ANTI ROMAN PORNO
An exploration of the role of madness and nature in the construction of
female sexuality.
Name: Keeley McManus
Master’s Programme: Media Studies: Film Studies
Supervisor: Tarja Laine
Second Reader: Catherine Lord
Place of Completion: University of Amsterdam
Date: 13/7/2018
Word Count: 17,011
Abstract
In 2016 Nikkatsu the oldest and largest production company in Japan announced to the world that they were rebooting their most famous cinema genre, the Roman Porno. In this thesis the representation of female sexuality is explored within three of the five films, they are titled Wet Woman in the Wind (Akihiko Shita, 2016), Antiporno (Sion Sono, 2016), White Lily (Hideo Nakata, 2016). I will analyse each film according to two themes, madness and the symbolism of nature. The main theories in which I will use in this paper are from Michel Foucault, sexuality as discourse and Sherry Ortner’s argument, that women are universally seen as “inferior” to men. I argue that the representation of female sexuality continues to undermine women within cinema and by analysing the Roman Porno reboot, I hope to debunk all notions that the films are feminist.
Contents Page
Introduction………..1-4
Chapter One- Madness………...5-15
Chapter Two- Nature………16-25
Chapter Three- Madness and Nature Intertwine….….….…..……..26-33
Conclusion……….………...……..…...34-36
Bibliography……….……….………..….37-41
Filmography……….….………..……….42-43
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Introduction
The female body not only harbours the power of life, but because of this fact, her body is a possession within cultures grasp. Women and madness has been an interesting and thought-provoking topic with the academic circle for many years now, and I wish to contribute to this. My chosen topic of discussion for this thesis is, sex cinema. Namely, Japanese sex cinema which started with a movement called pinku eiga. The movement was made up of a series of sexploitation films, defined as the commercial exploitation of sex and anything related to it (Alexandre, 2015, p. 2), the films were targeted towards the male adult audience. In addition, pinku eiga films were independently produced, low budget productions which used many semi-professional casts and crew (Sharp, 2008, p. 9). The cinematic movement started in response to the restrictive censorship laws in place for filmmakers in reference to nudity. Many pinku eiga filmmakers wished to challenge the laws, the main issue they wanted to address was the government-operated censorship regulations forbidding the ‘appearance of pubic hair and/ or genitalia in films, whether domestic or foreign’ (Hunter, 1998, p. 14). An infamous legal battle arose from this experimental movement, with the film In the Realms of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976), which depicted both ‘full frontal nudity and…lucid close-ups of both actors’ genitalia’ (Allsop, 2004, p. 104). It was later dismissed in court in favour of the film, but the censorship regulations, though unchanged to this day, are comparatively more relaxed within the making of such movies. Running alongside the underground, pinku eiga movement, the oldest production company in Japan, was under a crushing financial crisis. So, in 1971, Nikkatsu, with one last attempt to salvage their legacy and business, from bankruptcy, launched the Roman Porno (roman poruno). The name originates from the French word roman pornographique (Sharp, 2008, p. 123). The difference between the pinku eiga films and the Roman Pornos, as explained by Olaf Moller, in his essay Shameless, are:
‘The typical pinku eiga is roughly an hour long … with a budget of $35,000… about five days shooting and five days editing, then straight into the movie theatres. Roman Porno [‘s] ... are more story driven, feature length and had more luxurious budgets and production schedules’ (Moller, 2002, p. 45).
Although they are both based within the same umbrella term of “sex cinema” it is important to add that Roman Porno films were also targeted towards the mainstream audience. This meant that the content limited itself to films that weren’t considered extraordinarily controversial, whereas pinku eiga filmmakers, prided themselves of this fact.
Nikkatsu introduced to the Japanese audience on the 20th November 1971, a double bill screening of the films, Castle Orgies (Isao Hayashi, 1971) and Apartment Wife: Afternoon Affair (Shogoro Nishimura, 1971) (Sharp, 2008, p. 123). With the financial success of the screening, Nikkatsu continued to create films of this nature until they cancelled all productions of Roman Porno’s in 1988.
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This was due to the unavoidable damage the adult video market had inflicted upon the company’s financial income. The adult video market, meant that instead of going to a theatre, as the audience would have to for a Roman Porno, they were now able to just buy a VHS and watch it in the comfort of their own home. With Nikkatsu unable to compete with this demand, it restricted its film output and attempted to salvage itself, but unfortunately after a tremendous lose at the box office, it finally had to file for bankruptcy in 1993. It was later bought out by the gaming company Namco and has been producing films ever since (Sharp, 2008, p. 130). Once Nikkatsu was thriving again, some sex films were released over the years but, never to the extent of what it once was. With the success of Nikkatsu’s contribution to the mainstream market of cinema in Japan, in 2016 the company revealed that it will produce five unique films. The films were to be made in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Roman Porno and were to be made in conjuncture with the rules the company followed when making the Roman Porno films back in the 1970s-1980s (Severns, 2016). The films they released are as follows: Aroused by the Gymnopedies (Isao Yukisada, 2016), Wet Woman in the Wind (Akihiko Shita, 2016), Antiporno (Sion Sono, 2016), White Lily (Hideo Nakata, 2016) and Dawn of the Felines (Kazuya Shiraishi, 2017).
The reputation that the Roman Porno films uphold is one of conflicting opinions. Academics like Jack Hunter and Jasper Sharp have dedicated many books about Japanese sex cinema and gave a positive analysis of the films and industry. In contrast to this, Donald Richie and Collette Balmain, negatively critique the films and highlight the abhorrent misogyny that exists within them. While all scholars have argued admirably for each side, I have found after just watching a handful of Roman Porno films, how disproportionate the gender relations are. Nikkatsu realised this and at a press release in 2016 they revealed they will reboot the Roman Porno, in the form of five films. This was to tap into the millennial audience, but particularly female spectators (Severns, 2016). As the reviews were released before the films debuts, many were positive, in relation to Sion Sono’s Antiporno, and one review was even titled “Japanese Director Sion Sono Returns with a Feminist Take on Sexuality” (Acevedo, 2017). Many more were appearing, and some even praised Wet Woman in the Wind for its feminist outlook (see, (Bowen, 2017), (Sedgwick, 2017) and (Marsh, 2017)). For my thesis I will aim to investigate the films particularly in their construction of female sexuality. I will be analysing three, out of the five films and discuss how each movie represents this topic. The films I have chosen to analyse are Antiporno, Wet Woman in the Wind and White Lily. The reason for excluding both, Aroused by the Gymnopedies and Dawn of the Felines, was the limitations I have faced with finding them with English subtitles, so regrettably I have had to leave them out of my analysis. An exploration of the films yielded three questions that warranted further investigation, they are as follows: within each film what role does the theme of madness play in relation to the female protagonist’s sexuality? Why is nature always mentioned in conjuncture with the female body and metaphorically, what does
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this say about female sexuality. And lastly, what impact does this connection between both madness and the symbolism of nature have in representing female sexuality?
