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Zainichi cinema

{{short description|Films by Koreans living in Japan}}

{{more citations needed|date=January 2019}}

The Zainichi{{efn|Japanese Koreans or Koreans in Japan}} cinema refers to the transnational film industry of Japan, South and North Korea. With the main theme on the struggles or experiences faced by the resident Korean community or individuals in Japan, the Zainichi cinema is characterized by a wide range of film genres, which encompass melodramas to Yakuza films.{{Cite book|title=Zainichi Cinema: Korean-in-Japan Film Culture|last=Dew|first=Oliver|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2016|isbn=9783319408767}}

Background

= Earlier Zainichi-themed films =

The earliest Japanese films featuring Koreans or resident Koreans in Japan can be traced back to the propaganda films of the early 1920s, when Korea was still under the Japanese colonial rule.{{Cite book|title=Japanese Cinema and Otherness: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and the Problem of Japaneseness|last=Ko|first=Mika|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|isbn=978-0415493017}} During this period, Koreans in Japan were often depicted as members of the peripheral society rather than the main characters.{{Cite journal|last=陳|first=水麗|date=2007|title=「在日」文化におけるアイデンティティーの二重性：「在日映画」を読解する|url=http://www.waseda.jp/sem-muranolt01/SR/S2007/SR2007-chin.pdf}} Moreover, the film of this era exclusively tied this particular population to the two-way images of poverty and cheap laborers. For example, in films such as Look at This Mom (1930) and The Brick Factory Girl (1940), Korean laborers in Japan were primarily depicted as impoverished residents of the marginal slums where they closely lived with other poor people. Additionally, in a film titled Mr. Thank You (1936) directed by Shimizu Hiroshi, a scene, where nomadic Korean construction workers and their family move from one place to another in Japan, was inserted while highlighting the exploitive treatment of laborers from Korea.

In the postwar era, several films played an instrumental role in publicly visualizing the struggles and oppression experienced by Zainichi Koreans.{{Cite journal|last=Walker|first=David|date=2016|title=Zainichi: An Analysis of Diasporic Identity in Japan|url=https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/6150/WalkerDavid.pdf?sequence=1}} In doing so, however, the Zainichi-themed films often replicated the stereotypes of Zainichi Koreans as “violent” and “criminal.”{{Cite journal|last=Osborn|first=William|date=2015|title=Zainichi: How Violence and Naming Determine A Consciousness|url=https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/9738/Osborn%20Final%20Project%202015.pdf?sequence=1}} Prominently, Death by Hanging (1968) directed by Oshima Nagisa drew the struggles of a young Zainichi Korean prisoner. The main character named “R” allegedly murdered two Japanese women after raping them. Following his arrest, the trial decided that R be executed by hanging. In the film, his violence was portrayed as an explosive manifestation of his complicated identity crisis, while his delinquent past and domestic violence within his family exclusively colored the personal character of R.{{Cite journal|last=박|first=동호|date=2016|title=1960년대 일본영화에 나타난 재일조선인의 형상}} Other films of this era included By a Man's Face You Shall Know (1966) by Kato Tai, Three Resurrected Drunkards (1968) by Oshima Nagisa, and Empire of Kids (1981) by Izutsu Kazuyuki. These postwar films of the 20th century were generally illustrative of the struggles and difficulties faced by many Zainichi Koreans. At the same time, Zainichi characters were repeatedly represented as Yakuza members or criminals, thereby sustaining their image as violent social outcasts.{{Cite journal|last=梁|first=仁實|date=2002|title=「やくざ映画」における「在日」観|url=http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/ss/sansharonshu/assets/file/2002/38-2_yang.pdf}}

In 1975, a movie titled River of the Stranger was shot and released by director Lee Hak-in. Unlike the earlier films with the depiction of Zainichi characters, this film was the first Zainichi-themed film that was directed by a Zainichi Korean director.{{Cite journal|last=양|first=인실|date=2004|title=해방 후 일본의 재일조선인 영화에 대한 고찰|journal=사회와 역사|volume=66}} Subsequently, his work was followed by other Zainichi Korean film directors such as Sai Yoichi, Lee Sang-il, Yang Yong-hi, Oh Mipo, and Sugino Kiki, while Japanese directors continued to produce Zainichi-themed films.

