Word and Image in Japanese Cinema [Paperback]

This volume examines the dynamic between temporal linguistic narrative and the spatiality of visual spectacle.Word and Image in Japanese Cinema examines the complex relationship between the temporal order of linguistic narrative and the spatiality of visual spectacle, a dynamic that has played an important role in much of Japanese film. In exploring the rift between word and image, the essays in this volume clarify the cultural imperatives that Japanese cinema reflects, as well as the ways in which the dialectic of word and image has informed the understanding and critical reception of Japanese cinema in the West.Word and Image in Japanese Cinema examines the complex relationship between the temporal order of linguistic narrative and the spatiality of visual spectacle, a dynamic that has played an important role in much of Japanese film. In exploring the rift between word and image, the essays in this volume clarify the cultural imperatives that Japanese cinema reflects, as well as the ways in which the dialectic of word and image has informed the understanding and critical reception of Japanese cinema in the West.Word and Image in Japanese Cinema examines the complex relationship between the temporal order of linguistic narrative and the spatiality of visual spectacle, a dynamic that has played an important role in much of Japanese film. In exploring the rift between word and image, the essays in this volume clarify the cultural imperatives that Japanese cinema reflects, as well as the ways in which the dialectic of word and image has informed the understanding and critical reception of Japanese cinema in the West.List of illustrations; Contributors; Foreword: outside views of the Japanese film Donald Richie; Introduction Carole Cavanaugh and Dennis Washburn; Part I. Wording the Image/Imaging the Word: 1. The word before the image: criticism, the screenplay, and the regulation of meaning in prewar Japanese film culture Aaron Gerow; 2. The cinematic art of HiguchilÓ+