The Japanese New Wave sought to challenge the usual methods for filmmaking of the older generation. These iconoclasts pushed the boundaries of film style and technique as well as subject matter and themes. In Death By Hanging Oshima tackles taboo topics around violence and sex at the same time he is experimenting with the grammar of visual storytelling. For instance, he uses unrealistic mise-en-scene, voiceovers and breaking the fourth wall inspired by Brecht's alienation effect. In addition he uses longer takes, quick camera movement and still photography. How does the style of his filmmaking reinforce -- or perhaps undercut -- the message and narratives of his films?
Oshima's innovative filmmaking style within the Japanese New Wave movement played an important role in reinforcing the messages and narratives in Death by Hanging. In the movie, his approach to cinematography and storytelling served to provoke critical thinking toward the scenes.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, Oshima's use of unrealistic mise-en-scene and Brecht inspired techniques aimed to distance the audience from the story, creating this sense of alienation. This intentional disconnect forced viewers to confront the themes of violence and sex with a more critical mind. This happened in many instances such as the grown men acting out R’s charges. This could be seen as comedy; however, this is an unrealistic scenario which would happen. Because of this unrealistic idea, it forces the viewer to step back and question what R had really committed. Another time where this happened is by using the female that could only be seen by a few people. This representation allowed the viewer to feel disconnected from the story and allowed for the opportunity to think about what is happening in the film.
Additionally, the fourth wall break is not something typically seen in any type of film. By breaking the fourth wall and utilizing voiceovers, he made viewers question their own involvement in the events on screen, challenging them to engage with the subject on a deeper level. The still photos near the end of the film give a sense of realism to the story. To many, these still images make it seem as though it is a documentary and ingrains the narratives in one’s head. Because of this the ideas presented in the film are reinforced by these specific cinema choices.
In the realm of Japanese New Wave cinema, Nagisa Oshima's film Death by Hanging stands as a prime example of how unconventional filmmaking techniques can both reinforce and undercut the message and narratives of a film. Oshima's use of unpredictable and surreal narrative elements creates a deeply unsettling experience for an audience. It begins in a traditional documentary style; A voiceover guides the audience to the leadup of an execution. Special care is taken to demonstrate the architecture of the space in which the remainder of the film will take place. After the subject of execution survives, the narrative unfolds in an increasingly surreal and chaotic manner. Serious criminal offences are coupled with moments of black comedy in a way I’ve never seen before. In addition, violation of continuity editing, and the repetition of certain shots create a disorienting atmosphere that forces viewers to confront the unsettling themes of the film, such as violence, sex, the death penalty, the mind body problem, sadism, incest, theology, and more. By disrupting the traditional flow of storytelling, Oshima effectively separates us from the actual crime committed by the character ‘R’, aligning with the alienation effect inspired by Brecht, which encourages critical engagement with the narrative and breaks of the fourth wall.
ReplyDeleteThough this unconventional approach serves to undercut the viewer's expectations and invites contemplation on the broader socio-political issues at play, I think it can be distracting for some viewers. The narrative, in addition to being hard to follow, felt fundamentally incomplete. Oshima's stylistic choices in Death by Hanging could be too large a distraction to que people to any underlying message. Oshima knew this and only found ways to bring the audience back to reality by waving anti-death campaign placards. It appears to be the only semblance to tie a bow on the whole narrative. I could see how this could lead audiences astray and lead them to ultimately render the film of poor quality.
Directed by Nagisa Oshima, “Death By Hanging” exemplifies the Japanese New Wave’s aspiration to challenge conventional filmmaking, confronting taboo subjects like violence and sex, while experimenting with the grammar of visual storytelling. But unfortunately, the film's unique style ultimately undercuts the message and narratives it conveys both in its portrayal of women and its ambiguity.
ReplyDeleteIt's essential to acknowledge that the Japanese New Wave, while challenging conventions, was not always free from the sexism prevalent in society. At times, Oshima's style inadvertently perpetuates gender dynamics by presenting women in stereotypical roles or engaging in provocative and potentially objectifying scenes. Oshima himself held Ri Chin'u, the criminal who inspired R’s character, in very high regard, claiming him to be “the most intelligent and sensitive youth produced by postwar Japan.” The portrayal of women in "Death By Hanging" reflects the broader societal context of the time. Women occupy complex roles in the film, such as the R’s victims and sister, and Oshima's filmmaking style plays a pivotal role in interpreting these roles. On one hand, Oshima's style reinforces the film's message regarding gender roles by highlighting the limitations and challenges women face in a patriarchal society. For example, the film has two cruel rapes at its center, and several officers within the film refer to women in a derogatory manner: making unwarranted comments on their appearance or intelligence. The film has key messages that are revolutionary, which is consistent with the Japanese New Wave style, but in using visuals and stories of women enduring rape and murder, Oshima undercuts his otherwise socially progressive and revolutionary themes in the film.
