William’s text about recreational apocalypse pointed out that these Japanese genre is mainly affected by the ‘postwar inevitability of growth and change’. Although the point was well backed and convincing, I also want to add another possible reason why recreational apocalyptic genre thrived in Japan, even until today, and it is from a geographical point of view. Japan located on several islands, and they were volcanic as they were situated and produced by plate boundaries. As result, Japan always encounter gigantic natural disasters throughout their history, from Earthquakes to Tsunami, these countless disasters always damage Japanese cities very severely, hence Japanese tends to have a higher security and protection level on natural disasters (eg all toilets are disaster-proof and built in a single metal caging). One of the result of such high level protection infiltrating the publics daily life is that Japanese are slowly educated to be very sensitive and allergic towards disaster-level events, and I believe the indoctrination of disasters’ awareness is another inevitable elements that contributes to the success or spreading of these apocalyptic genres. After all, modern Japanese did went through a lot of painful history in the last century. Maybe, in the future, whenever we enjoy some Japanese apocalyptic films, we should remind ourself how these films became a product from the dismal history of once a powerful race.
Cheung Yik Hei Anson | 3035700776
A very good reflection with clarity. Appreciate your point on Japanese geographical location that contributed to the thriving of the monster films as a popular film genre. Based on your reading and discussions in the tutorial, how does it add/change our perception of a city, a nation, a community and history in general?