Jacoby, Alexander. A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors : From the Silent Era to the Present Day. New York: Stone Bridge Publishing, 2007.

Call #: PN1998.2 .J29 2008

 

This encyclopedia style entry on Ozu ironically mentions that despite the director's relentless examination of Japanese family life, he had no children and never married.  While the entry does not push the matter any further, his single marital status raises an issue contrary to the thesis of this paper.  How can someone who never had a family other than his parents value a traditional Japanese family to such a great extent?  At points in the film, it seems as if Ozu inserts himself into the narrative and it seems as if he fully understands and feels Shukichi and Tomi's neglect.  Even if he can sympathize with his protagonists in Tokyo Story, it is strange that he would make a career about fragmented families when he was never the patriarch of his own.

While this may seem problematic at first, Ozu's unmarried status does not really take away from his love of family.  From the third person point-of-view he would be able to see the benefits of family life which people with children might take for granted.  Furthermore, as someone who had no children or spouse to accompany him, he may have felt somewhat lonely and could relate to the widowed Shukichi at the end of the film.  While that is merely speculation, it doesn't seem to be too far fetched of a reading of Ozu's motives.  Finally, his repetitive focus on family in all his films, a point which is emphasized in this book, proves that the protection of family was his ultimate goal in the face of modernity and not a fluke found only in Tokyo Story.  

 

Similar to many of his other post-World War II films, Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story focuses on changes within a Japanese family. While superficially, the film seems to only deal with its primary characters, in actuality, the fragmented Hirayama family is allegorical of Japanese families in the post-war era. In looking at Tokyo Story, it is important to look the economic and sociological history of Japan in addition to the film's precise style to notice how Ozu blames his country's explosion into modernity for the decay of the family.

Geist, Kathe. "Yasujiro Ozu: Notes on a Retrospective." Film Quarterly 37 (1983): 2-9. JSTOR.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/3697303>.

 

In her analysis of Ozu’s works, Kathy Geist claims that the director had three distinct periods within his career.  The first, in the years before 1938, Ozu generally made light comedies and a few gangster films. These films were fairly lighthearted pieces which did not have many themes unifying them as a body of work.  Although Ozu only made four films from 1938 to 1948, Geist claims that this second period in his career marks the transition from the earlier period and “anticipates” his post-war style (2).  While they still had many similarities with the Ozu’s prewar films, they are considerably more melodramatic than previous works.  In his third period, after 1948, Ozu’s films were largely restricted to house set dramas.  Not only did Ozu radically shift genres, but he also completely transformed his style between the two ends of his career.  The use of lighting and selective focus was common in his early films and would help lead his audience along the narrative.  His late period featured a strict, reserved style with flat lighting and simple cinematography.

Ozu’s shift during the war is rather significant in understanding his purpose in Tokyo Story.  The fact that his films became much more moralistic and relevant to his time suggests the war and the post-war era to have a significant effect on him.  Furthermore, almost of his post-war films deal with the same issue: changing family structure.  Either a daughter is getting married and leaving, or a family member dies, or parents visit their children.  Therefore, it seems Ozu felt World War II and the massive changes following the end of the war had negative effects on the traditional Japanese family.  The idea is underscored by the sadness and resignation which characterized his later period of work.

Mellen, Joan. The Waves at Genji's Door: Japan Through Its Cinema. New York: Pantheon Books, 1976.

Call #: PN1993.5.J3 M4

 

In her chapter on Ozu, Joan Mellen gives a close analysis of several of the director's films.  When speaking about his later works, she writes, "Ozu's implicit hope, in all the films he made after the War, was that traditional Japanese values could be continued within the context of the family, despite the social degradation outside," (321).  She develops this idea deeper over the next several paragraphs and goes as far as saying that the preservation of family values, in Ozu's mind, would prevent total "moral anarchy" (321).  While it sounds extreme to label the world as being in moral anarchy, Tokyo Story certainly portrays the Ozu's distress of his contemporary world. 

This anxiety is nicely shown through the contrast between exterior scenes in Tokyo and interior scenes of the family.  Many of the outdoor shots consist of noisy, dirty elements of city life.  While the camera generally remains static, there is significant movement through the frame which gives an unstable and unreliable tint to the world.  On the other hand, the indoor shots-the shots protected from the outside world-have a calm, soothing feel to it.   As Mellen suggests, home and the family can be a valuable shelter.

By the end of the film, however, we see that the family is no stronger than the world on the outside; everyone is separated physically and emotionally.  Despite this inverse, Mellen's analysis seems to be correct because the destruction of the cinematic family allows Ozu calls attention the underlying problem.  Only by recognizing the decomposition of family can his audience put an end to it.

Complementing other sociological reports for this paper, Helen Macnaughtan's article on women in the workforce provides intriguing insight into Tokyo Story's world.  Traditionally, middle class women did not have jobs and instead were expected to take care of the home.  Beginning after World War II, however, legislation, such as the 1947 Labour Standards Law, emancipated women in the labor force.  Macnaughtan sees a few key trends following the war; first, the number of female workers increased significantly.  Second, there was a noticeable increase specifically for middle-aged women.  Finally, although women were working more than the past, they remained "supplementary to the core of predominantly male permanent workers," (40).

This trend of women in the workplace is visible in Tokyo Story through the characters Noriko and Shige.  Both women, who in the past would not have had a job, are both full time workers.  Had they not been working, they would have been responsible for taking take of and spending time with Shukishi and Tomi.  For Shige, her job as a hairdresser takes away time that she would otherwise spend with her parents.  While Shige can come off as an uncaring person, it is fair to blame her inattentiveness on post-war pressures and expectations of city living.  Noriko, although full employed as well, is better able to manage her time.  She dedicates tremendous amounts of her days with the parents, even though she is not even a blood relative.  Through his writing and direction, Ozu gets his audience to love Noriko which clearly shows Ozu's love of the family.  By casting a negative shadow on the less caring character, Ozu tries to promote family life in the face of modernity's new social roles.