How to glorify suicide bombers
I wonder whether far right Tokyo governor and professional crow-hater Shintaro Ishihara may fall foul of the UK’s new law against ‘glorifying terrorism’ on his next visit to London? It seems he has written and produced a new film - titled ‘For Those We Love’ - on the kamikaze pilots of WWII, that is rather keen to show them in a good light as patriotic heroes (thus helping to overcome Japan’s terrible tendency toward masochistic historytm). As the Hankyoreh notes:
…the film’s political message is simultaneously suggestive and clear, with lines like “We shall meet in death at Yasukuni Shrine,” or “We were right to start a war to liberate Asia from the whites.”
Of course, Shintaro Ishihara is having none of the comparison between kamikaze and suicide bombers:
“[It is] not a glorification of the kamikaze. It’s an ensemble youth drama with an antiwar message,” he continued. “There are those foreigners who confuse the kamikaze pilots with suicide bombers, but I want them to know that they are completely different.”
Fair enough then, it’s just a misunderstanding of us stupid foreigners.
The Guardian’s arts blog has something to say about it too, and points out that:
Hearteningly, For Those We Love seems to have had the opposite effect: despite a strong opening weekend, in which it trailed only Spider-Man 3 and Kitaro, a local kiddie fantasy, it has not only provoked disquiet among both younger audience members and those who lived through the Japanese defeat, but has also drawn uncomfortable parallels between its heroes and the similarly unquestioning, ideology-driven suicide bombers of today.
Somehow, I have a feeling it’s not going to be winning any prizes at Cannes.
UPDATE: An illustrated version of Kim Do-hyeong’s Hankyoreh article is up at the Japan Focus site.
Good lord, is there nothing, nothing that can not be waved away as being a result of “foreigners misunderstanding the sublime particularity of our native culture”? I started the weekend with a nationalist rebuke of foreigners who don’t like crappy tasteless Korean beer, (you see, our Korean palate demands a light taste to mesh in perfect harmony with the anju - the gross palate of whitey just can’t understand) and I now I round it off with another gracious lesson as to why a seemingly horrific death cult was actually a life embracing self-help movement… or something. The extent to which folks will rationalize is exceeded only by the depth to which they will shove their heads up their collective asses.
Comment by sangjin — May 27, 2007 @ 1:16 am