Tookyoo Monogatari (Tokyo Story)
1953Ozu Yasujiro
Class Notes
Week 9
Traditionalism and change
Tookyoo Monogatari (Tokyo Story)
1953
Ozu Yasujiro
Characters:
Family: Three generations.
Hirayamas
1st Generation 2nd Generation 3rd Generation
Shukichi: husband
Tomi: Wife
Koichi: (Oldest son) (physician) Lives in suburb of Tokyo
Fumiko (his wife)
Minoru(their older son)
Isamu (their younger son)
Shoji(2nd son), died in war
Noriko (his widow).Works as typist.
Keizo (son in Osaka)
Shige (daughter) Lives in Tokyo Has a beauty parlor
Unnamed husband
Kyoko (youngest daughter) lives at home in Onomachi
TERMS
Ellipsis: a deletion or something left out
ie: a residential work group (sometimes poorly translated as "family").
honke: The stem family - a lineal descent group generally (though not necessarily) through the oldest son.
bunke: Descent groups that are generated through other members(male) of the ie.
180 degree line: A line drawn through the main characters on the screen. Used in editing.
shomingeki: Plays or films about the lower classes.
diegetic: in the world depicted on the screen
danchi: a kind of "apartment house" constructed quickly. Something like a "tenement"
Before the Film
It has been said that Ozu is the direct opposite of Kurosawa in that Kurosawa is a rule breaker whereas Ozu is a rule follower (remember our Soltaire analogy).
The film is thought by some to be "plotless", althuogh this term is not meant to indicate there is no plot, but rather that the plot is not really what the film is about.
This is a "shingeki" film - a film about the middle class. It is also a film which deals with generations of people and indicates changes in the people in different generations.
It is also a film that contrasts "country" vs "city life".
"Ellipsis" is a term that refers to a deletion, an omission or a kind of circumlocution. It refers in linguistics to while in film it means skipping over something - an aspect of the story. Very few films do NOT have some kind of ellipsis in them. Sma;ll parts are left out which the audience can fill in themselves. Much of what can be leftout is cultural and is easily filled in by members of the culture (but not always so easily by outsiders).
Ozu is often said to be very free in his use of crossing the 180 degree line. Do you feel some sense of dislocation caused by this?
Identifying locales
Onomachi Buddhist temple Jodo Temple (Jodoji), cemetery /sea
Tokyo smoke stacks
Osaka castle (obvious – well known)/electric structures for train
Atami sea wall
Nature of Family
Ie, honke, bunke
Women marry into new family. Consider the line "A married daughter is a stranger".
What do the generations have to say about Ozu’s view of Japan?
City vs Countryside
What kinds of identifications are made with the countryside and city life?
Buddhism and film
What role does Buddhism play in the story?
Does it seem to have an effect of the film technique?
Photography
What images does Ozu use to represent city and countryside?
What kind of editing is there?
“Transitional” shots.
Music
What kind of music occurs diegetically?
After the Film
Film Techniques
low camera placement putting the viewer at the same "social lvel as his characters
static composition
leisurely paced
generally easy well ordered transitions (although there may be some cultural probelms here about crossing the 180 axis
"elegant simplicity"
Major ellipis is the deletion of the stop in Osaka while going to Tokyo to see their son. There is a great deal of talk about stopping there when they change trains, but we never see it happen. It is discussed later in the film, but there is clearly a "gap" here. This is more Ozu than a Japanese trait.
Transitional Shots
Opening and closing have to do with trains and boats..
Film is about journey through both space and time
Journeys and space in Japan
Ellipsis: What is left out? What is the function?
Stop in Osaka
Becoming ill on train
Major ellipis is the deletion of the stop in Osaka while going to Tokyo to see their son. There is a great deal of talk about stopping there when they change trains, but we never see it happen. It is discussed later in the film, but there is clearly a "gap" here. This is more Ozu than a Japanese trait.
Nature of family
What are the obligations of the family to each other? Ninjo, giri
What obligations does Noriko have as the wife of a deceased family member?
Music
Songs (diegetic):
traditional vs. western (children sing in Onomichi)
Buddhist chant at funeral. What is the son’s response?
Kid whistles “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie”
Buddhism
Fatalistic determinism
Rituals for dead (see religion)
Buddhist temple is location in Onomichi where Shukichi sits after Tomi dies.
Interpersonal relationships
In what way are parents insulted?
Shige’s story about mother being fat and breaking chair in school Claims she was embarrassed by mother
Unwillingness to do things for parents (scrimp on food, don’t want to go with them, send them away to Atami, rude when they come back early)
Disinterest in parents?
Is Shige really inattentive to her parents?
She does note that her mother says something which sounds like a premonition at the station which she remembers
She is aware that she is not performing her proper duties to her parents when she calls Noriko (say she is warui meaning "bad" or "awful"
Wants things from her mother when she dies (obviously thought about it).
In What Ways does Noriko play several roles?
Acts like real daughter
Acts like proper daughter in law
Noriko more traditional deals with parents “properly”. Takes Tomi on trip, gives her money, takes her around (and takes time off from work to do it), puts her up for the night when her own children won’t gives her back massage.
Parents seem to accept that things are different and want to go back home. Kyoko who remains at home remains nicer.
City Corrupts people
Shige ignores parents because she has become "citified". Business is more important than interpersonal relations. She plans carefully (takes "mourning clothes" just in case, but "hopes she won't need them".
Sons are too busy. All the children have adopted techniques for survival in the cities and the modern world.
Is this inevitable? Are Shukichi and Tomi aware that change is inevitable? Why do they ask Noriko to remarry?
Ozu's work is seen as having a concern for the problems and activities of the Japanese family, which was the social unit he saw disintegrating under the pressures of modern life.
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