Over the course of three chapters, I will attempt to answer these questions. Thematically, the chapters will contain the following: In chapter one, I will look at the use of madness within the films. I will start with Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality: Volume one. He introduces a theory he calls the “repressive hypothesis”. He argues that the main element in which the repressive hypothesis needs in order to thrive, is societies insistence on repressing sex. He argues that society wants this sexual repression to keep the social order. Through this Foucault continues to argue that sexuality has not been eliminated, but sexuality as discourse has increased dramatically over the years, which includes the conservative use of taboos and prohibitions (Foucault, 1978, p. 6-7). I will use this analysis to help argue that the films, through the representation of madness, restrict women in Japanese society from being sexually liberated.
Lastly, I will be incorporating Linda Williams Hardcore: Power, Pleasure and “Frenzy of the Visible”. Working from Foucault’s sexuality as discourse theory, Williams argues that within pornography, the camera seeks to reveal the “hidden truths” in order for the audience to visually understand sex, in a way that is constructed by film language. To enforce my argument, being that, “cinematic language” contribute to the idea that madness plays a key role in the entrapment of female sexuality. I will focus upon the “hidden truths” and the constructions in place that represent this and create a close textual analysis in ways in which this occurs in the three films.
The second chapter will focus upon the symbolic references towards nature, in relation to female sexuality. My first theory will be from Clifford Geertz, who was the founder of symbolic anthropology. Which is a field of study that ‘studies the way people understand their surroundings, as well as the actions and utterances of the other members of their society’ (The University of Alabama, 2009). Geertz argues that symbols are “vehicles of culture” (Geertz, 1973, cited in Ortner, 1983, p.129). With this, he claims that symbols allow members of society to communicate their world view to each other and to future generations. I wish to explore this topic and highlight what the Roman Porno movement communications to the audience about female sexuality and what impact this can have within society.
To aid my argument I will also be using Sherry Ortner’s article, Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?. She uses Geertz’s argument and claims that symbolically women are more connected to nature, due to their bodies biological functions. Ortner argues that universally all cultures have the internalised view that due to women’s connection to nature, she is considered weaker and in turn, inferior to men. Ortner’s argument is lacking in specificity, but she is very much aware of this and seeks to generally overview this symbolic phenomenon. I will use Ornter as a basis in which to highlight the, presumed, inferiority of the female protagonists the films, due to the constant symbolic
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connection between female sexuality and nature. However, unlike Ortner, I will also be focusing specifically on Japan’s connection to nature, due to its historically unique bond with it.
Lastly, for this chapter, I will use Helene Cixous’s essay Sorties. Cixous argues that female sexuality and its connection to the ocean is a positive thing. She argues that the fluidity and power the ocean harbours, is seen as the perfect metaphor for women’s sexual liberation. I will argue how although this metaphor can be seen as positive in the eyes of Cixous analysis, I argue it contributes to the stereotype that women are more so connected to nature in comparison to men, and by in large I argue this is a negative thing for the liberation of female sexuality.
For my final chapter, I will be using both the first and second chapter to aid my argument that madness and women’s symbolic connection to nature combined creates strong unconscious view upon female sexuality. The main theme I will adopt within this chapter is female hysteria and the connection this historically speaking, has had with nature. Tania Woods’ essay, From Female Sexuality and Hysteria to Feminine Psychology: The Gender of Insanity in Literature, convincingly discusses this connection, and I wish to use this in order to argue that the Roman Porno Reboot does act similarly and the connection to both madness and nature in relation to female sexuality ultimately entraps women and consequently gives them a “false freedom”.
Also, I will be using Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory. She argues that in dominant cinema the camera is used to gaze at women. Not only that, but it is a form of voyeurism. Using this theory, I will discuss how the “rules” the Roman Porno films follow, contributes a male gaze, proposed by Mulvey, evidently fetishizing the female protagonists, which I argue contributes to the women’s negative representations of female sexuality with the use of both madness and nature.
This discussion between the two themes will ultimately shed light, and debunk any notions that these films could or ever were feminist and I encourage others to positively contribute to the true liberation of female sexuality, in any way that they can. But, my ultimate goal is to answer the one question that has constantly been at the forefront of my mind while researching for this thesis, and that is: can liberated female sexuality be represented within a patriarchy, without reference to madness or without symbolically referencing women’s sexuality to nature? And with many examples that contribute against my question, I hope consciousness raising on these subjects will ultimately cancel out the “false freedom” women feel with every aspect of their lives.
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Chapter One- Madness.
‘The most significant of cultural constructions that shape our view of madness is gender. Madness has been perceived for centuries metaphorically and symbolically as a feminine illness and continues to
be gendered into the twenty-first century’ - (Little, 2015, p. 3) What has been a popular, and overused, theme within the arts is the connection between female sexuality and madness (Woods, 2015, p. 1). Japanese cinema, mainly the horror genre, has contributed to this theme. The horror genre, universally, may have made the topic of madness popular but, Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno produced many films that also explored this topic. Namely, as previously mentioned, In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976), Tokyo Decadence (Ryu Murakami, 1992), Sweet Whip (Takashi Ishii, 2013) and most recently, the three films from the Roman Porno reboot. It is important to highlight that the films Anitporno, Wet Woman in the Wind and White Lily are all directed by men. It is unclear as to why Nikkatsu decided to eliminate women from the director’s seat (Severns, 2016), but I would argue it is due to the director’s previous filmography and their depiction of women that swayed the decision.
For example, Sion Sono who wrote and directed the most popular film within the reboot, Antiporno, has had a long directorial history with the theme of female sexuality and its inherent connection to madness. His films such as, Strange Circus (2005), Love Exposure (2008), and Tag (2015). All highlight complex female protagonists while they are on their journey to self-discovery. However, some critics have denounced his films and illustrated the negative representations he uses in relation to female sexuality and liberation (Ng, 2017). Antiporno follows this theme and follows Kyoko, an outgoing, eccentric woman who within the film is herself starring in a Roman Porno. The audience do not know this until the scene is cut by the director, and the eccentric facade Kyoko has been acting evaporates and she turns into a passive and shy young woman. The film represents Kyoko as she enters a state of delirium and throughout, the audience is constantly having to question what is real within the film. Akihiko Shioto, the director of Wet Woman in the Wind, directed Moonlight Whispers (1999) and Harmful Insect (2001). Both films highlight themes of repressed sexual desires within women, the cause being religion or societal pressures. Wet Woman in the Wind follows Kosuke, a man who has fled modern city life, to live in the middle of the forest in the Japanese countryside. He is later pursued by Shiori, a young woman who he unexpectedly meets. After he rejects her advances she makes it her mission to entice Kosuke to be with her sexually. And, lastly Hideo Nakata who is most famous in the Japanese horror genre, focuses mainly on repressed female spirits, see, Ringu (1998) and Chaos (2000).
