6. Tokyo Sonata Review: Work, Gender, Family, It's All A Performance

Filmagra

Tokyo Sonata is a very campy and candid examination of how the conditions of this uncertain capitalist era negatively affect the work person. Beyond that, it's a film which showcases how the strict institutions and traditions of our societies (school, gender norms, familial based traditions, and capitalistic order) harm the well-being of those who unquestionably subscribe to their rigid order. Tokyo Sonata, and the sources I used to build my understanding of contemporary capitalist Japan, made me realize something deeply unsettling: we are incredibly performative in our daily lives. In this episode I explain what is meant by the "performance" and why it's so horrific that we fail to challenge or question its existence in our day to day life.

Sources:

Dazed. “How Japan's 90s Teen Delinquency CRISIS Inspired a Wave of Killer Movies.” Dazed, 2 Dec. 2020, www.dazeddigital.com/film-tv/article/51285/1/japan-90s-teen-delinquency-crisis-killer-movies-j-horror-battle-royale.

Hitchcock, Amanda. “Violent Juvenile Crimes in Japan Point to a Deeper Social Crisis.” World Socialist Web Site, www.wsws.org/en/articles/2000/10/jap-o18.html.

Romit DasDasgupta (2011) Emotional Spaces and Places of Salaryman Anxiety in

Tokyo Sonata , Japanese Studies, 31:3, 373-386, DOI: 10.1080/10371397.2011.619169

Salari,. YouTube,, 25 Sept. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx3mQftSMSo.