Abstract
In the Prologue to The Human Condition (1958), Hannah Arendt writes about her surprise at humans' desire to escape from their human condition. That same year, Junpei Gomikawa's autobiographical World War II novel titled The Human Condition was published and served as the basis for Kobayashi's film trilogy The Human Condition (1959-1961). The concurrent release of these critical works with the same title in distinct intellectual spheres is not coincidental. Personal encounter with totalitarianism is the basis for that intellectual reaction. In line with this argument, this study analyzes the narration in The Human Condition trilogy by referring to Arendt's literary approach. Moreover, the use of cinematographic factors is examined to depict the main character Kaji's struggle to stay 'human' in the face of a totalitarian and oppressive world.
TopIntroduction
Hannah Arendt’s seminal work titled The Human Condition (1958) was published in the same year as Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel of the same title. One year after their publication, the first and the second films of Masaki Kobayashi’s trilogy of the same title were released. This study argues that the concurrent release of these critical works with the same title in distinct intellectual spheres is not coincidental. Each work is a critique of enduring devastating consequences of political events that occurred in the first half of the twentieth century. Two consequent world wars resulted in the rise of authoritarianism as well as distinct forms of totalitarian regimes. Such an experience had been detrimental to the human condition to the extent that the meaning of life and uniqueness of each individual was sacrificed to unprecedented forms of 'violence' and 'evil'. Apart from wartime experience and changes in political regimes, the consolidation of totalizing and conformist elements of mass society and the modern nation-state in the form of bureaucratization is embedded in their intellectual reaction. Taking this similarity as a starting point, this study analyzes the narration of the storyline in Kobayashi's The Human Condition trilogy through Arendt’s methodology of storytelling. Consequently, the variant use of cinematographic elements is examined to reveal that the narration and cinematography support each other to give viewers a strong sense of visual and thematic coherence.
In addition to its potential to be analyzed with the conceptual framework presented by a political theorist, the trilogy also draws attention with its unusual length. Today, the production of audio-visual materials has become much easier due to advancements in digital recording technologies and the spreading of digital recording equipment. Combined with the increased distribution and sharing opportunities, the viewing practices of audio-visual products have changed immensely. Due to the demands of modern life, people's daily activities require increased speed. That explains why watching videos and movies on mobile devices in trains, waiting rooms, and other places is so widespread. Therefore, it can be argued that the duration of audio-visual products has become much more important. It becomes vital to be able to visually cut a long story short. When considering today’s viewers, even a one-minute film can be long, but the duration of Kobayashi's trilogy is still unusual even for viewers in its production years between 1959 and 1961. Each film lasts more than 3 hours and in total the duration of the trilogy is 9 hours and 47 minutes. Despite their length, the films are said to be able to hold the attention of today's impatient viewers due to their timeless subject matter.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Modernity: Modernity refers to particular attitudes, practices, and socio-economic and cultural relations accompanied by technological innovation and knowledge that have a claim to surpass a predecessor. Historically, it refers to a period associated with the rise of individualism, rationalization, the emergence of modern state and bureaucracy, the development of large-scale markets, capitalism and modern industry, and rapid urbanization.
Totalitarianism: A form of government that subordinates all spheres of human life through ideological manipulation, coercion, and oppression.
Film Adaptation: It is an entire or partial transfer of a work or story to a feature film.
Human Condition: All of the experiences and characteristics associated with being human and living a human life.
Trilogy: It is a group of three connected works of art that can be viewed as either a single piece of work or as three separate works.
Storytelling: In general, storytelling is the social activity of sharing stories. In Arendt, storytelling is telling oneself a story of an actual event from a plurality of perspectives ( Disch, 1993 ).
Cinematography: The art and technology of making motion pictures are known as cinematography which deals with both relations between shots and between groups of shots. It involves techniques like scene composition, lighting, selection of cameras, lenses, camera movements, camera angles, camera scales, and integration of any special effects.
Realism in Cinema: While realism in general is about depicting life as it is presented to us; realism in cinema refers to how believable the story is. In other words, it refers to how the story and the visuals are grounded in reality.