著者

菅原 慶乃

出版者

関西大学アジア・オープン・リサーチセンター

雑誌

KU-ORCASが開くデジタル化時代の東アジア文化研究 : オープン・プラットフォームで浮かび上がる、新たな東アジアの姿

巻号頁・発行日

pp.279-293, 2022-03-31

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Established in 1943 to exclusively screen Japanese movies, Roxy Theatre was located at the frontline of the "movie war" conducted by the Japanese military government. The theatre and its operator, the China Film Company, tried to open the way for Japanese films to expand into the Settlement, which was Japanese film policy's aim during wartime; however, this project of Japanese films' expansion did not proceed according to plan. One of the most rigid barriers to the project was that moviegoers in Shanghai paid little attention to Japanese films. This led the theatre to take various actions to arbitrarily manipulate Shanghai moviegoers' impressions of Japanese films. The theatre not only excluded Japanese films that contained elements they considered inappropriate but also re-edited original films to cut scenes that they thought misled Chinese moviegoers. Utilizing the cinema brochure, "Roxy," as their propaganda tool was their most significant action. According to the collection of the Asia Open Research Center of Kansai University, which has been digitalizing sixty-two volumes of Roxy, the brochure introduced a large number of Japanese movie stars by claiming that they had an "oriental appeal" to differentiate them from Hollywood movie stars and also that they deserved to replace Hollywood movie stars. Further, the theatre insisted on introducing Japanese historical drama, jidaigeki, to spread the notion of bushido, or the spirit of the samurai warrior, but in vain. The theatre also tried to organize a fan community for Japanese films, and the Japanese Film Fan Club was formed in January 1944, but it was discontinued seven months later. All these failures of the theatre indicated that it was not fully able to contribute to the expansion of Japanese films into the Settlement, although the staff operating the theatre was faithful to their mission.