文章基本信息

标题：An Australian tale in a Japanese story: Reading the national in Sue Brook’s Japanese story
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作者：Chew Yi Wei
期刊名称：Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures & Societies
印刷版ISSN：1948-1845
电子版ISSN：1948-1853
出版年度：2010
卷号：1
期号：1
出版社：Wright State University
摘要：Sue Brook's film,Japanese Story(2003) lends itself to many peculiarities. Upon hearing its titleand having some perfunctory knowledge of its association with Australia, one might-due to thisovert incongruity-be tempted to assume the film to be either an exercise in the nation'sexoticisation of Japan, or even likeningit to a Japanese production. Less impetuously andpejoratively, some would think it a film typically belonging to the pantheon of the transnationaldue to the presence of a Japanese actor in a supposedly all-Australian cast. Yet, should a deeperstudy be effected, we findJapanese Storyto be substantiallycomplexand more problematic thanthat, leaving the above suppositions surface and simplistic. InJapanese Story, polymorphous andfluid (conceptual) worlds imbricate and synthesise, forming a melange thick with complexity,movement and definitional subjectivity. Owing to the presence of Asian characters in the filmand the external but consonant dialogue on Australia-Asia relations, the positions ofJapaneseStoryin the film industry both nationally and transnationallyarealso inescapably implicated. Mytask however will be to argue forJapanese Storyas being quintessentially national though it maynot possess any ostensible nationalistic overtones. Before I proceed with an analysis of the film,contextualisationin terms of Australia-Asia relations and national cinemais a necessity:boththese concepts are inextricably connected and therefore jointly scrutinised.