Reception of Shakespeare through Films in Early 20th Century Japan: The Case of Enrico Guazzoni’s Antony and Cleopatra
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
Watching Shakespeare films is one of numerous doors through which the audience get into the Shakespeare world. So was it in Japan in the early 20th century. One specific feature of silent films released in Japan before the mid-1930s was that a so-called ben-shi, a narrator, vocally explained the story and the background of the film, and often even spoke imaginary lines about the characters. This paper focuses on how the narration by ben-shi introduced silent Shakespeare films and how it propelled Shakespeare’s highbrow reception in the 1910s. For this purpose, Enrico Guazzoni’s Italian film Antony and Cleopatra (1913) is closely examined. Being released in 1914 in Japan, this film became popular partly because of the cool and objective narration by Saburo Somei. Fortunately, a part of his narration was recorded and is still available, and it reveals that the narration and the film images are different in several points. One of the most striking differences is that Somei narrates Cleopatra kills herself by putting a snake against her throat while the screen image shows her putting a snake against her ample breasts. The narration makes the film more refined and sophisticated, and thus exemplifies that ben-shi could have helped to push Shakespeare toward being an icon of Western high culture.
Abstract
Watching Shakespeare films is one of numerous doors through which the audience get into the Shakespeare world. So was it in Japan in the early 20th century. One specific feature of silent films released in Japan before the mid-1930s was that a so-called ben-shi, a narrator, vocally explained the story and the background of the film, and often even spoke imaginary lines about the characters. This paper focuses on how the narration by ben-shi introduced silent Shakespeare films and how it propelled Shakespeare’s highbrow reception in the 1910s. For this purpose, Enrico Guazzoni’s Italian film Antony and Cleopatra (1913) is closely examined. Being released in 1914 in Japan, this film became popular partly because of the cool and objective narration by Saburo Somei. Fortunately, a part of his narration was recorded and is still available, and it reveals that the narration and the film images are different in several points. One of the most striking differences is that Somei narrates Cleopatra kills herself by putting a snake against her throat while the screen image shows her putting a snake against her ample breasts. The narration makes the film more refined and sophisticated, and thus exemplifies that ben-shi could have helped to push Shakespeare toward being an icon of Western high culture.
참고문헌 (14)
- Ball, Hamilton Robert, "Shakespeare on Silent Film" (1968), George Allen and Unwin
- Bullough, Geoffrey, "Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare vol V" (1964), Routledge and Kegan Paul, Columbia UP
- Endo, Naoko, "Kureopatora no Hyosyo-Sono Shino Paburikku-imeji (The Emblems of Cleopatra-the Public Image of Her Death)", Tohokudaigaku Fuzokutoshokan Cyousakenkyuushitu Nenpo, (6), pp.83~90 (2019)
- Greenberg, Larry, "Katsudo ben-shi: Museieiga to Syugyokunowagei (Film Narrators: Their Splendid Art of Narration and Silent Films)" (2001)
- "A Record of a Lecture: ‘Italian Silent Films’" (1990)[URL]
- "Toyochikuonki (Orientorekodo) no Shashicyousa to Dhisukogurafyino Sakusei (A Study of the History of Tohochikuonki (Orient Record) and Discography)" (2018)[URL]
- Rothwell, S. Kenneth, "Shakespeare on Screen" (1990), Neal-Schuman Publishers
- Sato, Tadao, "Nihon Eigashi I (The History of Japanese Films)" (2006), Iwanamisyoten
- Sato, Tadao, "Katsudo Ben-shi: Museieiga to Syugyokunowagei (Film Narrators: their splendid art of narration and silent films)" (2001)
- Shakespeare, William, "The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works" (2005), Oxford UP
- "Cureopatora (Cleopatra) The National Diet Library Digital Collection" (1914)[URL]
- Somei, Saburo, "Antony and Cleopatra", Natsukashino Katsuben, Nippon Columbia, ~ (2000)
- Tanaka, Junichiro, "Nihoneiga Hattatsushi, 1, Katsudousyasinnjidai (The History of Films in Japan, I, Silent Films)" (1975), Cyuo Kouronsya
- Yamaguchi, Takemi, "Honpo-Shao-Eiga Fuukiri Nen’pyo-1(Chronological Table of Shakespeare Films Released in Japan)", ShaoFukko, (17), pp.47~49 (1934), Chuo-Koronsha