BBC Documentaries: Asian Invasion (Japan)

Produced and hosted by the same man who sort of started me off in this direction, Johnathan Ross of Japan-o-Rama, this is a series looking at Asian cinema through the critical centers of Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea produced in the UK. Here's the first part of the Japan section, the first of the series. It is significant he begins here. In 2007, Johnathon Ross was best known for the third season of Japan-o-rama, a pop-culture fest focused on Japan, and he introduces himself as a biased 'Japanophile'. He's drawing in watchers from Japan-o-rama, and much of the production feels the same. He's pushing that same crowd, and is going to pull them through htis peisode into the others--an overview of theme that I think is important in dissecting what he is doing.

Phrases such as "violent even for Eastern audiences" are particularly telling about discourse. American film is often criticized as the most violent and accessible in the industry--what does it mean when he says, paraphrased, "violent even for Eastern audiences" when discussing his first director? He's playing up the drama, or does this play into Morris's idea of the Male Japan and the Female Japan, used when convenient, and this is Male Japan (of war and Imperialism) overtones?

Here's the first part of the Japan Episode.