After reading the article, I am getting to know more about the relationship between Japanese history and culture. Tokyo, the apocalypses that happened most frequently, fell victim to various artificial and natural disasters in the past, both in reality and on screens. But these movies do not lead the audiences to be repressed by history; they spread positive attitudes and spirits through them. These disaster films show the tragic past that cannot be discussed in the principal strain and portray the hope after overcoming the difficulties repeatedly. In addition, it also talks about the reconstruction after the deconstruction. In reality,

Continue readingReading Response: William M. Tsutsui

Tsutsui discusses multiple perspectives about how the regular destruction and reconstruction have marked Japanese films, series, and animation. Besides merely being influenced by the history of experiencing atomic annihilation, economic recession, and natural disasters, Tsutsui outlines a strand of optimism that reflects through “happy endings” in movies (e.g., Godzilla), or a sense of escapism and transcendence of the past (e.g., symbol of motorcycle chases in Akira and what ‘Akira’ means in Japanese: wishes of better future). It works as a psychological function that distracts people from horrors and emphasizes how the trustworthy institution and the unification of Japanese could repeatedly

Continue readingReading Response: William M. Tsutsui

It’s interesting to find out the history of giant monster films in Japan originated from their past with natural (earthquakes, tsunamis) or man-made disasters (war); you can even see it in modern Japanese media with a reoccurring theme of an ordinary protagonist (or in this case the city) up against extra-ordinary odds (Godzilla). It’s also interesting how there’s two sides to viewing these films, some people think that these films gives us an opportunity to reflect on past destructions and normalise the terrors caused with this fantasy; while others think its insensitive as those past terrors are horrific, and shouldn’t

Continue readingReading Response: William M. Tsutsui

Before reading this, I regarded Japanese apocalyptic movie as merely gimmicky, “pathetic claptrap”. Yet now I am mesmerized by the myriad interpretations. Perhaps, for the past seventy years, that mushroom cloud has touched every Japanese’ hearts in unique and contradictory ways.   Japan was traumatized by two nuclear annihilations. Why, as suggested in the reading, Japanese at times felt nostalgic to the wartime devastation? “Once the new city is built, it will lose the strange vigor of the wasteland. The loss of a city creates a void. A void in which people move with a strange animation.” To some, apocalyptic

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