Comedies of resistance: Shuji Terayama and the politics of visual humor. Issue 2 (3rd July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Garin, Manuel
• Is Part Of: Sixties. Volume 14:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 197
• Page End: 219
• Publication Date: 2021-07-03
• Subjects: Cinema -- politics -- Japan -- Terayama -- humor -- experimental film -- visual arts -- transnational history -- comedy and tragedy -- gesture; Nineteen sixties -- Periodicals; Protest movements -- Periodicals; 909.826
• DOI: 10.1080/17541328.2021.1996791
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-1328

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In the context of the Japanese Long 68, this essay explores the work of experimental filmmaker Shuji Terayama in relation to the tragicomic possibilities of visual humor and cinematic gags. Juxtaposing Ryan Holmberg's exploration of Japanese nansensu with other historical, cultural and political theories, the article argues that visual gags and comedic performativity (going back to silent cinema and the avant-garde) allowed Terayama to both embrace and critique the revolutionary ideals of the Japanese New Left in the late 60s and early 70s.