<Articles>The Double Mythization: A History of Screenings of Battleship Potemkin in Japan

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  • <論文>二重の神話化 : 日本における『戦艦ポチョムキン』上映史
  • 二重の神話化 : 日本における「戦艦ポチョムキン」上映史
  • ニジュウ ノ シンワカ : ニホン ニ オケル 「 センカン ポチョムキン 」 ジョウエイシ

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Abstract

In the 1920s Soviet films were banned from being screened due to censorship by the Japanese Ministry of Interior, and they were rarely released in Japan before the war. Neither Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925) nor Pudovkin's Mother (1926) was released. This created a peculiar situation wherein the theory was accepted earlier than the work itself. In the same period, when communism rapidly emerged in the 1920s-30s, there was a trend of "tendency films (left-wing tended films)" in Japan, and introduction of the Soviet montage theory prospered. "Montage" became a buzzword, and many intellectuals developed their own montage theory beyond the boundaries of film. Thus, "the montage" was introduced into the Japanese culture as a new machine aesthetic, and was widely accepted as part of the Soviet culture, synergized by the left-wing line. After the war, when Soviet films were finally accepted, they began being released in Japan exclusively through independent screening activities, which peaked in the late 1950s. Thus, as part of the post-war proletarian cultural movement, there were vigorous voluntary screening activities of Soviet films by trade unions and film circles throughout the country. The Yamamoto Akira Collection, donated to Kyoto University in 2016, are important records of independent screening activities. In this way, in Japan, although the import of Soviet films was banned before the war, the theory of montage was accepted in advance of the films, and the "Phantom Film = Potemkin" myth was first created. Then, after the war, there was a persistent battle for general public and independent screenings of Soviet films, which finally led to their release as well as the myth of "Century Masterpiece = Potemkin." This double mythization places particular emphasis on the theoretical aspects of and research on Eisenstein in Japan.

Journal

  • 人文學報

    人文學報 116 85-106, 2021-03-31

    THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES, KYOTO UNIVERSITY

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