Joo, Woojeong (2011) The flavour of tofu : Ozu, history and the representation of the everyday. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis deals with the issue of the everyday represented in the films of
Japanese film director Ozu Yasujiro (1903-1963) from a socio-historical perspective.
Recognised as one of the masters of Japanese cinema, Ozu is well-known for his
depiction of the everyday life of Japanese people consistently throughout his long
career. Ozu’s cinema, however, has been mainly studied from a formal point of view
that pays attention to his particular cinematic styles. This thesis aims to revise this
tendency by adopting the socio-historical methodology that actively draws upon the
knowledge of modern Japanese history, and combining it with the analyses of Ozu’s
films.
Following a chronological order of the prewar, war and the postwar in
Japanese history as well as in Ozu’s career, this thesis is structured to investigate two
main issues – the modern and the postwar – at both textual and contextual levels. My
discussion thus includes historical backgrounds of how these two issues defined
Japanese society, their influences on Japanese film industry (especially with regard
to Shochiku, where Ozu worked), and their interaction with Ozu’s films as appearing
in the form of everyday lives of different kinds of subjects.
The result suggests a much more multifaceted shape of Ozu’s oeuvre. Each of
the different subjects I analyse exhibits contrasting aspects of the everyday in terms
of both spatiality and temporality, which are closely related to the changing history
of modern Japan. I also argue that Ozu consistently provided his representation of the
everyday a critical dimension of Japanese modernity, which I conceptualise with the
notion of ‘deviation’. This thesis thus concludes that Ozu, as a filmmaker of
everyday life, was always conscious of his contemporary society, and in this sense,
the everyday in his films is more dynamic than empty.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Ozu, Yasujirō, 1903-1963 -- Criticism and interpretation, Motion pictures, Japanese -- History and criticism
Official Date:	September 2011
Dates:	Date Event September 2011 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Film and Television Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Phillips, Alastair
Sponsors:	Nihon Gakusei Shien Kikō [Japan Student Services Organization]
Extent:	xvii, 350 leaves : ill.
Language:	eng

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