Women in Mizoguchi’s Films: Author in the Face of Cultural Changes

Krzysztof Loska

Abstract

The article is dedicated to Kenji Mizoguchi’s films of the 1930s when he developed his own distinctive artistic style that manifested itself not only in the fictional aspect but first of all in the way film-specific instruments were used. White Threads of the Waterfall (1933), The Downfall (1935), The Field Poppy (1935), Naniwa Elegy (1936) Sisters of the Gion (1936) and The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939) were some of the films made in this period. Loska points out a few interrelated issues that were reflected in the subject of Mizoguchi’s films: the picture of cultural and social changes stemming from modernisation, the attempt to show contradictions between tradition and modernity, and the reflection on the role and status of women in a patriarchal society, and consequently - his critique of the model. Loska also points to the relationship between Mizoguchi’s auteur style and genre conventions as well as the narrative patterns used in the films. Loska is interested in the influence of both traditional Japanese aesthetics and contemporary literary and theatrical pieces that are more or less successfully adapted for the screen.