Eric Cazdyn of comparative literature and East Asian and cinema studies has compared 100 years of Japanese film history with the country's social and economic history. "I want to make sense of how these two relate to each other and how the transformation in film techniques - from acting and editing to story development - relates to changes in Japanese society."
For example, in the 1920s, ordinary citizens/amateur actors appeared in films for the first time, a development reflected in society when ordinary citizens began to accept more responsibility for social change rather than depending on elected officials.
"It's no surprise to me," Cazdyn says, "that during especially traumatic times in this period, such as economic recessions, interesting experiments were conducted in the way films were created. Many experiments occurred in the film world first and then you saw these changes playing out in society at large."
Cazdyn's book, The Flash of Capital: Film and Geopolitics in Japan, has been recently released by Duke University Press. Cazdyn's research was funded in part by grants from the Japanese Ministry of Education, the Japan Foundation and the Connaught Foundation.
CONTACT: Professor Eric Cazdyn, comparative literature and East Asian and cinema studies, 416-946-5114, e.cazdyn@utoronto.ca or Michah Rynor, U of T public affairs, 416-978-2104, michah.rynor@utoronto.ca