2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Structure and History of Movie Theater : An Art History of Phartom Space in Modern Japan
| Project/Area Number |
11610059
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
Fine art history
|
|---|
| Research Institution | KYOTO UNIVERSITY |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
KATO Mikiro Kyoto University, Faculty of Integratel Human studies, associate professor, 総合人間学部, 助教授 (60185874)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2000
|
| Keywords | film / movie theater / Japanese cinema |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
Scholars of Japanese film history have focused on films and their authors, and occasionally on films' technological and economic conditions. However, no film scholar or critic has offered a systematic inquiry into how movie theaters enticed local spectators in Japan. In this paper I will discuss the relationshipbetween movie theaters and spectators in Kyoto over a 10-year period.
During the golden years of Japanese Cinema, Kyoto city had three major moviestudios and, by 1956, more than sixty movie theaters. During the period from 1947-56, theaters went through three stages in improving picture exhibition and mobilizing cinema attendance : first, in response to the demand of spectators forseats, in 1947 some theaters began to limit standing room ticket sales ; second, peaking 1951, theaters offered a variety of lottery prizes through ticket sales ; and third, beginning in 1950, theaters upgraded their facilities, installing air conditioning and improved sound equipment.
I also give an analysis of the relationship between the local major movie studios and Kyoto Shinbun local daily newspaper. During the period from 1954 to 1956, Kyoto Shinbun included almost daily local information, i.e., where and when movies were shot in the city. This meant that readers of the newspaper, potential moviegoers, could appreciate the whole film process from production to consumption. Through making use of location information in the newspaper, readers could experience strong sense of belonging to Kyoto, the capital of Japanese Cinema where information and entertainmt were produced and consumed.
|
