Hell in Eros: Desire and Japanese Cinema

Course Facilitator: Ryan Robert Mitchell (ryan@anarchistu.org)

Time/Day: Mondays 7:00-10:00 (starting May 7th)

Location: Centre For Social Innovation, room 120 (215 Spadina)

In the West, Japanese cinema is ghettoized into a multiple set of minor cinemas that rarely interact with each other the staid family dramas of Yasujiro Ozu are given the arthouse treatment, whereas the politically radical softcore porn films of Hisayusa Sato are delegated to the grindhouse circuit. For this course, I have chosen a set of films that do not fall easily into either camp and problematizes such facile distinctions. Perhaps because of the often extreme tone of these films, or the individual genres many of these directors work in, few of these directors have been assimilated into the canon of so-called World Cinema, and as a result, are rarely discussed in any depth in the West.This class, however, makes no pretenses to say anything about Japanese national culture, or even Japanese national cinema for that matter, but rather this course will be using the films as a vehicle to discuss various aspects desire and how it relates to the politics of the self and the social. Some possible themes that the screenings might inspire include:

--Our relationship to our bodies and the bodies of others.

--Who am I to the Other?

--The ways in which desire is constructed and coded in society.

--Desire as lack/desire as production.

--Can desire ever be satisfied? Can desire ever be exhausted?

Although each week's themes will be grounded in concepts drawn from various theories (post-structuralism, films studies, psychoanalysis, so-called Situationist theory, etc.), familiarity with these traditions, is neither expected nor required. Furthermore, this course is not intended as a typical film studies course, but rather a type of informal discussion group or symposium on the themes and theory of desire.

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Week 1: Introduction

Course structure, themes, readings and screening schedule will be set in this initial meeting through a collaboration of this course's participants. Alternate readings, screenings and presentations are encouraged.

Screening:

Week 1. Koji Wakamatsu Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969) and various Gimmie Gimmie Octopus (1974) episodes.

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Section One: Desire and Revolution

The film and readings under this heading will addresses the claims made by "libidinal economy" and micro-politics theorists about the revolutionary potential of desire.

Screenings:

Week 2. Shuji Terayama Throw Your Books Away, Rally in the Streets! (1971) and Shuji Terayama Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1970)

Week 3. Nagisa Oshima Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) and Jake Clennell The Great Happiness Space: Diary of an Osaka Love Thief (2006)

Week 4. Masahiro Shindo Double Suicide (1969)

Week 5. Koji Wakamatsu Ecstasy of the Angels (1972)

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Section Two: Fantasy and the Other

How do we, as subjects, answer the question: "what does the Other want from me?" The films and readings collected under this theme will explore this question and the ways in which "fantasy" is implicated in both the individual and social fields. It is the contention of this course that "fantasy" is far more than just the individual expression of unfulfilled desires and wants but it is also used as a supplement to both tether and ground the subject in ideological systems. This section of films and readings will give special attention to the theme of the "perfect" Other-Woman.

Screenings:

Week 6. Takashi Miike Audition (1999)

Week 7. Hiroshi Teshigahara The Face of Another (1966)

Week 8. Kaneto Shinoda Onibaba (1964)

Week 9. Yasuzo Masumura Manji (1964)

Week 10: Kinji Fukasaku Black Lizard (1968)

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Readings

Ongoing Readings

Foucault, Michel. “Preface.” In Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Trans. Robert Hurley et al. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983.

Desser, David. “Introduction.” Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema. Indiana University Press, 1988. 1-12.

Sato, Tadao. “Sex and Violence.” Currents in Japanese Cinema. Trans. G. Barrett. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1982. 229-239.

Oshima, Nagisa. “Between Custom and Crime: Sex As Mediator.” Cinema, Censorship, and the State: The Writings of Nagisa Oshima 1956-1978. Ed. Annette Michelson. Trans. Dawn Lawson Boston: MIT Press, 1992. 233- 239.

01: Desire and Revolution

Richie, Donald. “The ‘New Wave’: Oshima, Yoshida and Shinoda.” A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1982. 196-208.

Turim, Maureen Cheryn. “Bibliophilia and Other Perversions.” Films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese Iconoclast. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005. 81-89.

Desser, David. “Ruined Maps.” Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema. Indiana University Press, 1988. 93-107.

Perez, Ronaldo. “Towards A Non-Fascist or An(archical) Way of Life.” On An(archy) and Schizoanalysis. Brooklyn, New York: Autonomedia, 1990. 49-68.

02: Fantasy and the Other

Žižek, Slavoj. “From Che Vuoi? To Fantasy: Lacan With Eyes Wide Shut.” How To Read Lacan. London: Granta Books, 2006. 40-60.

Žižek, Slavoj. “Fantasy as a Political Category: A Lacanian Approach.” In Wright and Wright The Žižek Reader. 1999, 87-101.

Perez, Ronaldo. “The Fascistic Structure of Reactive Desire, And Its Relation To The Domination of Women.” On An(archy) and Schizoanalysis. Brooklyn, New York: Autonomedia, 1990. 95-120.