Sexually Charged Relationships in Asian Cinema Essay

Cinema is the means of humans allows people to reproduce the phenomena of the objective reality, but moreover to reflect the inner, psychological experiences of humans. Accordingly, personal and purely psychological topics are dominant in the cinema as far as people are always intrigued by what others feel in the sense of this being the same as they themselves do. Sex and the emotional states it provokes are also the subjects of the cinematographic interest. This paper will focus on the representation of sexually charged relationships in the classical pieces of the Japanese cinema – “Cruel Story of Youth” by Nagisa Oshima and “Woman in Dunes” by Hiroshi Teshigahara.

To begin with, it is necessary to state that the Japanese culture has long been considered a rather conservative and reserved one. In other words, laws, rules, and regulations have been viewed as the dominant forces in Japanese society, while traditions and religious prohibitions have been perceived as the guidelines to which the Japanese live. Sex, as one of the most intimate phenomena in the human life, has long been forbidden for public discussion, let alone filming. However, the years after World War II changed the social attitude towards the issue drastically. Americanization of the country and the subsequent marginalization of the Japanese youth led to the vagueness of ideals and national values and made discussion of sex appropriate, even in public: “…times were tough after the war, but we had a way of life. I could’ve said that we were reborn a democratic nation; that responsibility went hand in hand with freedom. But today what can we say to this child? Nothing” (Cruel Story of Youth, 1960)

Accordingly, Nagisa Oshima was one of the first Japanese directors to publicly address this topic in their movies. “Cruel Story of Youth” is an account of the criminal lives of two young people lost in the whirlwind of the social changes. Having no firm values in life, Kiyoshi and Makoto start up the life of crime with robberies and blackmailing as the major means to earn their living. The most terrific aspect of their life becomes sex which Kiyoshi uses only as an instrument of control over his girlfriend. Sex is viewed by the main character as the means to share the burden of his criminal deals with someone else who, by the power of personal relationship, becomes closer to him than anyone else.

Moreover, sex is pictured by Oshima as a phenomenon that led the society of his time to the complete loss of values. As Kiyoshi states, no values mean no disappointment in them: “We’re different from you. We have no dreams so we’ll never end up miserable like you” (Cruel Story of Youth, 1960). Sex, in such a context, becomes everything but pleasure – it is viewed as the means of submission, earning money, criminalization of the society, etc. Society is, thus, viewed as an obsolete phenomenon with archaic ideas and values. The representatives of the older generations are pictured by Oshima as the ones regretting their past and feeling sad about the presence of their children. Sex is viewed by them The same topic is considered by Hiroshi Teshigahara in his film (Woman in Dunes, 1964).

“Woman in Dunes” is an allegorical criticism of society as a place where sexually charged relationships fail to express people’s feelings but are rather used to destroy their dreams and deprive them of their freedom. The film starts as a depiction of a field experiment of a young entomologist who travels in a desert. However, the very initial scenes of the film are filled with tension and anticipation of some tragedy happening. Close-ups of minor details including insects and even hairs on the protagonist’s hands show that the atmosphere is rather aggressive and the main hero is to experience some tragedy soon (Woman in Dunes, 1964).

Jumpei, the film’s protagonist, falls into a sandpit where he meets a woman, with no name, living there regularly. Her major troubles are connected with shoveling sand from the roof of her house in the sandpit, but soon Jumpei realizes that it is not the main issue. Freedom becomes the main impossible dream of the protagonist who is forced into sexually charged relationships with the woman. Accordingly, sex becomes the opposite of freedom for Jumpei who remains to live in the sandpit and to dream about becoming free. By drawing this picture, Teshigahara shows how much society impacts the values and typical behavioral patterns of human beings making sexually charged relationships from the ones bringing pleasure into the means of submission and humiliation (Woman in Dunes, 1964).

To conclude, Asian cinema considers the basic aspects of human lives. Sexually charged relationships are also examined by it, even although traditional Japanese culture does not favor it. “Cruel Story of Youth” by Nagisa Oshima and “Woman in Dunes” by Hiroshi Teshigahara is the film that achieves two goals at once – they manage to introduce the topic of sex into the Japanese society and show how this society uses all means available, including human feelings, to subjugate people to its standards and norms.

Works Cited

Cruel Story of Youth. Dir. Oshima, Nagisa. With Yusuke Kawazu, Miyuki Kuwano. Shochiku, 1960.

Woman in the Dunes. Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara. With Eija Okada, Kiyoko Kishida. Bfi Video,1964.