Mizoguchi Kenji

1
Mizoguchi Kenji

• Uncompensated Suffering
• Images of Japanese Women

2
Mizoguchis Major Works

• Mizoguchi Kenji (1898 Tokyo - 1956 Kyoto)
• In the SILENT era
• Resurrection of Love (1923)
• Bridge of Japan (Nihonbashi, 1929)
• Cascading White Threads (Takino Shiraito, 1933)

3
Mizoguchis Major Works

• In the PREWAR period
• Osaka Elegy (Naniwa Elegy, 1936)
• Sisters of Gion (Gion no Shimai, 1936)
• The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Zangiku
  Monogatari, 1939)

4
Mizoguchis Major Works

• In the POSTWAR golden age
• The Life of Oharu (Saikaku Ichidai Onna, 1952)
• Ugetsu (Ugetsu Monogatari, 19553)
• Sansho the Bailiff (Sansho Dayu, 1954)
• Crucified Lovers (Chikamatsu Monogatari, 1955)
• The Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin Heike
  Monogatari, 1955)
• Street of Shame (Akasen Chitai, 1956)

5
Osaka Elegy (1936)

• Ayako becomes the mistress of her boss, so she
  can pay her fathers debt and her brothers
  college fees. When she is abandoned by her
  benefactor, she turns to the street.

6
Sisters of Gion (1936)

• Umekichi and Omocha are geisha in Kyotos Gion
  district. The former feels obliged to help her
  bankrupt patron but the latter believes her
  sister is wasting her time and money on a loser
  and coward. Omochas view proves to be true but
  her pragmatism does not bring her happiness
  either.

7
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)

• Kikunosuke, son of the famous actor Kikugoro
  falls in love with Otoku, the wet-nurse of his
  brother. This provokes the wrath of Kikugoro. He
  is allowed to perform on the condition that he
  has a clear break with Otoku.

8
The Life of O-haru (1952)

• Once a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court at
  Kyoto, Oharu fell in love with, and became the
  lover of, a man below her station. They were
  discovered, and Oharu and her family were exiled.
  For Oharu there followed a life filled with one
  sorrow and humiliation after another.

9
Ugetsu (1953)

• A potter is seduced by a wealthy noble woman and
  abandons his wife. When he comes to his senses
  and returns to his home, he is kindly received by
  his wife, who is but her ghost.

10
Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

• In mediaeval Japan a compassionate governor is
  sent into exile. His wife and children try to
  join him, but are separated. The two kidnapped
  children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
  The sister sacrifices herself in order to
  liberate her brother.

11
Street of Shame (1956)

• About lives of prostitutes
• in the days before pro-
• stitution are banned.
• Yasumi, the most beautiful
• and successful, manipulates
• customers Mickey is an unsentimental rebel
• Michie supports her sick husband and a new-born
• baby Yumeko supports her son but is ashamed of
• her profession Yorie hopes to settle into
  marriage
• but is betrayed by her fiance.

12
Images of Japanese Women

• Mizoguchis chief thematic concerns consistently
  found in his films
• His films reflect
• (Expected) roles of women in society
• Exploitation and abuse of women - the
  second-class members of the society.

13
Images of Japanese Women

• Ugliness of men who prey on women
• Beauty of women who resist the power of men
• Womens self-sacrifice (or forced self-sacrifice)
  for their family (parents, brothers and sisters,
  husbands, chidlren, and lovers)
• Atonement brought for mens sin or crime by
  womens self-sacrifice
• Glorification (?) of suffering women

14
Images of Japanese Women

• a commitment to feminism and progressive
  politics Interpretation by Alexander Jacoby
• Are Mizoguchis films feminist or do they take a
  progressive political stance on issues of women?
• Comassion and sympathy towards suffering women
  indictment against mens cruelty, selfishness and
  violence
• Make female perseverance and self-sacrifice look
  as if they were beautiful and virtuous acts

15
Images of Japanese Women

• The exploitation and abuse of women, young or
  old, are phenomena found in the both feudal and
  modern periods.
• Where did these concerns come from?
• Mizoguchis upbringing and childhood

16
Life of Mizoguchi Kenji

• Though born into a well-to-do family, Mizoguchis
  fortune changed when his father lost money in
  investment.
• Since then, the life of the family became as if
  it were the one in his films.
• His sister sent up for adoption and the adoptive
  family sold her to a geisha house

17
Life of Mizoguchi Kenji

• His father ill-treated his wife and daughter and
  sometimes very abusive and even violent
• Mizoguchi violently disliked his father
  throughout his life
• His father refused to send Mizoguchi beyond
  primary school but with the help from his sister
  (geisha turned mistress of wealthy merchant) he
  managed to enroll in an art school.