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Nakata’s films mainly depict what Barbara Creed terms the “monstrous-feminine”, where by under patriarchal order, the monstrous represents the female reproductive system (Creed, 1993)1. But,
collectively Nakata’s previous films highlight troublesome representations of the female body. White Lily, is not a horror film, but correlates many themes from the genre as it follows Haruka, a 27-year-old woman who lives with her pottery teacher, Tokiko. It is later revealed they are lovers and they both spiral into a toxic relationship, that inevitably ends in tragedy. With this in mind, I will attempt to answer the following questions: In what way does female sexuality coincide with madness? Why does madness reoccur in all three films and what is the significance of this in relation to female sexuality? And lastly, does this devalue the “feminist” praise some of the films has received? To begin my analysis, I will discuss Michael Foucault’s The History of Sexuality: Volume 1. Foucault discusses the ways in which Western society has repressed sexuality, which he argues has contributed to the gradual rise of sexuality as discourse. His definition of discourse is explained immaculately by Chris Weedon, he writes that Foucault defined it as:
‘…ways of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and relations between them. Discourses are more than ways of thinking and producing meaning. They constitute the 'nature' of the body, unconscious and conscious mind and emotional life of the subjects they seek to govern (Weedon, 1997, p. 108).
Foucault analysed Western society, and how religion, namely, Catholicism acted as a power system within society, which in turn repressed sexuality and inevitably created the notion of sexuality as discourse. Foucault did not correlate his theory to the East however. Marnia Lazreg in her book, Foucault’s Orient: The conundrum of Cultural Difference, From Tunisia to Japan, discusses Foucault’s life and writes about the visits he made to Japan. His trips were academic (he used it to promote his book History of Madness) and he also took this opportunity to continually stress the cultural differences between Japan and the West (Lazreg, 2017, p. 228). Instead of trying to find similarities between the two cultures, Lazreg argues, ‘Foucault’s thought, and thus his selection of madness, a universal condition, as yet another marker of a divide between the Occident2 and the Orient3 reveals
the degree to which being in Japan had not inflected his view of cultural difference’ (Lazreg, 2017, p. 228). Foucault was used to finding the differences between the two cultures that he missed an
1 For further reading on the monstrous-feminine see, Creeds ground-breaking book, The Monstrous-Feminine:
Film Feminism, Psychoanalysis, 1993.
2 Also known as the Western world. 3 Also known as the Eastern world.
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opportunity to unite the cultural similarities within his work (Lazreg, 2017, p. 229). One aspect of madness I wish to unite through Foucault’s neglect is female hysteria.
The word hysteria in present day, means ‘exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement’ (Oxford Dictionary, 2018), the condition is not assigned to a specific sex, this was inevitably changed by The American Psychiatric Association in 1952. But for thousands of years hysteria had been a female disease as explained by Tania Woods:
‘the term is an abstract noun coming from the Greek hysterikos, which means “of the womb”. It was originally defined as a neurotic condition specific to women. The exact cause of hysteria was not clearly defined, but it was thought to be the psychological manifestation of a disease of the womb’ (Woods, 2015, p. 2).
With this in mind, Sigmund Freud based a lot of his time researching and psychoanalyzing women with hysteria. The historical symptoms involved ‘anxiety, sleeplessness, irritability, nervousness, erotic fantasy, sensations of heaviness in the abdomen, lower pelvic edema, and vaginal lubrication’ (Maines, 1999, p. 8). With this in mind, Asti Hustvedt argues:
‘…while modern medicine no longer talks about hysteria, it nonetheless continues to perpetrate the idea that the female body is far more vulnerable than its male counterpart. Premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression, and “raging hormones” are among the more recent additions to a medical mythology that is centuries old” (Hustvedt, 2011, p. 6).
Freud stated that female hysteria, summarised by R. Gray, was ‘...historically linked to sexuality and to physiological cures: it is seen as a real, physical pathology that is somehow tied to sexual malfunction in women… Repression as a psychological “blockage” related to issues of sexuality’ (Gray, 2010). Repression was the main focus in which Freud tried to understand and deconstruct female hysteria. Foucault discussed this theme of repression, and used it within his theory of sexuality as discourse. With Foucault being an opening gay man, he felt that society repressed sexual fluidity and freedom, in order to restrict and keep a heteronormative social order. He highlights, in order for one to understand why this repression occurred, you must discover who is speaking about sex, he explains:
‘the central issue… is not to determine whether one says yes or no to sex… but account for the fact that it is spoken about, to discover who dies the speaking, the positions and viewpoints from which they speak, the institutions which prompt people to speak about it and which store and distribute the things that are said’ (Foucault, 1978, p. 11).
I argue that with this, the filmic rules put into play by Nikkatsu, represses and demeans female sexuality for the subjectivity of male pleasure (Balmain, 2017). The institution’s talking about sex
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within Japanese society are all run by men. The Roman Porno in the 1970s onwards, were notorious for misogyny and sexual misconduct. So, the representation of female sexuality within the Roman Porno reboot must be analysed and the three films I have chosen to analyse, all represent some sort of sexual repression. Due to the nature of this film (that they are pornographic), I will analyse the stereotypes and negative representations still associated with female sexuality within the Roman Porno and Japanese society today. To themes in which I will discuss within this chapter is freedom and repression. I will analyse each film accordingly to the ways in which it represents female sexuality and how they contribute to the continuing legacy of female hysteria and ultimately contributing to the demeaning attitudes towards the sexual liberation of women.
One aspect of freedom that I will discuss is agency. Chris Barker explains in his book Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, ‘the concept of agency has commonly been associated with notions of: Freedom; Free will; Action; Creativity; Originality [and] the very possibility of change through the actions of free agents’ (Barker, 2003, p. 236). A major theme with Antiporno is Kyoko’s questioning of her own sexual freedom. The family home is used to represent the abnormalities of Japanese society in relation to female sexuality. Within Japanese cinema the dinner table and the family dinner is a popular cinematic trend. During dinner the camera uses a shot reverse middle shot to capture the conversation Kyoko has with her father. Kyoko’s father wears a traditional kimono, which represents the older generations and traditional opinions. Kyoko being a school girl, is wearing her school uniform which represents and refers to the sexualisation of young women in Japan. “Will a man’s genitals enter my genitalia?” Kyoko expressionlessly asks her father. He answers and tells her it will and it will “darken it”. The step mother intervenes and while smiling sweetly says “That’s right. Your genitalia will be tainted, and darkened like mine”. One way in which this focusses on agency and repression is the idea that after Kyoko has sex for the first time she will become “tainted”. She feels the need to ask them why must pornographic films and comic be condemned, because she enjoys reading them. Thy call her indecent, they reiterate that the images are obscene. She highlights their hypocrisy by saying she peeps on them having sex. I argue Kyoko represents the coming freedom subjected to the modern woman Foucault argues:
‘…if sex is repressed, that is, condemned to prohibition, nonexistence, and silence, then the mere fact that one is speaking about it has the appearance of a deliberate transgression. A person who holds forth in such language places himself to a certain extent outside the reach of power; he upsets established law; he somehow anticipates the coming freedom’ (Foucault, 1978, p. 6).
