A Reflection on Japanese Cinema: Industry VS Art

Abstract

The Japanese film industry was one of the most powerful in the last century. In addition, the success achieved by some of these films in prestigious west festivals fostered a snobbish image, almost of elite cinema, based on their visual elegance and scenic detail. What is truly paradoxical is that the studio system of that country always bet on understanding cinema as a business to be exploited, where artistic pretense, socio-political denunciation or narrative complexities were seen more as a wrong than as an asset. Throughout the following pages we will study the history of this confrontation between industrial conservatism and the creative genius of a few directors. Those who, precisely, crossed the barriers of their system and became famous throughout the world, thus passing into the history of the Seventh Art.