‘기억’의 시대에 전쟁을 이야기한다는 것－애니메이션 <이 세상의 한구석에(この世界の片隅に)>(2016)를 중심으로－

Abstract

This paper critically examines the animated film In This Corner of the World (2016), analyzing why it was acclaimed in Japan as a new anti-war narrative yet criticized from a post-colonial perspective for evading perpetrator responsibility. The analysis is framed by historian Ryūichi Narita’s concept of the ‘age of memory’. The film employs a meticulous realism focused on daily life, a technique characteristic of the ‘age of memory’ designed to foster empathy in generations without direct experience of war. This paper argues, however, that this microscopic focus paradoxically de-politicizes history. By immersing the audience in a personal perspective, it erases the macro-historical context of Japanese imperialism, exemplified by the absence of Korean forced laborers. The film’s evasion of responsibility is most evident in the modification of a key scene from the original manga. A moment of political awakening, where the protagonist questions the violent nature of the Japanese state, is altered into a depoliticized reflection on food and sustenance, thus intentionally avoiding a direct confrontation with Japan’s wartime aggression. This paper identifies this change as a form of “directorial self-censorship” that reveals the film’s fundamental limitation. In conclusion, this paper asserts that In This Corner of the World, despite its appearance as a sophisticated historical narrative of the ‘age of memory’, ultimately serves as an effective mechanism for concealing perpetrator responsibility. By excluding the perspective of the ‘other’—the colonial subjects—the film demonstrates the ethical pitfalls of a “succession of memory” that lacks critical self-reflection on a nation’s history of violence.