Der japanische Film : von der amerikanischen Besatzungszeit bis zur Gegenwart

While my first article about Japanese cinema (published in Journal of Language and Literature, Tokushima University, 2020) ended with a brief description of the situation of Japanese film in World War 2, this article continues with the development of Japanese film during the American occupation (1945-1952). The article then moves on with an account of the Golden Age of Japanese film in the 1950s when Japanese filmmakers gained international attention for the first time. While the 1960s were a decade which still produced many film classics in Japan, at the same time a new generation of directors who grew up in postwar Japan began to reject cinematic traditions and conventions in favor of films which dealt with taboo topics and experimental approaches to cinematic narration. The article then describes the impact of the new technology of television on cinema in Japan during the 1970s and 1980s which led to the decline of the studio system and the beginning of Japanese independent filmmaking. The Japanese film industry was struggeling to keep the attention of the audience until the 1990s brought a “Second New Wave” of Japanese filmmakers who were not raised in the film industry but came from different areas like television, stand-up comedy, documentary filmmaking and experimental direct-to-video productions. These filmmakers had an innovative potential from which the Japanese film industry still benefits today.