The Birth of Modern Mass Culture

[Home]

[Lectures]

Mass Entertainments

• Edo Period Precedents
  • Urbanization
  • Kabuki
• Emergence of the Modern Masses
  • Modern citizen-subjects
  • Modern workers
• Birth of the Japanese Movie Industry
• Folk to Popular to Mass Culture

  Edo Period Urbanization

• Population growth in 1600s
  • Early 1600s: roughly 18 million
  • Early 1700s: roughly 26 million
• Increased urbanization
  • Post stations & harbor towns
  • Castle towns
  • Major cities
• Edo: Shogunal Capital
  • 1590: 1,000
  • 1600: 30,000
  • 1657: 500,000
  • 1720: 1,000,000+

  Edo: Laying the Groundwork

• Independent commoner culture that crosses class lines
• Increased literacy
• Concentrated consumer base
• Novelty as a positive value
• Entertainment "industry"
• Disposable income for leisure
• Technological advances

  Kabuki

• Origin as "drag" plays performed by women
• Close association with prostitution
  • Female kabuki banned in 1629
  • Young men's kabuki banned in 1652
• To continue to draw audiences, began to show more polished and plotted plays, specialization in acting roles, formalization and expansion of theatrical space
• Kabuki actors were top celebrities of the day, trendsetters and tabloid fodder

  Meiji (1868-1912): A New Era

• Fukoku kyohei (Rich country, strong army)
• Chukun aikoku (Loyalty and patriotism)
• Bunmei kaika (Civilization and enlightenment)
• Haibutsu kishaku (Despise Buddhism)
• Risshin shusse (Rising up in the world)
• Genbun itchi (Unity of speech & writing)
• Ryosai kenbo (Good wife, wise mother)

  Re-defining the People

• 1871-1876 Abolition of occupational class categories and restrictions
• 1872 Compulsory education system
• 1873 Conscription law mandating three year service terms for all able-bodied men
  • 1894-5 Sino-Japanese War
  • 1904-5 Russo-Japanese War
• 1889 Constitution with limited franchise
• 1925 Universal manhood suffrage

  Changing Economy

• Nineteenth Century
  • Unequal commercial treaties bring J into world econ.
  • State investment, guidance, and coordination
  • Dependence on agricultural sector
  • Uneven development and concentration of wealth
• Twentieth Century
  • Renegotiation of unequal commercial treaties
  • Integration into world markets
  • Dual economy structure dominated by zaibatsu
  • Increasing maturity of industrial sector
  • Metropole-colony relations

  Workers in the New Economy

• Urban centers and social mobility
• Emergence of industrial labor force
  • Wage labor and "individualism"
  • Women and light industry
• Separation of work and living spaces
  • Home as the space of consumption
  • Shopping as a gendered activity
• Growth of a white collar middle class
• Living standards up but distribution of wealth increasingly unequal

  Mass Culture Highlights

• 1912 first Jpz. records
• 1914 Shônen kurabu, Tokyo Station opens
• 1916 Chaplin boom, Fujin kôron
• 1920 hit song "Gondora no uta," 1100 newspapers with combined circulation of 6-7 million
• 1924 female bus conductors
• 1925 gov't radio broadcasting
• 1927 first subway opens
• 1928 500,000 have radios
• 1930 first domestically produced washing machine

  Japanese Movies: The Beginning

• 1897 Edison Vitascope & Cinematographe Lumiere
• 1897 movie camera imported by Mitsukoshi photography dept.
• 1900 Yoshizawa Co. produces cameras, then films
• First commercial films: geisha dances, Kabuki or modern plays, documentaries
• Majority of films shown from France, then the United States
• 1903 Denkikan in Asakusa
• 1910s "Chain drama" (rensageki)

  Katsuben (benshi)

• Functioned as
  • Narrator and voice actor
  • Commentator-reader
  • Audience representative
• Drew on Edo period performance traditions
  • Audience participation
• Star in own right
  • Individualized interpretation
  • Dictated pace of projection
  • Sometimes performed w/o the movie
  • Tournaments

  Prewar Movie Theaters

• Mostly located in shitamachi neighborhoods
• Seating capacity: generally 500-800
• Benches, tatami, standing room
• Multi-piece live orchestra
• Regular bill: 3 features lasting 4 hours

  The 1910s &20s

• Multiple movie companies: competition and mergers
• More "realistic" acting, actresses begin to replace female impersonators
• Western music begins to replace Japanese music
• Subtitles for foreign films challenge role of katsuben
• Protection of copyrights
• Censorship becomes more formal, restriction of access to some films for minors, separate sections for men and women

  The 1930s

• Introduction of talkies
  • Forced into adoption through competition w/ foreign subtitled talkies
  • Higher production costs
  • Katsuben strike, eventual disappearance
• Movies as a major entertainment industry
  • Major studios (Nikkatsu, Shochiku, and Toho), directors, stars established
  • 650 films a year
  • Large audiences
  • Melodramas, action flicks, comedies, musical revues

  Toward Mass Culture

• Folk culture: Localized, non-commercial, anonymous, repetition of past customs
• Edo commoner culture: Urban, commercial, both named and anonymous, emphasis on the new and original
• Modern mass culture: Mass production for mass consumption, commercial, copyrights, American influence, youth-oriented