Contemporary thinkers such as Bodrija, Liotta and others have put forward the post-modern theory of historical rupture, which means that with the disillusionment of enlightenment and rationalism and its deconstruction of the subject, history is not Then there is a continuous, cause-and-effect "grand narrative", but a fragmentary, non-depth narrative with relatively independent meaning. The rapid development of post-industrial society has accelerated this fission. But just as the unreliability of "the end of history" and its inextricable connection with monopoly capital and conservatism, the sense of history is still inherited, and it examines the ethics and ethics of contemporary society from its unique perspective. The change of normative paradigm constitutes a paradox in the context of contemporary third world countries: on the one hand, people try to break through the bottleneck of the original society, and on the other hand, they are also facing the loss of the self and other self in the process. The construction of I feel confused and lost. Looking at Ozu Yasujiro's 1953 work "Tokyo Monogatari" from this dimension, there is no doubt that it not only has its unique oriental aesthetic, but also has universal significance in modern science.
The 1950s was a very important period for Japan: the shadow of war gradually dissipated, and the Korean War and anti-communist needs caused the United States to turn to support Japan, and Japan itself was also transitioning to a true democratic representative system, gradually becoming "East Asian". America". The transformation of the system culturally focuses on the exchange and collision of multiple ethical values. The whole society has a fierce competition for the right to speak around anomie and reconstruction, forming a potential cultural conflict. Ozu uses images to externalize this contradiction through his most influential work, and his critical discourse is worthy of rethinking after fifty years.
·Metaphor·
The word "Monument" has the meaning of a story in Japanese, but in practice it also fulfills the pragmatic concept of allegory, completing the narrative through the analogy of things. Here, Ozu borrowed the "family country and the world" in the traditional Eastern political concept, and used the family to see and project the society. If he wants to say it himself, he is "describing how the Japanese family system collapsed"
This kind of deconstruction actually manifests as a drastic change from an acquaintance society to a civil society. In Onomichi, where the old couple lived in the opening, the kind scene of neighbors hushing to each other through the window, no longer exists in the crowded Tokyo. Even family affection cannot replace the tremendous pressure brought by fierce social competition. This is more not about individual morality, but the difference between acquaintances and civil society: from "love your neighbor" to "doubt others", from the open small community life to the stratification of the metropolis The changes in apartment living have witnessed the collapse of an acquaintance society based on co-living and maintaining its own stability through a moral restraint mechanism, replaced by a westernized citizen/constitutional society based on the theory of human nature.
The influence of Westernization is not only reflected in the composition of society, but also manifested in changes in external materials. The Tokyo chimneys and tall buildings that Ozu wrote about are a clue to industrialization. It is full of noise, and that is actually the direct consequence of the invasion of commercial popular culture: it manifests as a separation of meaning, symbolizing the repetition of the industrial rhythm and the numb aesthetic state. This Tokyo is no longer peaceful and has an oriental slow-paced aesthetic view. Instead, it has been alienated into an international city with almost the same appearance and substance. It is no longer different from New York and London. Tokyo is just a geographically identifying symbol. .
It is worth noting that this similar theme recurred throughout Ozu’s later films, namely, the problems posed by the city in the process of modernization: the loss of public space (volleyball games on the roof), the impact of machinery industry on daily life Duan (a train passing through the urban area), etc., all convey the loss of subjectivity in a traditional anomie society.
It can be said that the entire "Tokyo Monogatari" is a metaphor of an allegorical nature. It restores the process of how Japanese society, with its typical Eastern ethics and structure, gradually collapsed in a post-colonial/post-modern context, and its deep role in the changes in cultural mechanisms. And Ozu, who abides by traditional ethics, as an author, inevitably branded him with personal emotions, a kind of facing "the torrent of the times."
Ozu’s insights into the period of social turbulence can be described as inferior, but his criticism is quite soft, which is reflected in the film’s desalination of dramatic contradictions, fixed shots, and the graphic arrangement of similar shapes of characters: he strives to try in the mirror language. It expresses a kind of order, a kind of system in his ideal, and the information he covers is doing everything in his power to try to deconstruct this kind of order, which constitutes the deep tension in his works. This will inevitably lead to tragedy, because the contradiction that is constructed in the image but actually exists cannot be alleviated. So "Tokyo Story" is actually sad. Under the lonely back of the old couple, there is the lament of the author, which is like the finale of an era, and has to be regretted.
If one is lamenting the loss of a generation in the cultural conflict, there is still the passiveness of "falling flowers without intention, flowing water with affection", and the failure of this generation to try to reconstruct its narrative structure and discourse power may be the root of this cultural depression. Where the plot lies. In the movie, Ozu has constructed his dual ethical paradigm: Onomichi is represented by Onomichi, who is not affected by industrialization, and young people who respect traditional values represented by Kyoko and Kiko. The results of it? Onomichi is connected by high-speed railway, "I will arrive in Tokyo the next day". Isn't it a sign of modernization/alienation? And the two women want to marry and make a living, "I will understand them one day." . This situation can be said to be involuntary. Therefore, Ozu’s attempts to break through with traditional methods have actually failed. This will only add to the lament: because the answer he gave according to his own logic is unsolvable, and it is the unstoppable commercial consumerism.
As far as social theory is concerned, neither Jameson’s neo-Marxism nor Habermas’s social critical school can establish the composition of social subjects in a post-modern context in a very clear way, or in accordance with enlightenment and The continuation of modernization provides theoretical support for the reconstruction of contemporary social faults. Therefore, Ozu's failure and the resulting lament are inevitable. Therefore, no matter how much comedy he has added to his works, he is still tragic.
·Myth·
When the actual history is flattened and transformed into a symbol of micro-society, Ozu's criticism with historical depth is more embarrassing. The failure of efforts to reconstruct tradition exacerbated this frustration. Powerless, he had to turn to a state of myth.
"Tokyo Story" expresses confusion, a question that a generation cannot establish a subject. Here, the split of culture is inevitable: Xu people choose to conform to the one-dimensional society represented by the machine industry, while Ozu chooses tradition. Under the pressure of reality, this tradition is weakening. Thus, the state of myth became the last resort. The old couple looked at the busy Tokyo and sighed, "If they get lost, I'm afraid they won't see them in this life." This is undoubtedly their instinctive rejection and fear of modern civilization. After that, they can only stay in the society in a state of self-reflection, physically and mentally discordant. This is the essence of myth: rejection of external stimuli and nostalgic individual reflection.
In Ozu's later works, he pays more attention to the constant repetition of subject matter, including marriage and love issues. This just tells us that he was disappointed in the real world and made a utopian turn, immersed in the joy of self-thinking without having time to make more powerful insights and criticisms of the social system, or to analyze specific historical faults. At the same time, his extensive use of deep-focus lenses seems to be intended to widen the distance between the viewer and the author, and aesthetically separate himself from the public, which can prove his myth in his later years.
A generation of people experienced the scars of historical rupture from the violent collision of the external world. Some people said goodbye in lament with a little sadness. This is the experience of rupture brought by "Tokyo Story". For China, which is almost in the same process of drastic change as Japan decades ago and has the same traditional cultural background, how to deal with this broken proposition in the context of globalization, "Tokyo Monogatari" has great significance. The reference value, that is, how to establish a new social discourse system within an anomie society, is worthy of our deep consideration. Neither the fifth generation of epic/nation-state directors nor the sixth generation who are dedicated to deconstructing the main body have made a very good response to this important proposition. This is indeed a shortcoming.
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