This week I want to talk about history of Japanese films and striking features produced by its traditional culture.
           
            Like  films of most countries in the world ,the film went through the twists and turns.
            In 1896 , the  kinetoscope  invented by the Thomas Edison was introduced into Japan. However ,the first successful film appeared in the 1897.

      Onoe-Matsunosuke ,  a former  kabuki  actor ,became the first cinema star in Japan by starring the movie  Honnōji gassen (本能寺合戦)

            It sounds interesting now that the movie was made by narrator standing beside the screen describing the plot and lines with an kabuki accent.   The movie at that time has no sounds and no consistency, just like several pictures in a big screen .One thing  paid attention to is that the actor and narrator was both related to the traditional opera kabuki.
            In 1918,a movement called Pure Cinema Movement was popular in Tokyo. This movement encouraged the film to be shot in the natural world and promoted the female actress and the abolishing of narrator.

        In  September 1 ,1923, the big earthquake in Tokyo, adding the  economic depression, , panicked and  despaired the public. Lots of films represented the despair, hopelessness and  pessimism. 
        This change in the content of film reminds me of  a same kind of cinema , waiting for godot , a similar film to vent the emotion of human being.  Sometimes ,the content of animal can represent the status ,feelings and  activities of the public,  like panic, despair  and optimism. However ,today’s film often represents violence , pornography and desire.  Are  these all things in our mind. Whether our minds get more complicated or more easy  with the development of technology and media culture.?
        I do not know , but I do not want the film turns to be a tool just to make people laugh or scared,  only to produce feeling, not the thinking.