The complexity and ambiguity inherent in Oshima's style can also lead to interpretations that undercut the film's message. Some viewers may find the experimental techniques, especially the sudden changes in setting and character personality, to be disorienting or alienating, potentially hindering their ability to fully engage with the narrative or grasp the intended critique. In this sense, the very boldness and innovation of Oshima's filmmaking unintentionally distances audiences from the film's core messages of anti-racism, the issues with capital punishment, morality, and iconoclast.
The Japanese New Wave challenged the traditional methods of filmmaking. The iconoclasts of the New Wave pushed beyond boundaries of established film style and technique to explore new themes and subject matter. Nagisha Oshima was a leading figure of this movement and his film "Death By Hanging" is an excellent example of how he played with traditional filmmaking techniques to reinforce his messages and themes. One of the ways Oshima experiments with the grammar of visual storytelling in "Death by Hanging" is by using unrealistically scenes. For instance, most of the movie is the police men convincing R to believe that he is guilty for his double homicide, while are R semingly sits there blank faced. In reality this is beyond unrealistic, and would likely end in some type of lawsuit. The unrealistic scenes technique allows him to explore taboo subjects such as the death penalty, sexual violence and racism, while maintaining a distance from the realism of the scenes. This approach enhances the impact of the taboo themes that Oshima tackles in the film and allows him to push the boundaries without crossing any lines. Another technique that Oshima employs in the film is the use of voiceovers. This is particularly effective during the scenes that explore the psychology of the convicted man. By layering the man's thoughts through voiceovers over the otherwise silent visuals, Oshima creates a fascinating insight into the mind of a man condemned to death. Along with this, Nagisha Oshima also uses quick camera movements, still photography and long takes, along with experimenting with the flow, pace, and rhythm of his film. One example is in a scene where R confronts his memories and struggles with his identity. During this sequence, Oshima employs quick camera movements to disorient the viewer and intensify the psychological turmoil experienced by the character. The camera rapidly pans and zooms, creating a sense of unease and reflecting the character's internal chaos. These techniques do not merely contribute to the stylistic innovations of the movie; they also support the narrative by creating shifting rhythms and depths of visual experience that capture the mood and atmosphere of the story. Oshima's style of filmmaking in "Death by Hanging" reinforces rather than undercutting the message and narrative of the film. This style blends realism with surrealism and psychological introspection while using a mix of techniques that keep viewers engaged with the story, its themes, and the bold cinematic message it intends to deliver.
ReplyDeleteOshima’s 'Death by Hanging' is a clear example of how the Japanese New Wave redefined traditional filmmaking. One of the film's most intriguing elements is the use of magical realism, evident when R’s victim is resurrected and takes on the role of his sister and when R doesn't die after being hung for close to 20 minutes. This not only creates a gap between reality and fantasy but this was new style added compared to a lot of other movies for it's time.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally in the film, Oshima plays around with unrealistic settings and props. Take the execution room where R is first hanged; it doesn’t look like what you'd imagine a real execution room to be. It's more clean and stage-like. In some scenes, things are set up in a way that feels planned, like in a play. This makes you wonder if what you're seeing is real or just a set-up. It's kind of like what Brecht did with his alienation effect, making you think more about what's going on.
During the scene where the education officer tries to mimic R's life at home using these unique settings and props, its experimental ambiance stands out prominently. Instead of the expected cinematic style, it felt more theatrical, almost like watching a live play. The use of voiceovers and the direct engagement of characters with the audience disrupt the illusion of reality. It almost clones Brecht's alienation effect, where Oshima keeps the audience deliberately aware of the film's construct.
Overall, 'Death by Hanging' is a prime example of how style and substance can complement each other. Through Oshima's innovative techniques, the film challenges viewers to engage with its content on a more profound level, pushing boundaries both in filmmaking and the exploration of other styles of film.
