{"671410":{"#nid":"671410","#data":{"type":"news","title":"World War 2 Cinema Continues to Shape Historical Memory in China and Japan","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWith iconic films like \u003Cem\u003ESchindler\u2019s List\u003C\/em\u003E, \u003Cem\u003EDunkirk\u003C\/em\u003E, and \u003Cem\u003EOppenheimer\u003C\/em\u003E, the World War II film genre continues to shape Western cultural memory of that period in history. But how do the films of other cultures \u2014 including those that fought for the Axis Powers \u2014 remember and understand World War II? How has that understanding changed over time?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIn her recent book \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hkupress.hku.hk\/Han_Heroes_Yamato_Warriors\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EHan Heroes and Yamato Warriors: Competing Masculinities in Chinese and Japanese War Cinema\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, School of Modern Languages Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/modlangs.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/amanda-weiss\u0022\u003EAmanda Weiss\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;explores this question. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWeiss traces the history of films about World War II in China, Japan, and the United States. She became interested in the topic while studying on a Fulbright scholarship at the Beijing Film Academy.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cMany of my classmates were Japanese actors, and I noticed that they were always in World War II movies,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cI realized that World War II films were really dominant at that time in China, even though it was the 2000s. I found it really curious, so I started to investigate the topic.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAfter she completed her studies in Beijing, Weiss attended graduate school in Japan to immerse herself in the perspectives of both cultures. Living in Japan showed her how complicated and fractured the discourse about World War II is in the two countries.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThere are clear politically right and left perspectives on the war, and then there is a much more ambiguous and dominant middle. It\u2019s a bit similar to how Americans remember Vietnam,\u201d she said. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Cultural \u2018Memory Loop\u2019\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cAs stories of the war and its aftermath are told and re-told in film and literature over the course of decades, the different cultural memories of those events are written and rewritten in a kind of \u2018memory loop,\u2019\u201d said Weiss. \u201cThe history of World War II cinema in China, Japan, and the U.S. reveals an interconnected, transnational discourse about the war.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWeiss traces this discourse \u2014 and rising national tensions \u2014 through the conflicts between the male figures in film. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Unified Narrative, Divided\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cDuring the 1980s, many films about the war were co-produced by China and Japan, representing an attempt to move forward together, to create a unified narrative between the two nations,\u201d said Weiss. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EBut in the 1990s, that co-created narrative began to fall apart. After 2000, co-productions were gone, and Japanese and Chinese films about this era began to reflect rising tensions between the two countries.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAs an example, Weiss noted \u003Cem\u003ETokyo Trial\u003C\/em\u003E, a 2006 Chinese film about the postwar tribunals. The film depicts a heroic Chinese judge standing up to bullying Americans and to the Japanese soldiers who committed crimes during the war.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EJapanese films about post-war tribunals have a more ambiguous and conflicted narrative \u2014 and understandably so. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cFor Japanese audiences, the tribunal films grapple with very difficult and ambivalent national feelings about being labeled a perpetrator of war crimes, about nationalism, and about losing the war,\u201d said Weiss. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIt\u2019s no surprise, then, that the narratives of mainstream Japanese tribunal films tend to be ambiguous and conflicted, addressing existential questions of justice, guilt, and morality.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cOne recurring narrative in Japanese tribunal films is \u2018victor\u2019s justice.\u2019 Some people argue that history is written by the victors, so perhaps the whole story isn\u2019t being told,\u201d said Weiss. \u201cThen there are more right-wing films that depict the accused soldier as a heroic figure whose honor needs to be protected,\u201d she added.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat Are Han Heroes and Yamato Warriors?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cDifferent aspects of nation are often articulated through masculinities,\u201d she said. \u201cIn this film genre, we have stalwart judges, heroic soldiers, and good leaders. We also have perpetrators of war crimes and political leaders.