Essay questions History 347

Using any of the following examples of films about Japan written and directed by non-Japanese (Memoirs of a Geisha, Lost in Translation, Last Samurai, Letters from Iwojima), assess the relevance of historical and/or cultural accuracy to the final product. 

Using any example/s of Japanese popular culture, consider why it/they became commercially successful at home or overseas during the 1980s and 1990s. You could also assess how different audiences brought different cultural perspectives to their reading of the product/s. 

Examine how gender is represented in any single Japanese popular cultural artefact (eg film, animation, manga, music, television).

1.    Employing any film screened (or scheduled to be screened) during the semester, assess how gender and sexuality are portrayed. How are such portrayals consistent or otherwise with Japanese social mores contemporary with the film’s production?
2.    Has any Hollywood film with a focus on Japan ‘got it right’ about Japanese society, history, culture? That is, were they able to accurately portray their subject material? (eg Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha, Pearl Harbor)
3.    Why do you think so many Japanese pop cultural artefacts employ motifs of post-apocalyptic societies? How do such views relate to Japan’s own atomic experiences?  Provide examples to support your answer.
4.    “Comedy is not an internationally translatable medium”. Discuss this statement in the context of Japanese comedy, or comedy about Japan in English.