The movie Death By Hanging by Nagisa Oshima challenges all existing rules of what a film should be. From its taboo subject to its irregular film style, Oshima uses unrealistic storytelling to keep the viewer's attention throughout the movie and to remind them what they are watching is not real. Usually, when someone watches a movie, they do it to escape from reality. Oshima recognizes this and does everything he can to stop it because he wants the viewer's full attention at all times. Oshima uses his irregular style to distance the viewer from the actors. Making it nearly impossible to have any emotional connection to the characters. For instance, he makes the protagonist an awful person who rapes and kills countless women. He also makes the characters say and do outlandish things that would never happen in real life. He does this so viewers are forced to look elsewhere for the emotional connections they long for.
ReplyDeleteAn example of this is when the protagonist, R, is lying with his sister, who had just appeared from the body of a different girl. When she starts to talk about the injustices against Koreans in Japan, in a typical movie, the viewers would be so immersed in the film that they would feel bad for R and his sister. However, in this movie, Oshima makes the characters so unlikable or unrealistic that the viewer is forced to look elsewhere. Driving the watchers to reflect on their lives and those around them.
The style in Death By Hanging reinforces the message and narratives of his film by disrupting the audience's expectation and engagement with the story, forcing them to question the constructed nature of reality and confront uncomfortable truths. Unrealistic mise-en-scene, such as exaggerated sets and surreal environments, helps to create a distorted and dream-like atmosphere. The absurdity of it makes the audience question whether or not something is actually happening in real life. By muddying the boundaries between reality and fiction, Oshima highlights that the events are part of greater ideas of racism and sexism. One example is the racist Korean stereotypes. The narration directly speaks to the viewer or adds pushy comments, Oshima's use of longer takes, quick camera movement, and still photography adds a sense of urgency and intensity to the film. The audience stays uneasy due to the unnatural length of the take, adding suspense and questioning. Overall, Oshima's distracting filmmaking style enhances the themes and messages of his films by throwing traditional storytelling techniques out the window, contesting the audience's standpoint/mindset, and providing an uncomfortable experience by speaking on difficult subjects. By breaking the boundaries of film style and technique, Oshima aims to amaze the viewers out of their passive viewing experience and force them to confront uncomfortable truths about society and themselves. He also wants viewers to not just be viewers, but to be part of the story; he wants to literally interact with the audience. Oshima also makes it a point to not have a focus point like traditional stories do, it was almost impossible to know the direction Death By Hanging was going; it was unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteOshima’s radical style in the film Death By Hanging aligns perfectly with the underlying political and social statements that he seeks to make with the film. This is to say that it rebels from the established Japanese tradition- a tradition that Oshima seeks to dismantle in favor of a new, better one. Oshima’s political messaging throughout the film regarding the topics of the death penalty and the treatment of the Korean minority by the Japanese are palpable to the audience, and purposefully so. This is because Oshima is constantly and intentionally reminding the audience that they are watching a film. This is known as the alienation effect. Oshima does this by portraying laughably unrealistic scenes. For example, we see a scene in which the guards- grown men who are ultimately seeking to execute the condemned R- on their hands and knees acting as though they are R’s young siblings. In this scene, we learn of R’s difficult upbringing and begin to sympathize with his character despite both the fact that we know he has committed terrible crimes and the sheer absurdity of the mise-en-scene. Despite this comical visual, the viewer is able to connect more strongly with the deeper plot of the film. Oshima employs other techniques as well such as the portrayal of taboo topics of violence and sex to encourage a sense of discomfort from his audience. This discomfort is meant to engage the audience and seeks to grab their attention as there is a deeper message to be found. Oshima does this through a violent scene on the school rooftop in which the education chief, an individual that is supposed to represent some moral authority on behalf of the Japanese government, becomes overinvested in his acting performance and strangles a woman in the same manner as the condemned man. The raw portrayal of this event captivates the audience and piques their interest prior to the introduction of R’s sister in what is perhaps the most politically charged scene of the film. Similarly, as R and his sister are having the most overtly political dialogue of the film, Oshima once again creates this sense of discomfort as the brother and sister are placed in a very sexually suggestive arrangement. This is done with the hope that it holds the attention of the viewer throughout the dialogue that the director deems important. In summary, the style used in the film is intentional in its goal of promoting the broader ideas of the director. By using radical techniques that encourage mindfulness and attention from the audience, Oshima delivers a blow to the antiquated establishments of Japan and paves a way for new ideas and methods both in the world of film and in the greater society.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1960s controversial film, Death by Hanging, the stylistic approaches taken by Oshima during the Japanese New Wave of cinema greatly distracts, and undercuts, the plot and central premise of the film. As an original attempt to address public belief and policy at the time, Oshima created Death by Hanging to depict solid reasoning for abolishing all capital punishment in Japan. In an attempt to personify the otherwise hidden world of capital punishment, Death by Hanging, goes on to depict a true story of a guilty man’s failed hanging. A central idea in depicting the morals behind capital punishment, the attendees of the hanging must now decide if they, themselves, are to enact the death penalty a second time. The dilemma of whether the attendees believe they should enact the death penalty is one of personal morals. The audience is placed in this scene to personify these depicted morals. To prove that R deserves the death penalty, the attendees re-enact R’s crimes, to ensure that even he believes he deserves to die. This judgment of the death penalty’s morals from an individual level, without society’s comforting backing, drives the conflict in the story to change the public perception of capital punishment.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this generally solid basis of describing guilt and morals to explain an action, is undercut by the film’s difficult and convoluted filming style. While watching the movie, one often spends more time attempting to understand the convoluted camera shot choices and stylistic approaches, rather than spending time understanding the premise and unfolding story. Camera shots such as the 4th wall break at the end, greatly distract the audience from the film and remove the viewers from the plot progression completely. This unprovoked removal only removes from the plot building and plausible societal change the movie may have. The removal from the plot undermines the plot building which serves to personify capital punishment to the audience’s level. This unfortunate removal premise leaves the audience confused and unfocused, completely undermining the film’s original intention of using a personified event to change public perception and morals of capital punishment.
