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.  

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.

McDonald, Keiko. "Ozu's Tokyo Story: Simple Means for Complex Ends." The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 17 (1982): 19-39. JSTOR.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/489426>.

In her analysis of Tokyo Story, Keiko McDonald suggests that Ozu provides three possible reactions to the changing world.  The first, shown by Shukichi, Tomi, and Noriko, depicts a saddened acceptance of change.  They are clearly disappointed by new values, but manage to continue their lives calmly.  The second reaction is shown through the three oldest children, Koichi, Shige, and Keizo.  They take the changing world for granted and passively go with the flow.  Finally, the youngest child, Kyoko, represents a denial of modern changes.

It does not seem fair to suggest that one of these points-of-view is better than another, and it is easy to see the reasoning behind each opinion.  While each philosophy is certainly subjective, McDonald astutely points out that Ozu aligns himself with the first group's view of the world.  Throughout the film, he pushes his audience to sympathize with Shukichi and Tomi's loneliness.  At the same time, viewers come to love Noriko who gives her full attention to the elderly couple despite not even being blood related.  On the other hand, the three oldest children are depicted as cold and selfish.  From a completely neutral position, it is not fair to blame them for their inattentiveness towards their parents; the children each have busy lives of their own, complete with children or time consuming professions.  Yet, at the end of the film, one cannot help but dislike them.

By aligning himself with the parents, Ozu shows himself to be a reflection of his protagonists.  He knows modernity is producing significant changes around him, and just like Shukichi at the end of the film, he is forced to accept the alterations in society.

Nakao, Keiko. "Sociological Work in Japan." Annual Review of Sociology 24 (1998): 499-516. JSTOR.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/223491>.

Keiko Nakao writes about the changing family structure following World War II.  The traditional family unit, known as ie, consisted of grandparents, a son and wife, and their children.  In 1947, however, Japanese laws were revised and no longer recognized the ie as a legal entity.  From here, Americanized nuclear families became more common in Japanese society.  While the nuclear family unit may seem typical to most contemporary viewers, the transition from ie to smaller families fragmented and separated traditional social roles.

Tokyo Story is essentially about the disbanding of the ie.  While the division of family is catalyzed by urbanization, the end of the ie familial structure is largely responsible for the the unwinding of the film's family.  In a symbolic scene, Noriko and the parents stand at the top of a building looking over Tokyo.  Noriko points across the city in different directions to show the parents where their children live.  Besides demonstrating the physical distance between the members of the family, these scene places Tokyo at the center of the detachment, making the city a central character in the film. 

This lack of ie which Nakao refers to is apparent throughout the film.  Traditionally, the son's wife would take care of the grandparents as they get old; with everyone separated in Tokyo, however, this is no longer possible.  Additionally, the lack of ie is shown when the parents are sent to a seaside spa.  The children give up their responsibility of caregivers and pay for someone else to entertain their parents on the vacation.  Had film taken place before the war with the ie still existing as the conventional family unit, the parents would not have been neglected.

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.

    The article “New Mythology of Crime”, by John G. Cawelti examines the major popularity and acclaim associated with movie “The Godfather” and the reasons historically and socially for it rise to prominence in the minds of American entertainment consumers.

    People throughout history have been fascinated with crime, especially violent crime. In its earliest example we have the Illiad and several works of Shakespeare. This article takes a look at the progression of man’s fascination with crime or violence and how the development of the crime myth has has been shaped as a result the way in which the public identifies with character of the criminal.

    Cawelti examines the possibility that “The Godfather” popularity and renown can be accredited not only to what he describes as “Skillful writing, striking and emotionally involving characters and situation, and a powerfully unified action”, but also to the creation of a new type of crime mythology. He goes on to describe the development of the crime myth throughout history and shows its departure from the traditional dichotomy of moral good and sin towards dynamics that place the criminal in the role of the main character. Several factors influenced the development of the crime myth throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Among these are the development of the detective story, which helped to create a sort of intrigue towards stories of crime and criminal activity. Romanticized criminal characters such as Robin hood and Jesse James also developed during the 19^th and 20^th as well as a deeper insight into the criminal mind through the fields of psychology and sociology.

    A unique aspect of “The Godfather” was the importance and imagery of the family to refer to a criminal organization. This conceit began a new type of association with the criminal character, a sort of understanding or identification with character that was never so prevalent in the crime myth previously. Also, “The Godfather” introduced a sense of awe or fascination with the power and respect of the criminal organization as a whole. The combination of these factors are clearly evident in the film as various parts of the movie are defined by family events, whether it is the wedding of Vito Corleone’s daughter or the baptism of Michael Corleone’s godson, the criminal activities are consistently connected directly with the family. The development of these new conceits is just one of the factors that set “The Godfather” apart as unique and help to explain its tremendous popularity.