The freedom Kyoko has is limited to what society allows her to have. Linda Williams argues that ‘the constant speaking of sex does not necessarily advance the cause of sexual freedom ’but women need to talk about sex because ‘until recently almost all sexual discourse…has been spoken by men to other
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men’ (Williams, 1989, p. 15). However, her questioning her father’s authority, somewhat, allows her to upset the established law within the household. She is later bought back to “reality” when she tells her parents that she is starring in a Roman Porno. The camera, now handheld, moves quickly and abruptly as the father slaps Kyoko around the face. He grabs her body aggressively he shakes her limp body as he screams in her face. The camerawork represents the lack of power and the instability of his authority over Kyoko. But I also argue this scene represents the catalyst for Kyoko’s hysteria. Dan Hahn and Deborah Borisoof argue that a woman must not squander her sex. They are not free to explore sexually as sex must happen to them ‘so, strong is the guilt that inhibits women sexually, that their sexual longings often can be stated only through violence (Hahn & Borisoff, 1993, p. 256-257). This is because in Japan, as explained by Miya Yoshiko in the book Broken Silence: Voices of Japanese Feminism, ‘the sexual identity of a woman is constructed within the context of her sexual relationship with a male rather than as an integral part of her own being or self’ (Yoshiko, 1997, p. 161) while discussing this she discusses mental health in response to sexual assault in Japan and adds ‘it is the woman who is declared sick, rather that her environment. Her condition is read as a set of symptoms rather than articulations’ (Yoshiko, 1997, p. 165).
The symptoms in which, a woman is represented, not only through representation of Kyoko’s mind but the setting and composition of the film, I argue reiterates to the audience that Kyoko’s mental state has deteriorated. Foucault discusses in his book History of Madness, the use and representation of the asylum. He discusses the Victorian era and the residents within the asylums:
'The world of confinement was home to a strange parade. In the second half of the seventeenth century the venereal, the debauched, the dissolute, blasphemers, homosexuals, alchemists and libertines found themselves on the wrong side of a dividing line, and were thrown together as recluses in asylums destined, in a century or two, to become the exclusive preserve of madness' (Foucault, 2009, p. 101).
Many of the recipients within the asylums were also women who were diagnosed or suspected of having hysteria. Kyoko's studio apartment, I argue resembles an asylum. Though post-modern in style, the room, including the ceiling and floors are painted in a florescent yellow. A blue satin bed stands to the right-hand side of the room. The window residing beside it has the beaming sun projecting its way through the blinds. The long shot shows Kyoko, naked lying face down on the bed. The shadow on her body resemble bars, much like a prison cell. Next to the window stands a statue of a bird within a cage. The apartment is Kyoko’s cage. The bathroom, which is at the far right of the room, has no doors and it open for everyone to see. The walls, floor and ceiling are painted a deep blood red. It only has a toilet and a sink and contains no bath or shower for her to bathe. The asylum refers to patients of mental health issues. A fitting analogy is in A Clinical Lesson with Doctor Charcot at the Salpetriere,(see, figure one) the famous painting by Pierre Andre Broullet, in 1887, was a source of
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inspiration for Freud as he had it hanging in his study. It showcases a hysterical woman being shown to many male doctors. Her symptoms were shown in order for the doctors to believe that this was an actual disease women suffer. The portrait I argue is very similar to the scene in which the
Figure one- A Clinical Lesson with Doctor Charcot at the Salpetriere.
Figure two- (Left) the director and crew after the scene is cut. (Right) Kyoko standing in front of them as they observe her.
director calls out cut to Kyoko, in Antiporno (figure two). The hysterical woman was a victim of patriarchy, her sexual repression came from an internalized fear that men had forced upon them. Mary Jane Sherfey argues ‘the sex drive of the human female is naturally and innately stronger than that of the male, and it once posed a powerfully destabilizing threat to the possibility of social order’ (Sherfey, 1968, p. 405). The fear men harbour highlights their irrationality towards something they don’t understand, hence why women have been the subject matter for many male doctors in history. Furthermore, I argue that the director and crew within Antiporno represent women without agency. There freewill is non-existent. Kyoko is playing a character and once the director screams cut, she acts
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submissive and timid in response to the men. The portrait I argue represents Kyoko’s past and present. Women have been subjected to this abuse for thousands of years and so men find it incredible hard to represent female sexuality without referring back to hysteria. Both women are subjected to judgement, both are humiliated by the scrutiny of men and both are deemed unable to represent or control their own true sexuality (hence why both are diagnosed or represented as hysterical).
Similarly, to Kyoko, Haruka in White Lily represents a woman who is more stereotypically passive in relation to her sexuality, I argue Haruka represents and harbours much of the stereotypes that many of the 1970s Roman Porno films used in order to represent female sexuality. In comparison to Kyoko and her apartment resembling the asylum, Haruka’s environment represents the life of the mother/wife figure in Japan. The house in which she lives is very condensed. The dining room table is the main feature of the room as it sits in the middle of the frame of every shot. The colours are beige and the wood used for the furniture blends into the background. The décor is formed of a black and white room divider, it has a uniform check pattern on it and creates the illusion that the room is a cage. The majority of the furniture residing in the room has a repeated militant square design, which I argue enhances the
the feeling of entrapment.
feeling that Haruka is trapped within the house (figure three). I also will add that the toxic relationship in which Haruka and Tokiko have allowed them both to feel entrapment, but due to Haruka always being at home and tending to the household chores she is the character in which I want to predominantly talk about in this chapter. The living room is strategically used by the director to create a sense of repression between the characters. What I mean by this, both Haruka and Tokiko have repressed their traumatic memories and allowed their relationship to manifest within the toxicity of the house. Many instances of the film confirm my observations, Tokiko uses her sexuality to inflict emotional turmoil upon Haruka. Haruka’s symptoms of hysteria develop more frequently when a new male student enters the house and Tokiko invites him to stay. Haruka’s body buckles as she is screaming and her body spams, she cannot control her body, the handheld camera follows her down as she falls on her front, the room is dark and uninviting as the sound of screams pierces the audience’s ears.
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This analogy is the starting point to Foucault’s “hysterization of women’s bodies” whereby the mother, or in other words the “nervous woman” represents the most obvious and stereotypical type of hysterization amongst women (Foucault, 1978, p.104). Foucault argues that hysteria, is one of the ways in which female sexuality is regulated and repressed, therefore the body is used to control the ways in which women can explore their sexuality, he contends that:
‘…a threefold process whereby the feminine body was analysed-qualified and disqualified-as being thoroughly saturated with sexuality; whereby it was integrated into the sphere of medical practices, by reason of a pathology intrinsic to it; whereby, finally, it was placed in organic communication with the social body (whose regulated fecundity it was supposed to ensure), the family space (of which it had to be a substantial and functional element), and the life of children (which it produced and had to guarantee, by virtue of a biological-moral responsibility lasting through the entire period of the children's education): the Mother, with her negative image of "nervous woman," constituted the most visible form of this hysterization’ (Foucault, 1978, p. 104).
