a music video, “an idol film” that features pop idols etc). What effects does the casting of the celebrity have in this film?
5. One of the aims of this film is to question the existing boundaries. What kinds of borders or divisions are called into question the film? What critical comments is the film making on Japanese society of the 1960s? How does the film challenge the ways we see and understand people, community, images, practices, space, and institutions? What are at stake?
6. In his short essay “What is Shot?,” Oshima Nagisa states, “Every shot must be critical. The field of each shot must incorporate the film makers critique of the subject and the situation and at the same time serve as a critique of the filmmaker…. The problem is that existing films and the stereotypical images held by filmmakers keep them from taking any shots that incorporate critique… Thus, the only way to change the film is to crush the established stereotyped images contained in each shot (50).” What are some of the distinctive film-making techniques used by Oshima in this film? How do they help shape new images or perspective? Are they effective?
