Yasujirô Ozu and the Western film - a comparative analysis

本研究以日本导演小津安次郎（1903-1963）的电影作品为基础，发展出一种典型的比较电影美学。它有一个双重目标：分析了日本电影的前提条件，即日本视觉文化传统和小津电影与其他国际电影传统的跨文化交叉参考。本文认为，小津电影的特点是对西方风格特征（如好莱坞电影）的深入思考、引用和选择性采用。虽然有关小津的文献确实包含了大量的暗示（Bordwell 1988; Richie 1974），但几乎没有任何研究遵循它们。这一差距应当弥合。我想说明的是，这种美学方法只能通过比较来理解（Simon 2000; Elberfeld/Wohlfahrt 2000; Pfeiffer 2008 a; 2010; Mitchell 1994 b）。现有的比较美学方法将被巧妙地扩展，并与电影学术中开发的方法和知识相结合。本研究首先对有关小津的学术文献进行了必要的重新阅读和重新评估（第一章），并讨论了作品的文化前提（第二章）。在第三章中，作者将小津的作品分为四个创作时期，以展示小津如何在全球电影摄影的背景下始终保持不同的定位。最后第四章考察了小津美学在国际语境中的接受情况。本研究示范性地发展了一种可以适用于其他电影传统的解释策略，可以帮助系统地描述文化全球化。

The study develops an exemplary comparative aesthetics of film based on Japanese director Yasujirô Ozu's (1903-1963) work. It has a two-fold goal: an analysis of both the preconditions of Japanese film in terms of the tradition of Japanese visual culture and the intercultural cross references of Ozu's films to other international film traditions. The thesis is that Ozu¹s films are characterized by their intensive consideration, citation and selective adoption of Western stylistic features (e.g. those of Hollywood films). Although literature about Ozu does contain plenty of hints (Bordwell 1988; Richie 1974), hardly any study has yet followed them. This gap should be closed. I want to show that this aesthetic method can only be comprehended comparatively (Simon 2000; Elberfeld/Wohlfahrt 2000; Pfeiffer 2008a; 2010; Mitchell 1994b). Existing approaches to comparative aesthetics will be subtly extended and combined with the methods and knowledge developed within film scholarship. The study begins with a necessary re-reading and reassessment of the scholarly literature about Ozu (chapter 1) and discusses the cultural premises of the work (chapter 2). The central Chapter 3 follows with a concrete stylistic analysis, in which Ozu's work is divided into four periods of creativity so as to demonstrate how Ozu consistently positioned himself differently in the context of global cinematography. The final chapter 4 investigates the reception of Ozu's aesthetics in an international context. The study exemplarily develops a strategy of interpretation that can be adapted to other cinematographic traditions and can help describe the cultural globalization methodically.