Foucault argues that the hysterical patients were strategically positioned back into the family space, this allowed men to continue to regulate and control the female body. How I think Haruka’s sexuality is regulated is through the controlling nature of Tokiko. One important factor to highlight is the fact that the relationship they have is a homosexual one. Therefore, their relationship does not represent the heteronormative expectations of societal values. I argue this is why Tokiko punishes Haruka. Within Japanese cinema/television lesbian characters have been marginalized, James Valentines argues ‘…Japanese televisions dramas treat sexual relations between female characters as stages that involve minimal identification and are destined to be phased out. Where more explicitly identified, lesbians are marked out as horrific or exotic’ (Valentine, 1997, p.59). The same characteristics can be found within White Lily. Haruka’s sexuality is never identified within the film, she admits that Tokiko is the only person she loves and that her sexual attraction to women only goes as far as Tokiko. The hysteria in this film is represented as a punishment. Both Tokiko and Haruka do not admit their sexuality, because they feel heteronormative society would not accept them. With this the film highlights the fears they harbour. The main example of this is the rape of Haruka, which was orchestrated by Tokiko.
Hysteria manifests itself differently within the film Wet Woman in the Wind however. Shiori is one of mystery. The first scene in which she is introduced. A long shot pans right as Kosuke sits by the sea. Shiori in the distance, is riding a bike at full speed towards the ocean. She instantaneously crashes into the waves. The camera stays static, much like Kosuke as he watches her silently. She climbs out of the sea dripping wet, resulting in her taking her top off to reveal her breasts (figure four). She is a woman that aims to sexually tease men, which she highlights throughout the entirety of the film. She
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is someone that uses her power over Kosuke to withhold sex, until they both cannot take the tension anymore. Not only is Shiori’s sexuality constructed in a way that represents her to have false sexual freedom, but I argue that it is enforced by the “madness” that she harbours as a character. In the original Roman Porno
films, the women were represented as passive beings. This would amount to films focusing solely on the rape of a women, sadomasochism or even murder. But, the difference between the original and the Roman Porno reboot is the two storyline structures are, for example highlighted within Wet Woman in the Wind, the director, Shiota has made it clear that Shiori is not strong enough to physically assault Kosuke, therefore she conjures up a plan in order to entice him into her games. I argue that the “game” is a symptom of her madness, which I suggest is not only symptomatic to acute hysteria but, she also exhibits a severe case of obsession. Which is defined as ‘[a] thought, impulse, or image that is unwanted, invasive and repetitive and presents itself with frequency and appears to be irrational and uncontrollable’ (Mind Your Head, 2018). For example, just before Shiori leaves Kosuke after their first meeting, she sternly says to him “You know, I’ve locked onto you. Don’t think you can escape me. You can’t”. In my opinion, this harbours many obsessive qualities. She has been ignored and she wants revenge. Her obsession with getting even with Kosuke is unnecessary and dangerous.
Shiori’s obsession is highlighted with all its extremities within one particular scene. Kosuke’s friend from Tokyo, turns up uninvited as she is touring the country to promote one of his most famous plays. On the first nights they stay, the friend entices Kosuke into sex. She is overcome with lust as she forces Kosuke to kiss her. The hand-held camera allows the audience to see her body as she takes off her dress, is moves rapidly to capture every frantic movement she makes. Kosuke lays unresponsive as she does so. As the sex moves forward, a flash light fills the room. The friend is unfazed and continues her venture, but Kosuke is watching out for who it is. Shiori wanders in, naked and silent. The camera is at a low angle shot resembling Kosuke’s eye level. This represents the power she has in this situation. She then allows Kosuke a momentary engagement with her, she holds the friend between them both as Kosuke kisses her neck. She then forcefully kicks Kosuke out from the hut allowing her to finish the job that he started. Shiori dismisses Kosuke, similar and as aggressive as he did to her in
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her time of need at the beginning of the film. Outside Kosuke sees his friend’s assistant crouched down with her hands covering her ears as she tries to black out the moans of her boss. Kosuke then takes it upon himself to comfort her, this is in order for him to have sex with her. She is the complete opposite of Shiori in every way, she is conservative, shy and sexually inexperienced, I argue she represents the women from the original Roman Porno movies. Kosuke forcefully rapes her within this scene, there is
nothing consensual about the act, but she stays quiet and in the morning, she decides to stay with Kosuke and in the hopes of being his wife. This highlights how patriarchy still has a predetermined stereotype of women who are sexually assaulted and illustrates the ways in which men manipulate women physically and can do this within a society that doesn’t punish them for it, in my opinion the Roman Porno is a tool to glorify it. Williams continually argues within pornography that ‘… for women, one constant of the history of sexuality has been a failure to imagine their pleasures outside a dominant male economy’ (Williams, 1989, p. 4). Pornography in the West is an industry dominated by male misogyny and patriarchy which is highlighted by many anti-pornography feminists, the most notable in the field being, Andrea Dworkin and Catherine Mackinnon3. Although the films I have been talking about are not hardcore pornography films, they still highlight and manifest within Williams’ arguments. The assistants “pleasures” are forced upon her via male dominance and the idea that she has been mistreated or physically assaulted does not come into the equation, because after all the male protagonist is more interested in this sexual gratification and nothing else.
Maybe stereotypes in Western cultures suggest that the woman must be “mad” in order for her to stay with someone of that character and I feel that stereotype is highlighted here for the audience to look down on the assistant. Due to her character being the complete opposite of Shiori’s, she is represented in a way that Laura Mulvey argues to be, ‘in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female’ (Mulvey, 1989, p. 62). In this scenario however Shiori is very much active in the storyline, but the assistant highlights the passive state. However, both are confined and judged on their mannerisms, both I would argue have some mental issues which have manifested themselves in response to the patriarchal and misogynistic views women have to endure about their own sexuality. The issue of madness here highlights this disparity and effectively endorses Mulvey’s argument. One could argue that Shiori character can be interpreted as an unconventionally passive woman, this being the case because every action she takes towards representing the active woman only happens within the film because she wants to humiliate Kosuke.
3 For further readings see; Pornography: Men Possessing Women (Dworkin, 1981) or Towards a Feminist
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Foucault’s argument constitutes to the attitudes connected to female sexuality in today’s modern age. Foucault argued that in Western culture, Catholicism and confession were a way in which sexuality was regulated and talked about in relation to sin, which he calls “knowledge of power”. Williams uses this to analyse the gender disparity within hardcore pornography, while Mulvey uses psychoanalysis to prove that classical narrative cinema creates a male gaze. Foucault also thought that psychoanalysis contributed to sexuality as discourse. But, I argue that all three theories can come together and highlight how Antiporno, Wet Woman in the Wind and White Lily are representing sexually liberated women to have some sort of madness. This is done through the language of cinema, predominantly the rules in place for the directors when making the Roman Porno, but also this contributes and highlights that female sexuality is still used to aid and endorse sexuality as discourse. It is something that women cannot truly have when living in a patriarchy, and something they cannot have while starring in a Roman Porno, being directed by a man and being subjected to madness shows that the stereotypes, the disparity and the audience being targeted at women, has been proved impossible under the rules of a roman porno and through the disregard for real women putting their own ideas and experiences into the films. Madness. Hysteria and obsession has haunted women for thousands of years, this chapter has highlighted why madness as a trope in regard to female sexuality, degrades female sexuality and inevitably highlights to the audience that if women all were sexually liberal, would all women be mad? It creates uncertainty and fear among the audience, hence forth institutionalises female sexuality and continues Foucault notion that sexuality has turned and will inevitably remain a discourse. Within this chapter I have explored the ways in which the three films carry on the theory that Foucault created to discuss how sexuality has become repressed and institutionalized. In the next chapter I will discuss how the symbolic connection to nature has a negative impact on the representation of female sexuality.
