MovieChat Forums > Know Your Enemy - Japan (1945) Discussion > Keep in context

Keep in context

posted 17 years ago by bgrubb
1 reply | jump to latest

It is important to remember that Know Your Enemy: Japan is a propaganda film and follows the same formula as seen in Nazis Strike and Divide and Conquer of Capra's Why We Fight series. Just as the Nazis are portrayed as the latest effort of German ambition to conquer the world going back to the 19th century so is the government of Tojo.

If anything Know Your Enemy goes 180 degrees from Prelude to War shifting the cause of the war from the Emperor to those around him. However the echoes of these earlier propaganda films runs through this picture making the film very schizoid. The first part (how the Japanese view themselves) has the Emperor wielding fantastic power while the second part (the external view) shows him as little more than a figurehead with those below him really calling the shots.

It is almost as if Capra and those over him did not know where to go with this picture.

[–] dannieboy20906 7 years ago

The dichotomy of ultimate power and absolute lack of power within the Emperor is part of what westerners struggled with (and still do) in understanding the Japanese. The Emperor was a combination of the supreme dictator, the pope, and the son of god to the Japanese. All Japanese were sworn to follow his orders even unto death. Yet, because of his enormously powerful role in Japanese culture his actions were highly restricted within highly defined boundaries. Emperor Hirohito could not bring himself to void these boundaries when the militarists gradually dragged him into war. Only when the United States threatened imminent and total destruction of Japan did he finally use his imperial and religious power to overrule his cabinet. Even in August of 1945 the military continued to control the cabinet and wanted to fight to the death, while praying for a miracle. Emperor Hirohito could only see a Japan ground down to scorched earth with no Japanese left in it. He surrendered because he did not view that as a fate worse than death of the Japanese culture.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.