= Contemporary Zainichi films (1990s-Present) =

In 1993, director Sai Yoichi released an award-winning movie titled All Under the Moon. The unveiling of this film was seen by many critics as the major transition in the existing representation of Zainichi Koreans in the film industry. Based on a novel called Taxi Crazy Rapsody, the story unfolds when a Zainichi taxi driver, Tadao, fell in love with a Filipino bartender. The melodramatic portrayal of Zainichi characters was unconventional in that it broke the recurring representation of Zainichi Koreans as Yakuza members or violent criminals.

Since 2000, many Zainichi-themed films such as Go (2001), Blood and Bones (2004), Break Through! (2005) have been released. In comparison to the limited availability and representation in the earlier Zainichi-themed films, the recently released films have enabled more humanistic representation of Zainichi Koreans.{{Cite web|url=https://apjjf.org/-John-Lie/2939/article.html|title=Zainichi Recognitions: Japan's Korean Residents' Ideology and Its Discontents {{!}} The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus|last=Journal|first=The Asia Pacific|website=apjjf.org|access-date=2018-11-08}} Moreover, Zainichi-themed films such as Our School (2007) were directed by South Korean film directors, respectively Kim Myeong-joon. This transnational trend has brought some new insights into the contemporary Zainichi cinema while reflecting this rapidly changing film industry.{{Cite journal|last=ペク|first=ソンス|date=2017|title=ドキュメンタリー映画『ウリハッキョ』をめぐる三つのコミュニティーの考察： 韓国、日本、在日コリアン社会のダイナミズム|journal=The Journal of Kanda University of International Studies|volume=29}}

Film festivals and awards

= Film festivals and awards received =

  • Go (2001) by Isao Yukisada
  • Hochi Film Awards – Best Film{{cite web|url=http://cutjapan.com/drama/go/ |access-date=2013-03-29 |publisher=Cut Japan |title=GO |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826225826/http://cutjapan.com/drama/go/ |archive-date=2013-08-26 }}
  • Japanese Academy Prize – Best Cinematography; Best Director; Best Editing; Best Lighting; Best Screenplay; Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role; Newcomer of the Year
  • Blue Ribbon Awards – Best Director
  • Kinema Junpo – Best Director; Best Film; Best Screenplay
  • Mainichi Film Concours – Best Screenplay; Sponichi Grand Prize New Talent Award
  • Break Through! (2005) by Kazuyuki Izutsu
  • 48th Blue Ribbon Awards - Best Film{{Cite web|url= http://cinemahochi.yomiuri.co.jp/b_award/2005/|script-title= ja:ブルーリボン賞ヒストリー|access-date= 2010-03-31|language= ja|publisher= Cinema Hochi|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120525200709/http://cinemahochi.yomiuri.co.jp/b_award/2005/|archive-date= 2012-05-25}}
  • 27th Yokohama Film Festival - Best Film, Best Director, Best Best Cinematography, Best Newcomer{{Cite web|url= http://homepage3.nifty.com/yokohama-eigasai/27-2005/27_2005_shou.html|script-title= ja:第２７回ヨコハマ映画祭 ２００５年日本映画個人賞|access-date= 2010-01-16|language= ja|publisher= Yokohama Film Festival|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070904005735/http://homepage3.nifty.com/yokohama-eigasai/27-2005/27_2005_shou.html|archive-date= 2007-09-04|url-status= dead}}

Directors of Zainichi cinema (A-Z order)

List of Zainichi-themed films

= 1930s =

= 1940s–50s =

  • The Brick Factory Girl (1940)
  • Children of Korea (1952)
  • The Thick-Walled Room (1956)
  • Dotanba (The Eleventh Hour) (1957)

= 1960s–70s =

= 1980s–90s =

= 2000s–present =

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{reflist}}

{{Cinema of Korea}}

{{Cinema of Japan}}

Category:Cinema of Japan

Category:Cinema of Korea