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Chapter Two- Nature.
‘The word “female” evokes a saraband of images: an enormous round egg snatching and castrating the agile sperm... the dog in heat running through back alleys, leaving perverse smells in her wake;
...
And the most splendid wildcats, the tigress, lioness, and panther, lie down slavishly under the male’s imperial embrace, inert, impatient, shrewd, stupid, insensitive, lewd, fierce, and humiliated’ (de Beauvoir, 1949, p. 41).
As I have discussed in the previous chapter, madness plays an oppressive part in the representation of female sexuality. The second theme I wish to introduce in this thesis is the symbolism of nature in relation to female sexuality. I will now refer to the study from Sherry B. Ortner, titled Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture.? She argues, with three points, that universally in every culture, all women are seen as inferior to men due, to her innate connection with nature. Ortner is aware in her analysis that some cultures do have a harmonious relationship with nature. However, she concludes that generally speaking, all societies no matter their connection to nature, have this unconscious opinion towards women. With Japan, being a culture with a uniquely respectful connection to nature, I wish to discuss how Ortner’s argument can still apply here. Masao Watanabe explains:
‘…in the Western idea, man was not an ordinary part of nature. He was a specially privileged creature, and nature was subordinate to him and even to his sin… Nature for the Japanese was different. It was an object not of his mastery, but of his appreciation and was even his companion’ (Watanabe, 1974, p. 280).
Watanabe briefly explains that this has significantly changed in modern Japan with the rapid integration of technology within society (Watanabe, 1974, p. 282). This meant that individuals have become more detached from reality, inevitably causing a neglect to nature in some parts of Japan, namely, city areas like Tokyo. I also argue, with the integration of Confucianism in Japan during the
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Tokugawa period (1603-1868), it inevitably contributed to this gradual disconnection from nature. Confucianism was a Chinese philosophy, created and taught by Confucius (Confucius Institute, 2018). It is defined as ‘the ethical system of Confucius, emphasizing moral order, the humanity and virtue of China’s ancient rulers, and gentlemanly education’ (Collins, 2018). Confucianism’s contribution to disconnection from nature developed because, before it was introduced into society, Japan looked at Buddhism philosophy, which stresses that human beings must have a harmonious relationship with nature. Whereas Confucianism is an individualistic philosophy with made the father and the family unit, the main source of importance (Varley, 2000, p. 170).
The gentlemanly education extremely marginalised women in comparison to before and this teaching is still, in many ways, an extensive part of Japanese society today (Garcia, 2010, p. 39). However, if women’s connection to nature highlights their inferiority (argued by Ortner), I suggest that the modern changes in attitudes towards nature in Japan, combined with the integration of Confucianism, has marginalised women not only in society and culture, has ultimately contributed to the negative representations of women within Japanese cinema. The Roman Porno reboot, I argue highlights and represents this disparity. Furthermore, the three arguments Ortner introduces are as follows:
‘(1) woman’s body and functions, more involved most of the time with “species life,” seem to place her closer to nature, in contrast with man’s physiology, which frees him more completely to take up the projects of culture; (2) woman’s body and its functions place her in social roles that in turn are considered to be at a lower order of the cultural process than man’s and (3) woman’s traditional social roles, imposed because of her body and its functions, in turn give her a different psychic structure, which, like her physiological nature and her social roles, is seen as being closer to nature’ (Ortner, 1974, pp. 73-74).
The third point will be discussed in length in Chapter three, so for this chapter I will solely focus on points one and two. The female body seems to be the inherent theme in which Ortner bases her argument and within this chapter I will discuss the significance of the metaphorical associations the female body and nature have with each other, within the three films Antiporno, Wet Woman in the Wind and White Lily. In order for one to understand the significance of symbols and metaphors within cultural contexts, I will introduce The Interpretation of Cultures by Charles Geertz. This book was the first book dedicated to the field of symbolic anthropology. The field of study researches ‘…the way people understand their surroundings, as well as the actions and utterances of the other members of their society’ (The University of Alabama, 2009). Geertz argues that symbols are the “vehicles of culture” (Geertz, 1973, cited in Ortner, 1983, p.129). With this he proclaims that symbols allow members of a society to communicate their worldview to each other and to future generations. I aim to use the symbolic image of the female body represented in the films to highlight the negative
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connection women have been subjected to in relation to their sexuality. Which in turn contributes to the universal opinion that women are inferior, as Ortner argues, because they have, for centuries, had an innate connection to nature.
To being I would like to discuss the use of pottery within White Lily. The potter’s wheel is used as a sexual metaphor. In many Hollywood romantic comedies, namely, the film Ghost (Jerry Zucker, 1990), the symbolic reference to the making of a vase on a pottery wheel, has simulated romance and sensuality to a mainstream audience. White Lily, uses a similar element within its film to highlight the erotic impact this can have. Haruka, is using the pottery wheel to practise her craft. The beginning shot, is a close up of two white lilies as they grow outwards away from each other. The background is an ombré pink and white. The white lily, in Japanese pop culture is a symbol for a lesbian love. It was made popular within the LGBTQ manga scene in the early 2000s. In Japan, the word for lily is yuri, and ‘rhetorically, the word yuri implies lesbianism, and broadly includes both women who are sexually attracted to other women, as well as any form of female-female spiritual bond’ (Nagaike, 2010). The beginning of the film thus portrays to the audience what they are about to see on screen. The scene uses a cut transition to a middle shot of Haruka, making a clay pot, slowly and precisely. The camera pans out as she finishes and Tokiko stumbling down the stairs from the right of the shot. The significance of the pottery wheel and Tokiko being Haruka’s pottery teacher, highlights the symbolism of the art of pottery itself. Moira Vincentelli argues that ‘the use of clay and especially the vessel as metaphor for the female body or the womb is a recurring theme in ceramic history’ (Vincentelli, 2000, p. 244). It is clear within the films that the directors attempt to fetishize the pottery. This is done by a series of close ups of Haruka caressing the clay as she practises her pottery skill. Tokiko watches Haruka as her fingers glide over the clay.
As Vincentelli argues, the womb is a reoccurring theme within ceramic history. This brings my argument back in correlation with Ortner, where by the female body is be default connected to nature, due to her biological functions. If one thinks of the womb, one must refer to of the mother. Haruka in the opening scene seems to resemble this figure. In Japan there is a symbolic quote that referred to women after the introduction of Confucianism called “good wife, wise mothers” (Sekiguchi, 2010, p. 96). Haruka connection to this quote stems from the very moment the film first introduces her. This is due to her constant smothering towards Tokiko. One, Tokiko is drinking beer in the morning, which Haruka comments on because she is worried for her wellbeing. Two, she needs her dress zipped up which Haruka does for her without question and third, she asks her when she will be home. This scene lasts approximately three minutes and Haruka has been able to stipulate all of her angst and worry for Tokiko in one condensed scene. Haruka is wearing a drab grey apron and long sleeved buttoned up shirt. Her hair is long and pulled back into a low ponytail. She stays at home and prepares the dinners,
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cleans the house and restocks the fridge. Her and Tokiko’s relationship resembles one of a housewife or a mother looking after her child, the lines are very much blurred throughout the film.
