Revisiting the Tale of Obasute in the Japanese Imagination. Issue 1 (8th March 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lee, Wood-hung; Shaw, Yomei
• Is Part Of: Asian cinema. Volume 20:Issue 1(2009)
• Page Start: 98
• Page End: 126
• Publication Date: 2012-03-08
• Subjects: Motion pictures -- East Asia -- Periodicals; Motion pictures -- Southeast Asia -- Periodicals; Motion pictures -- Periodicals; Asians in motion pictures -- Periodicals; 791.43095
• DOI: 10.1386/ac.20.1.98_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1059-440X

Abstract

In 1983, Japanese director Imamura Shôhei's film The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushikô1) gained international recognition by winning the Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It is evident that stories about obasute, or "abandoning the elderly, " are not new to Japan, and that Imamura is not the first to imaginatively convey this story to an audience. Using this context to investigate Imamura's film, we can ask two questions: 1) What unique contribution has he made in his retelling of Fukasawa's narrative? and 2) How does his film fit into the longer history of this narrative? The core focus of the paper is to provide a more comprehensive cultural background for considering Imamura's film text.