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ReplyDeleteIn his movie Death by Hanging, Oshima's film style breaks down almost all of the original standards for Japanese films. But, I believe how heavily he uses the violent and sexual themes of the movie distracts the audience from the messages he is trying to communicate. A great example of this is when R’s ‘sister’ is talking about the discrimination Koreans deal with in Japan. I could see her rage exemplified and feel her pain. The desperation in her voice and the drastic crimes of R that she tries to justify show that she would go to no end to fight for the Korean people. But, shortly after, she is naked and in bed with her brother. It really does not leave any time for me to process the message from before and leaves me baffled about what we should be taking from that sequence of events. The other style choices also feel more like an experiment in which we are involved than something Oshima is telling us. I felt this especially when we saw the replay of R getting up multiple times during one of the reenactments of his past. It did not happen in almost any other parts of the movie and was very confusing for me at the time. Also, the severity of the racial comments and the type of dark humor used often made it harder for me to focus and left me in shock. There were many times these grown men acted in certain ways, and I had no idea how I was supposed to react or process what was happening at the time. Every person I have talked to so far has had a different interpretation of the messages of this movie. I do not think this is bad, but I do think it undercuts any specific messages Oshima was trying to convey to the audience as a whole.
ReplyDeleteIn Oshima’s film Death by Hanging, the style of the film breaks down what was considered the standard in other Japanese films with its editing style and how it greatly distracts and undermines the message of the film. While the concept of the movie is well-played on paper, to sit and watch the film and question which of the scenes were based in reality, and which were based in R’s imagination, was of great difficulty. An example of this was in the end, after the Chief of Education kills the girl at school. When they cut to the entire group looking upon her corpse, only few can see her, until gradually most of them can. This was not only hard to remember as you watched the future scenes, such as when the dead girl comes back to life somehow as R’s sister, only to be executed again shortly after, and then shown in the next scene to be “alive” once more, in bed naked with her brother. This entire sequence was so confusing to watch, and hadn’t sent a point across stylistically. Even thinking about it now, I am at a loss for any point they might have attempted to convey through how they treated the woman. There was no particular separation from fiction and reality, and we were forced to attempt to decipher it as the movie went on, which in my own opinion, undermined the whole message that Oshima was trying to convey with the film in itself.
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese New Wave's influence on Oshima's filming style within the movie "Death by Hanging" played an important role in reinforcing messages throughout the film. And because of his unique filming style, every scene aims to evoke critical thinking within the audience. The film starts off using an unconventional narration with a documentary-like style, describing the death penalty in Japan and the history and views behind it. From this introduction, viewers become detached from the film as it doesn’t engage with the movie characters in a personal way, making us feel like outsiders looking in, rather than the typical feel of being immersed in the film. Forcing viewers to confront the themes of sex, violence, and incest from their critical examinations, allows them to understand the messages being conveyed deeper. Furthermore, the uncommon breaking of the fourth wall causes an even further feeling of alienation within the audience, resulting in them thinking about all of the events again on a larger scale as they now have to think about the factor of the characters knowing they existed the whole time. Oshima’s unique filmmaking style creates a mix of surrealism and isolation, allowing viewers to stay engaged when themes throughout the movie, delivering all of the messages that the film intends to deliver perfectly across the audience.
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