The female body within this film highlights many stereotypes, not only for women who are lesbian, but also for women who are bisexual. Tokiko takes the role of the father, she is the breadwinner, she is very aggressive and power fuelled and Haruka represents a passive, oppressed woman. The idea that a lesbian story must fit this dynamic shows the lack of understanding, but most importantly the symbols used in order to highlights the romance and the female body, restricts the film from defying stereotypes and in response, it degrades the sexual freedom of each, Tokiko and Haruka. It also conveys to the audience, who may not be a part of the LGBT community themselves, that this is how homosexual relationships play out. Connecting the LGBT community collectively devalues their status within patriarchy. One thing in which surprised me was in the Roman Porno, the director can subject the audience to the rape of Haruka, but when she is having sex with Tokiko the scene is surrounded by white lilies, one extreme close-up even goes as far as to represent the petal of the lily as the clitoris. I understand this to be in correlation with the virgin/ whore analogy. Haruka is suggested to still being a virgin as she has not been penetrated by a man, so the white lilies I argue represent her virginity, her body hasn’t been touched or abused by a mans touch and in order for Tokiko to truly punish Haruka, she makes this happen, by having her raped.
One other theme in which the films highlight is the virgin and the whore dichotomy. Throughout Antiporno the themes relating to female sexuality, is the pressures of one being a virgin or one being a whore. The female characters feel a constant need to clarify and label themselves within these two categories. Mainly, Kyoko feels a deep pressure to lose her virginity because she has a constant sexual urge in which she wants to explore. But societal and family opinions about girls being sexually active before marriage is still unconsciously frowned upon by some, in Japanese society. Kyoko feels guilty when subjected with sexual desire, that it involuntarily forces her to throw up whenever her libido rises. The virgin/whore dichotomy is a continuous stereotype depicted onto women within patriarchal societies. Geertz argues that the sexuality of man and ‘…erotic impulses are titillated by a series of devious artifices of which there is, evidently, no end; but they are kept from running riot by an insistence on the private performance of explicitly sexual activities’ (Geertz, 1973, p. 80). My interpretation of this statement, I argue can be connected to the virgin/whore dichotomy. Hahn and Borisoff argue ‘our language confirms that even today: when a woman first has intercourse, she LOSES her virginity; the man, through the same act, WINS her maidenhood’(Hahn & Borisoff, 1993, p. 256). This dynamic of power an man has over a woman’s sexuality, Williams suggests ‘if phallic sexuality is contaminated by power, this tactic seems to say, if it is essentially violent and preserve, then female sexuality shall be defined as its opposite…a pure and natural pleasure uncontaminated by power’(Williams, 1989, p.20). Connection this to Geertz argument the power men have over women
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seems inevitable within a patriarchal society. The symbolism of nature proposed by Ortner suggest that the power disparity allows women to be seen as inferior due to her biological functions and thus allows men to associate her with nature.
One scene in particular I feel highlights this analogy, between the two statements is the scene in which Kyoko in Antiporno has sexual intercourse for the first time. Naomi Wolf in her ground-breaking book Promiscuities argues ‘this gap in women’s culture is particularity notable… If one is hard pressed to locate narratives of female sexual awakening, one can scarcely escape the male counterpart’ (Wolf, 1997, pp. 6-7), this is present within the following scene. It follows Kyoko, as she has just told her father and step-mother that she is starring in a Roman Porno (mentioned in chapter two). She leaves the family home in a fit of rage, and finds herself searching for something. A young man walks past and she asks him if he wants to have sex with her. The camera is focused on his face from a middle shot. He slowly looks Kyoko up and down. She is wearing her school uniform, she is panting and frantic as she waits for his answer. The shot transitions to a forest as he walks ahead of her, she follows slowly
behind him with her head down. The composition of the shot highlighted the dominance the man has over Kyoko at this vulnerable stage of her life. As he throws her to the ground the blatant disrespect and inferiority he projects onto Kyoko is apparent. Instead of listening to Kyoko’s plea to him to be gentle with her, he says to her, as the camera is at a static middle shot, the forest behind them looks vast and eerie. She lays in the middle of the shot as he towers above her fragile body and starts ripping her
underwear off. He asks her, “you’re a virgin?” he doesn’t wait for a response and aggressively proclaims to her, “I’ll be so brutal you’ll never forget”. With this in mind, the brute force of the male towards Kyoko suggests that his power comes from the fact that she is seen as a weaker in the eyes of the patriarchy, also within the integration of Confucianism, women were treated as second class citizens (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2018).
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I argue that the rape scene is used to highlight man’s power over nature. He uses the forest as cover for the crime he is about to commit (figure five). The connection between nature and man in this scene shows the lack of power Kyoko has over her body and highlights the negative connection she and all women have with nature. Ortner argues:
‘…woman is being identified with – or, if you will, seems to be a symbol of – something that every culture devalues, something that every culture defines as being of a lower order of existence than itself. … and that is “nature” in the most generalized sense. Every culture, or, generically, “culture,” is engaged in the process of generating and sustaining systems of meaningful forms (symbols, artefacts, etc.) by means of which humanity transcends the givens of natural existence, bends them to its purposes, [and] controls them in its interest’ (Ortner, 1974, pp. 71-72).
The man in this scene is taking control of Kyoko. He brutally rapes her because he wants her to remember it for the rest of her life. Instead of mutual pleasure he opts for pain and trauma. He wants her first time to be traumatic so that whenever another man touches her body, she will remember the brutality of his actions. Within this scene the use of the forest and woman’s symbolic connection with it, represents Kyoko’s weakness.
Arne Kalland in his chapter, Culture in Japanese Nature, argues that Japan’s symbolic connection to nature is misconnected within Western culture and that Japan and the West have similar views and actions towards nature, one being that man tries to dominant it, instead of harmoniously living amongst it (Kalland, 1995, p. 243). The forest universally symbolises many things, but in this scene, I argue it represents ‘…deciduous forests and their seasonal cycles of falling and growing leaves, or new growth sprouting from the base of burnt or cut trunks, may have induced people to regard trees as symbols for an eternal and indestructible life force’ (Crews, 2003, p. 37). This analogy can be seen within this scene, as the composition of the shot emphasises the forest as an important setting in which Kyoko remembers this event within her memory. The floor in which she is thrown onto is a bed of autumn leaves, each are different shades of brown. The feeling of isolation and entrapment emulates the scene as the man rapes her. Being surrounded by trees represents the “indestructible life force” the man within society represents, not only over Kyoko, but to all women within society. This is evident because with such an act, conviction of rape, and women coming forward about their attackers is so rare in Japan, he knows he can get away with it (Henshall, 1999, p. 39). Ortner also illustrates:
‘…shifting our image of the culture/nature relationship … we envision culture in this case as a small clearing within the forest of the larger natural system…We can begin to understand how a single system of cultural thought can often assign to woman completely
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polarized and apparently contradictory meanings, since extremes, as we say, meet (Ortner, 1974, p. 85).
