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Mediating memory: Shōjo and war memory in classical narrative Japanese cinema

2017; Routledge; Volume: 32; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09502386.2017.1394344

1466-4348

Jennifer Coates,

Cinema and Media Studies

Considering the impact of the trope of the shōjo, or girl trope in post-war Japanese cinema, this paper argues for the repeated motif as a key factor in the creation of a particular affective economy around the memorialization of war in Japan. I trace the development of the shōjo motif from the post-defeat era through the anti-nuclear films and activist movements of the early 1950s to show how the affect generated by the repeated trope drew real-life events into a persuasive cycle of repetition. The tone of this repeated trope thereby came to dominate the practice of public memorialization of war in Japan. Today’s post-pacifist Japan is informed by these past moments in the memorializing process, which impact on contemporary anti-war and anti-nuclear protests.