「文化映画」の可能性 : 啓蒙と娯楽のメディアミックス

Abstract

This study deals with the problem of cultural films. Screening cultural films was made compulsory by the Film Law (1939), the first cultural law in Japan, and these films were put on the screen for only 10 minutes. Through cultural media policies, the government intended to use films as entertainment media to easily and unpainfully raise public cultural awareness. In other words, films were expected to take the place of print media. It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that the government's intention was to initiate an educational revolution from print media to visual media. However, the effect was contrary to their intention. Cultural films produced then were boring, perhaps an inevitability considering their short length of only 10 minutes As a result, audience response was cold. Having willingly gone to the theater for fun, the audience was turned off by the boring films and would vacate the theater when their screening began. Suffice it to say that the government learned that the aim of integrating enlightenment and entertainment was not easily achievable.