I argue the rape highlights the sexual dominance in which he feels in comparison to the power Kyoko has over her own sexuality and power in society. Ortner, as mentioned before, implies that the connection women are subjected to when compared to nature, contributes to the underlying opinion that nature is a negative symbol to be associated with. Continuing with the film Antiporno, one of the first scenes from the film, is a long shot of Kyoko lying face down on her blue satin bed. Her pink underwear is wrapped around her knees. As mentioned in the previous chapter the shadows laying over her body represent entrapment and isolation. It only surfaces for the audience that this entrapment runs deeper than the apartment when, the shot cuts from a middle shot of Kyoko’s face, followed by a close-up of her bedside table, where resides a gecko inside a clear glass bottle (figure six). The sounds of the gecko fill the audience’s ears as it breaths deeply. The gecko has been put inside the bottle and left to grow. As it grew older it’s body was then unable to escape the glass bottle, leaving it unable to move, but only able to watch as life floats by. A torture chamber would best fit this description. Kyoko later on in the scene exclaims “freedom torments this nation’s women!”. The gecko acts as a metaphor for female
Figure six- The gecko that resides on Kyoko’s bed side table.
sexuality in Japan. Kyoko is the human equivalent of the gecko, trapped inside a place she cannot leave. Cruelly so, she is constantly tormented by the fact that she cannot escape the inescapable, being a woman. That being said, her sexuality is not free for her to explore, but is controlled by numerous misogynistic factors. Kate Millett in her book, Sexual politics argues ‘…sexuality [for women] was considered a force for freedom while being shackled and distorted and channelled in twisted directions by patriarchal control’ (Millett, 2016, p.1). One of these ‘twisted’ channels I argue is the connection women have to the natural world.
Helene Cixous, on the other hand, views female sexuality’s connection to nature as a positive, and seemingly, empowering phenomenon. Following on from this point, I would like to discuss the beginning of Wet Woman in the Wind. After Kosuke travels to the local dock, the camera pans left to reveal something coming towards him in the distance. As previously mentioned, it is Shiori. She is on
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a bicycle, heading towards the sea at full speed. As the camera pans to follow her movements, she crashes into the water. The crashes of the waves envelop her body as she disappears into the depths. Kosuke watches in bewilderment. If I now refer to Helen Cixous, I will quote from her ground-breaking essay, Sorties, she argues:
‘…the ocean as a metaphor for female sexuality; unlike the masculine trait of fortifying the self against invasion, female consciousness oozes out beyond the self to embrace the world. Women feel more connected to nature and the cosmos…since they are part of a continuum, an ‘endless body, without “end”’ (Cixous, cited in Reynolds & Press, 1996, p.
284).
She argues that this connection to nature and the cosmos allows women to experience more fluidity within the natural world. However, in her essay Ecriture Feminine, she argues for women to create a feminine text, in order for this to happen she rejects repressive binaries. The most patriarchal and restrictive being ‘man/woman, theoretical/creative, nature/culture, and inside/outside’ (Mambrol, 2016). I agree with this argument, the “culture/nature’ binary that categorically separates gender allows for patriarchy to create an inferior meaning towards women, hence why Ortner argues that this binary
and women’s innate connection to nature is actually digressive for women and continues to suppress them in to subordination.
Therefore, the ocean in this scene is used to represent Shiori’s destructive power. This metaphor Cixous highlights in relation to female sexuality, suggest that a woman must ‘embrace’ the natural world. However, Shiori uses the natural world, in order for her to gain the attention of Kosuke. Who has continually ignored her presence from her first encounter with him. I argue this because, her aim within the film is to make Kosuke sorry for ignoring her. Her one goal is to follow and obsess over a man she has just met. In the composition of the shot, after Shiori has crashes into the sea, the long shot shows, in the far distance, a crane and construction underway. This represents rejuvenation and progression. In comparison, the ocean, I argue does not represent female consciousness, it represents Shiori’s unpredictable and dangerous manner. Disastrously, in 2011, Japan was hit by one of the most destructive tsunami’s in its history, causing 210 billion dollars in damages (Lloyd Parry, 2017) and ever since, people in Japan have developed a collective anxiety about the sheer power of the sea (Henshall, 2012, p. 188).
The theme of the ocean continues to resonate with Shiori as she continues to follow Kosuke after he refuses to acknowledge her existence. With an awkward silence lingering, she sings, what sounds like a nursery rhyme. The lyrics she sings to Kosuke are: “one day by the A-B-Sea, a crab grabbed my
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peepee, ow, ow, let me go! This sausage is mine now!”. What is interesting to note is, Cixous, following on from the quote above, ends it with, ‘…where masculine sexuality ‘gravitates around the penis’’ (Cixous, cited in Reynolds & Press, 1996, p. 284). The song I argue represents male anxiety in relation to the female embodying castration. This derived from Sigmund Freud, but it shows that Kosuke, after constantly rejecting Shiori, harbours this castration anxiety, that is ‘the fear of suffering an injury or loss of the genitals… There persists a fear of losing the penis, the very idea of which makes a man feel weak and emasculated’ (Nugent, 2013). Kosuke’s emasculation becomes clear when his friend, the theatre teacher, wants to have sex with him. He says no many times, but her persistence causes him to grab her wrists and spin her onto her back. The middle shot encapsulates his dominance as he towers over her body. He then looks her in the eyes and says he would rape her if she carried on. She laughs off his threat and tells him to do it. He immediately throws her to the side, defeated that his power and the freedom of his sexuality are being tested.
How this connects to the symbolic nature of female sexuality is through the use of dysfunctional sexuality portrayed throughout the female characters within the film. It allows Kosuke to reinvent his own sexuality. The example above could be construed by the sheer power men have over female sexuality. If we refer back to the metaphor of the ocean and how I argue this negatively embodies female sexuality, Niko Saito argues that; ‘…for man, water represents a mother’s affection. This is not exclusive to either Japanese or Western cultures. Water has always been the symbol of the mother… Life began in the ocean; in amniotic fluid we recapture the history of life’ (Saito, Cited in Odent, 2014, p. 20). Satio’s analysis brings my argument back to Ortner, whereby the ocean connects a woman back to her biological functions and therefore connecting female body to motherhood. This is not inherently negative for women to be associated with motherhood, but Ortner argues that if men are more connected to culture due to their status in society:
‘...thus culture (i.e. every culture) at some level of awareness asserts itself to be not only distinct from, but superior to nature, and that sense of distinctiveness and superiority rest precisely on the ability to transform- to “socialize” and “culturalize”- nature’ (Ortner, 1974, p. 73).
What she means by this statement is, man being the superior being, are the ones that use their power, over nature, to culturalize it. In this instant Ortner is talking about patriarchal society which is combined with laws, religions etc. all created by men. Due to man’s power over nature, this in turn gives men the capacity to subject women to a life of inferiority. This highlights the dominance a man has within society and how they can use their influence to create an internalised misogyny against women.
With both Saito and Ortner’s arguments in mind, the image of the mother, within the metaphor of the ocean, personifies a stereotypes female sexuality. The very first moment Shiori crashes into Kosuke’s
