Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures Experience
This essay sheds light on how a film distribution apparatus, which aimed to cater to the entire population as one, in effect ushered in a process of collectivization of cultural life experience, as well as media aesthetics, in postwar Japan. While public discourses on nationhood were discouraged i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture
2019-12-01
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| Series: | On_Culture |
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| Online Access: | https://www.on-culture.org/journal/issue-8/public-mediascape/ |
| _version_ | 1811310246150275072 |
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| author | Rea Amit |
| author_facet | Rea Amit |
| author_sort | Rea Amit |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay sheds light on how a film distribution apparatus, which aimed to cater to the entire population as one, in effect ushered in a process of collectivization of cultural life experience, as well as media aesthetics, in postwar Japan.
While public discourses on nationhood were discouraged in postwar Japan, information and other textual contents about nationhood flowed freely. The national space as a unified location started to re-reform in the mid-1950s. This was after the country regained its sovereignty, and a new medium―television―emerged in the public sphere. However, more than these two factors, I argue that it was the film studio distribution apparatus labeled the “program picture,” which enabled an imaginary reunification of viewership throughout the country. Although not entirely unique to the postwar era, this distribution system was predicated on economic models of vertical integration, which in the midst of several medial transformations, established a dominant cinematic aesthetics that has been equally disseminated throughout the country. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T09:55:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-84c14fa0122d41b7b1c5cadfcd60c19f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2366-4142 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T09:55:47Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture |
| record_format | Article |
| series | On_Culture |
| spelling | doaj.art-84c14fa0122d41b7b1c5cadfcd60c19f2022-12-22T02:51:24ZengInternational Graduate Centre for the Study of CultureOn_Culture2366-41422019-12-018Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures ExperienceRea Amit0Knox College, IllinoisThis essay sheds light on how a film distribution apparatus, which aimed to cater to the entire population as one, in effect ushered in a process of collectivization of cultural life experience, as well as media aesthetics, in postwar Japan. While public discourses on nationhood were discouraged in postwar Japan, information and other textual contents about nationhood flowed freely. The national space as a unified location started to re-reform in the mid-1950s. This was after the country regained its sovereignty, and a new medium―television―emerged in the public sphere. However, more than these two factors, I argue that it was the film studio distribution apparatus labeled the “program picture,” which enabled an imaginary reunification of viewership throughout the country. Although not entirely unique to the postwar era, this distribution system was predicated on economic models of vertical integration, which in the midst of several medial transformations, established a dominant cinematic aesthetics that has been equally disseminated throughout the country.https://www.on-culture.org/journal/issue-8/public-mediascape/film distributionjapanese studio systemtelevisionaestheticsmedia archeology |
| spellingShingle | Rea Amit Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures Experience On_Culture film distribution japanese studio system television aesthetics media archeology |
| title | Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures Experience |
| title_full | Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures Experience |
| title_fullStr | Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures Experience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures Experience |
| title_short | Programming a Public Mediascape: Distribution and the Japanese Motion Pictures Experience |
| title_sort | programming a public mediascape distribution and the japanese motion pictures experience |
| topic | film distribution japanese studio system television aesthetics media archeology |
| url | https://www.on-culture.org/journal/issue-8/public-mediascape/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT reaamit programmingapublicmediascapedistributionandthejapanesemotionpicturesexperience |