Tendency Films (傾向映画) Pt. 1: Up to 1925

(1/3) - Introduction, Beginnings

This post will explore the origins, impetus, and nature of what are called tendency films in 1920s Japan. The first of 3, it will examine the social climate from which these films sprouted, the reasons for their popularity, the primary forms they took, and the ways in which they reflected and condemned the ills of modern Japanese society.

Tendency films, or keiko eiga (傾向映画), were a type of commercially-produced genre film (typically jidaigeki, period films, later on some gendaigeki, contemporary stories) emerging in the mid-1920s that leaned hard to the left (a progressive tendency) and contained elements of social criticism, nihilism, anarchism, and anti-authoritarianism.

These films, and their remarkable popularity, attest to the considerable critical awareness of Japan's general moviegoing populace at the time, and early on established a trend of social scrutiny in film, in what Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie, in their book The Japanese Film: Art & Industry (1982), term "teaching the Japanese cinema how to think for itself" (66).    

The period setting of most tendency films allowed for directors to bypass heavy censorship while maintaining substantial social commentary. Ito Daisuke, a young and ambitious filmmaker, is credited with having revolutionized the period picture, and with it the realism and exploration of social imbalances that his films have become known for. As Anderson and Richie declare, "It was Ito Daisuke who, almost single-handedly, pushed the period film to its greatest heights" (64). By lacing period films with sharp critiques of the government, the elite class, and the inherent cruelty of modern values, Ito and others were able to bypass heavy censorship, and disguise their attacks on contemporary society with sword fights, horse riding, and often a 'nihilistic' samurai anti-hero.

Ito Daisuke (1898-1981)

Reflecting Unrest

Anderson and Richie describe the tendency film's origins as the direct manifestation of acute unrest during the middle of the decade. Amidst the high growth of labor unions, violent police suppression, and the looming shadow of the 1925 Peace Preservation Law, films must take some form of expression of the turmoil. They "reflected this unrest in two ways," the first being "pure escape, the search for the nihilistic hero," and the second being "the search for a violent solution to Japan's economic [and social] ills" (64).

Popularity

Tendency films were generally produced by large mainstream studios, directed by big names in the industry. Most enjoyed substantial success despite some censorship, and in 1930, Suzuki Shigeyoshi's What Made Her Do It? became the highest-grossing Japanese film of the silent era. Tendency films consistently reached a wide range of viewers, and their popularity came to be a great concern for the government, especially by 1929. 

Early Period Dramas

Futagawa Buntaro's early chanbara (swordplay) film Orochi was one of the first jidaigeki to break the mold of the honorable, heroic samurai, and replace it with a masterless ronin who is cheated and brought down by the cruelty of society. Accordingly, the film begins with a thematic epigraph:

"Beware! Not all who wear the name of villain are truly evil men. Not all who are respected as noble men are worthy of the name."

The film's critiques of the amorality and impunity of the Japanese upper class are clear. Futagawa injected gritty realism and acute social criticism into the film, and was forced to change the title to Orochi (serpent) from the original Outlaw, which censors saw as too provocative and oppositional. Futagawa set the stage with Orochi for further cinematic exploration of social themes, particularly through period dramas, a form which Ito Daisuke would soon master. 

Orochi (雄呂血), 1925

Social Context

1923 - The Great Kanto earthquake struck the capital region of Japan in 1923, leveling entire cities and completely halting the modernization process. As reconstruction of Tokyo began, debates over the new direction of the nation dominated the political sphere. The subject became a concentrated theater for battle between those who advocated for a liberal democracy and those who supported a conservative, authoritarian model. There emerged in the reconstructed capital what right-wing politicians viewed as an "un-Japanese abomination:" a powerful surge in commercial production, consumerism, cafes, entertainment, and a general importation of Euro-American culture. The general public realized how fleeting life could be and thus began spending and indulging in popular culture and recreation on a massive scale. The subsequent backlash against this shocking wave of consumption and seemingly mindless decadence is symbolized by the passing of the Peace Preservation Law two years later. 

One view of the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake

1925 - Universal suffrage for males 25 and up & The Peace Preservation Law are both passed. The former is often thought to have been passed in order to reduce social protest through appeasement. The latter, in a reverse manner, was an attempt to crack down on "dangerous thought," by outlawing any and all activity, whether actually carried out or not, appearing to threaten the national polity. Its aim was to completely suppress any political dissidence, with Marxists and socialists as the primary focus.

In this strange, tense climate, amidst the extreme opposition between the left-leaning, capitalist, Westernizing public and the staunchly conservative, largely militarist government, the tendency film was born.

Continued in Pt. 2    

Films

Bando, T. (Producer), & Futagawa B. (Director). (1925). Orochi [Motion Picture]. Japan: Bantsuma Productions.

Citations

Anderson, Joseph L., and Donald Richie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. 3rd ed., Princeton University Press, 1982.