Introduction
History of Japan is distinguished among other histories; it is marked by the absence of welfare, as it was in Tokugava period, the time when the country witnessed the imposition of strict social order and laws. However, Tokugava epoch was also the time of the prosperity of agricultural and commercial fields. In the thirties of the twentieth century, Japan saw the reevaluation of material and moral values as the country was under the influence of modernity. The advent of modernist movements and spirits were ill bred by the country that advocated traditions and rituals. In this regard, the film Osaka Elegy (Mizoguchi 1936) shows the outcomes of this modern intervention. In the film, there is a description of the late thirties of the past century. The main heroin Ayako, the telephone operator, is forced to become the mistress of Mr. Assai to pay the debts of his father and to pay for her brother’s education. Later, she arrested by the police for soliciting thus being rejected by her family. Ayako is left in the lurch.
Main text
As it can be seen from a brief overview, the film describes the time of domestic repression when women were forced to stay at home and to subject to the rules that had been established in the nineteenth century’s Japan. This is how Japanese were trying to be separated from the foreign expansion succeeded by the advent of the Second World War. At this period, the priority is given to the rise of political control and manipulation that influenced the life Japanese society and forced it to abandon its habits and traditions.
The domestic problems are brightly revealed in the film. It can be viewed from the first scenes that describe habitual domestic relations between the master and his household servants. The relations between Ayako and Mr. Asai also reveal these subordinate unjustified relations between a man and a woman. Despite the estrangements from the modern tendencies coming from abroad, they still has penetrated even to the higher hierarchical levels. Hence, Mr. Asai neglected mere ethical and moral norms and forced Ayako to lead a dissipated life, which was the only way to become materially independent.
Modernism penetrated to Japan in all spheres of life, including religion and culture, and even fashion. It has created the new religion with it own icon and ideology. Women that used to be limited in the rights tried to gain recognition by other indecent methods. The so-called fashion girls were a calling to the old traditions perpetuated in Japan. The same can be observed in the film, the main heroine is trying to reach her goals by forbidden means, as it is impossible to do that in this male world.
Conclusion
The film is also about the interaction of mere workers with their managers that, with the advent of capitalist system, were rather unfavorable for lower social classes. It also reveals the male-fame relations at work and in the family where each strives for harmony in the time of frequently emerging conflicts between those classes (Gordon xii). In conclusion, it should be singled out that the film displays multilayer relations that show the real changes occurred in political, cultural, and social life. More importantly, on the background of this personal tragedy, one could perceive a larger scale of the modernist influence in Japanese society of 1930s.
Works Cited
Gordon, Andrew. Modern History of Japan. UK: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Osaka Elegy. Mizoguchi, Kenji. Isuzu Yamada, Yoko Umemura, 1936. Web.