Let me say this first before I start to discuss Wei's review of Turim's
book. I have not read Turim's publication and I have only seen _merry
Christmas Mr Lawrence_ and _Ai no Corrida_ so I am no expert on Oshima. I am
merely responding to Wei's paper. I also want to express my admiration for
Oshima's work - his passions and extremes, the abstraction and the
challenges to filmic conventions.
However, I find it hard to talk of the 'truth' - how can we understand every
'truth' about Japanese culture through Oshima's films? To subvert traditions
does not equate a critique of Orientalism for Orientalism is not the result
of traditions of Other cultures. To negate something is to affirm its
existence, and that I feel is what Oshima is doing. He is colluding with the
west in suggesting that there is an authentic Japan which is timeless and
exotic. By attempting to create something totally new, he is dictated by
Orientalist definitions for he seeks qualities which are lacking in Japanese
cinema by comparison with classicist Hollywood cinema.
Oshima then goes on to create a world of rebellious acts and anti-gender
extremities which in themselves do not automatically challenge traditional
ethics.
What Oshima does is to create an alternative perspective without resorting
to social criticism and in the course of which encourages a different kind
of voyeurism.
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