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe term \u0022Han\u0022 refers to the ethnic majority in China. Weiss conceptualizes \u201cHan heroes\u201d as the dominant heroic trope in recent Chinese war films, a trope that often emphasizes Chinese nationalism through cultural notions of idealized masculinity like \u201cwen\u201d (literary) and \u201cwu\u201d (martial). \u0022Yamato\u0022 refers to the ethnic majority in Japan. Weiss argues that the \u201cYamato warrior\u201d is also an idealized masculine figure who represents imagined Japanese values of loyalty, bravery, self-sacrifice \u2014 and more problematically, fervent nationalism. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u2019s Next?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWeiss said her next book will be about the \u201cfeminization of memory\u201d in Japanese popular memories of Manchuria. Her project explores media spectacles around the return of Japanese women left in China after WWII, literature written on Manchuria by female writers, and new heroic images of wartime women like Torihama Tome, the \u201ckamikaze mother.\u201d One chapter will discuss a singer, actress, journalist, and politician named Yamaguchi Yoshiko. A Japanese woman born in China, Yamaguchi was an actress in the Manchurian film industry during World War II, acting in propaganda films under the name Li Xianglan or Ri Koran.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cIn 1945, Yamaguchi was prosecuted for treason in China, because she had played all these roles of Chinese women falling in love with Japanese soldiers,\u201d said Weiss. \u201cShe only escaped execution when they realized she was a Japanese citizen.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EYamaguchi went on to have a decades-long film career that spanned many countries and languages.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cShe was a remarkable person. There are many books about her, but no one has talked much about the impact of her death in 2014,\u201d said Weiss. \u201cI want to understand how her death reopened this gendered World War II memory discourse, as people in Japan and China reflected on what her life and career meant.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWeiss\u2019 book, \u003Cem\u003EHan Heroes and Yamato Warriors: Competing Masculinities in Chinese and Japanese War Cinema\u003C\/em\u003E, was published in October 2023 by the Hong Kong University Press. It is available at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/jj.6695534\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/jj.6695534\u003C\/a\u003E. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe School of Modern Languages is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. Weiss\u2019 work is one example of arts-related research in the College. Others include examining \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news-events\/features\/2023\/07\/georgia-tech-art-ai\u0022\u003Ethe intersection of art and AI\u003C\/a\u003E, evoking conversations about sustainability through \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news-events\/features\/2023\/08\/georgia-tech-digital-media-exhibit\u0022\u003Edigital media artworks\u003C\/a\u003E, and exploring the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/features\/2023\/07\/hip-hop-influences-everything\u0022\u003Etransformative impact of hip-hop\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn her recent book \u0027Han Heroes and Yamato Warriors: Competing Masculinities in Chinese and Japanese War Cinema,\u0027 Associate Professor Amanda Weiss explores how telling and re-telling the stories of World War 2 in film influences cultural memories and international tensions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"In her recent book \u0027Han Heroes and Yamato Warriors: Competing Masculinities in Chinese and Japanese War Cinema,\u0027 Associate Professor Amanda Weiss explores how the World War 2 film genre continues to influence cultural memories and international tensions."}],"uid":"35777","created_gmt":"2023-12-04 22:23:10","changed_gmt":"2024-01-05 15:22:36","author":"Stephanie Kadel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-12-04T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-12-04T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672500":{"id":"672500","type":"image","title":"Associate Professor Amanda Weiss in the School of Modern Languages","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor Amanda Weiss in the School of Modern Languages\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1701728726","gmt_created":"2023-12-04 22:25:26","changed":"1701728726","gmt_changed":"2023-12-04 22:25:26","alt":"a photo of Associate Professor Amanda Weiss against a Georgia Tech geometric background","file":{"fid":"255746","name":"Mercury Weiss Headshot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/04\/Mercury%20Weiss%20Headshot_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/04\/Mercury%20Weiss%20Headshot_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":133507,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/12\/04\/Mercury%20Weiss%20Headshot_0.jpg?itok=KChgHNpJ"}}},"media_ids":["672500"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1284","name":"School of Modern Languages"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"193320","name":"amanda weiss"},{"id":"167918","name":"School of Modern Languages at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EStephanie N. Kadel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}