In defining crime, this article sites The Godfather as a film that not only was wildly successful in its own right, but one that also sparked a crime craze in terms of the manner in which violence was portrayed and consumed by the public.  While it does not attempt to claim that this movie somehow created interest in crime, because this is something the article suggests if very innate to human beings, but rather questions how human beings justify their interest in violence and how definitions of crime vary between cultures.  Finally, the article seeks to answer the question as to whether or not this film somehow changed beliefs about crime and violence.

In order to consider these questions, and prove The Godfather, both as a film and a novel, is representative of a new morality regarding crime, the authors proceed by comparing the structures of this film to the structures of novels and films in the past.  The first aspect of the movie that is considered is the usage of the word “family,” specifically given its historical usage in Italian, which is symbolically used as a replacement for the mafia, or organized crime.  The use of the word family as well as the parallel structures drawn from the Corleone family itself to that of the organized crime unit changes how one views the crime family, making it more complex that simply a group of gangsters out to commit crimes.

A second important factor in the view of crime put forth by The Godfather, is the way in which violence is romanticized and justified in the film.  As the article suggests, we then understand Don Vito’s choices and become sympathetic to him as a character.  As Michael understands him, we too accept his violence.

The article also discusses how a scientific and social approach to crimes had arisen, and places this as a third way in which beliefs about violence were changing.  There was a movement, as depicted in this film, away from morals and religion, which were traditionally associated with crimes.  Therefore, a new belief system had arisen along with new entertainment.

This film review of The Godfather, discusses its merits within its own time. Specifically the film was one of the highest grossing of its time which led to a resurgence of Hollywood film as there had been a great deal of foreign competition at the time.  Francis Ford Coppola solidified himself as a Director despite only being a film student.

As a nearly three hour gangster film, Coppola’s reluctant project was not expected to be such a success, especially given its small budget, despite what we now know is a star packed cast, including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall amongst others.  In addition to grossing a great deal of money, the film won many Oscars, and was highly critically acclaimed.

Despite the gangster genre having been around for quite a while, The Godfather, as a film, and Coppola as a Director reinvented it.  Though the film and characters are somewhat dark, the main characters are very well liked and become tragic heros.  The crimes the commit are justified in some respect and the violence in this film, and many that would follow, was romanticized.

A mafia family story set in the 1940’s and 50’s, “The Godfather is an insightful sociological study of violence, power, honor and obligation, corruption, justice and crime in America.”  The honorable Corleone family is an Italian-American immigrant family that is very tight knit.  Don Corleone, for instance, believes strongly in family values despite what one would imagine a crime lord to value.

This film review of The Godfather, discusses its merits within its own time. Specifically the film was one of the highest grossing of its time which led to a resurgence of Hollywood film as there had been a great deal of foreign competition at the time.  Francis Ford Coppola solidified himself as a Director despite only being a film student.

As a nearly three hour gangster film, Coppola’s reluctant project was not expected to be such a success, especially given its small budget, despite what we now know is a star packed cast, including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall amongst others.  In addition to grossing a great deal of money, the film won many Oscars, and was highly critically acclaimed.

Despite the gangster genre having been around for quite a while, The Godfather, as a film, and Coppola as a Director reinvented it.  Though the film and characters are somewhat dark, the main characters are very well liked and become tragic heros.  The crimes the commit are justified in some respect and the violence in this film, and many that would follow, was romanticized.

A mafia family story set in the 1940’s and 50’s, “The Godfather is an insightful sociological study of violence, power, honor and obligation, corruption, justice and crime in America.”  The honorable Corleone family is an Italian-American immigrant family that is very tight knit.  Don Corleone, for instance, believes strongly in family values despite what one would imagine a crime lord to value.

In defining crime, this article sites The Godfather as a film that not only was wildly successful in its own right, but one that also sparked a crime craze in terms of the manner in which violence was portrayed and consumed by the public.  While it does not attempt to claim that this movie somehow created interest in crime, because this is something the article suggests if very innate to human beings, but rather questions how human beings justify their interest in violence and how definitions of crime vary between cultures.  Finally, the article seeks to answer the question as to whether or not this film somehow changed beliefs about crime and violence.

In order to consider these questions, and prove The Godfather, both as a film and a novel, is representative of a new morality regarding crime, the authors proceed by comparing the structures of this film to the structures of novels and films in the past.  The first aspect of the movie that is considered is the usage of the word “family,” specifically given its historical usage in Italian, which is symbolically used as a replacement for the mafia, or organized crime.  The use of the word family as well as the parallel structures drawn from the Corleone family itself to that of the organized crime unit changes how one views the crime family, making it more complex that simply a group of gangsters out to commit crimes.

A second important factor in the view of crime put forth by The Godfather, is the way in which violence is romanticized and justified in the film.  As the article suggests, we then understand Don Vito’s choices and become sympathetic to him as a character.  As Michael understands him, we too accept his violence.

The article also discusses how a scientific and social approach to crimes had arisen, and places this as a third way in which beliefs about violence were changing.  There was a movement, as depicted in this film, away from morals and religion, which were traditionally associated with crimes.  Therefore, a new belief system had arisen along with new entertainment.