Han Heroes and Yamato Warriors: Competing Masculinities in Chinese and Japanese War Cinema

Amanda Weiss

Aug 2023 · Transnational Asian Masculinities Book 6 · Hong Kong University Press

About this ebook

Taking the “tidal wave” of memory in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century as its starting point, this monograph explores collective memory of World War II in East Asia (1937–1945) through film. Weiss argues that Chinese, Japanese, and American remembrance of World War II is intertwined in what she terms a “memory loop,” the transnational mediation and remediation of war narratives. Gender is central to this process, as the changing representation of male soldiers, political leaders, and patriarchal father figures within these narratives reveals Japanese and Chinese challenges to each other and to the perceived “foundational” American narrative of the war. This process continues to intensify due to the globally visible nature of the memory loop, which drives this cycle of transmission, translation, and reassessment.

This volume is the first to bring together a collection of Chinese and Japanese war films that have received little attention in English-language literature. It also produces new readings of popular war memory in East Asia by revealing the gendered dimensions of collective remembrance in these films. 

“This awesome book shows how Chinese and Japanese films about the Second World War both reflect and shape memories of that conflict. Moreover, by analyzing movies about the war and the ensuing ‘competing masculinities,’ Amanda Weiss skillfully discloses their impact on subsequent conceptions of race, gender, and identity. Highly recommended.” 

—Kam Louie, University of Hong Kong 

“Amanda Weiss, who views film as a significant mode of popular memory traveling beyond national border, discovers a loop of mutual interaction in the representation of Chinese and Japanese war films deeply intertwined with the nationalism of both countries. Her skill in capturing the intersection of cross-border memories in visual images such as the Tokyo Trials, warrior, rape, and reconciliation is remarkable. This is a transcendent achievement that could only be accomplished by Weiss, who fully understands both Japanese and Chinese languages and deeply understands the movements of consciousness among the people of these countries during her long stay in Japan and China.” 

—Shunya Yoshimi, University of Tokyo

日本語原文： 

 1980年代以降、日本と中国の戦争映画は、まったく異なる方向に向かい、それぞれナショナリスティックな語りを発達させてきたと考えられている。しかし、映画とはトランスナショナルな大衆的記憶の技術であると考えるヴァイスは、この両国のナショナリズムと根深く結びついた戦争映画の表象に、国境を越える相互の作用や反作用のループがあることを発見していく。彼女が東京裁判、戦士の表象、レイプ、和解といった映像イメージの中に国境を越える記憶の交錯を捉える手際は鮮やかである。本書はそれ自体、日中の言語を完全に理解し、日本で長く暮らす中でこの国の人々の意識のうごめきを深く理解し、フィルム・スタディーズはもちろん、アジアの近現代史やカルチュラル・スタディーズ、ジェンダー・スタディーズを知悉したヴァイスでなければできない越境的な達成である。 

About the author

Amanda Weiss is assistant professor of Japanese at Georgia Institute of Technology.