The sounds that resounded in the movie theaters. What kind of sounds do you visualize from this title? When you think of the sounds of a modern movie theater, you might imagine heavy bass effects, tear-inducing melodramatic strings, the gripping sounds of a car chase, the grand orchestra of an action movie, the futuristic sounds of a sci-fi movie, or the theme song by your favorite artist.
 
However, this volume discusses movie theaters in prewar Japan. The sounds were very different from what you would imagine from a modern movie theater. They were so different from modern sensibilities that I was frequently surprised while conducting this research. This volume sheds light on the soundscape of that era.
 
In the days of silent films, when films lacked recorded sound, various sounds were added with live music during the movie screenings, and these were different for each movie theater. A narrator called benshi narrated the dialog and plot, and for foreign films, musicians employed by movie theaters performed Western music, ranging from piano to orchestra. Still, attempts were also made to match the biwa with foreign films, revealing just how different the musical sense of Japanese people was. Some audience members were curious about the titles of the Western music used for the accompaniment, walking up toward the screen to take a peep at the performers’ scores during the screening. People’s behavior in movie theaters was also different in those days.
 
The soundscape of Japanese film screening was also very different from today. Traditional Japanese music is rarely heard on TV and in movies today. Orchestral sounds can be heard even in taiga dramas and other period plays. However, this was the case in the era of silent films. In earlier times, a narrator called kowairo benshi imitated the narration of stage actors, music accompaniments reminiscent of kabuki were played, and films were enjoyed as if they were jōruri, with gidayū, shinnai, biwa songs, and naniwabushi (rōkyoku narrative singing). However, with changing times, the number of orchestral ensembles gradually increased, but here too, Western music and the sounds of the shamisen and biwa songs coexisted. Through trial and error by movie theaters, Western and Japanese music were eclectically combined.
 
A variety of sounds would resonate even in the era of talkies, but those reverberating in movie theaters changed from live performances to recordings, with Japanese music declining and Western music becoming more common. It is relatively well known that benshi and musicians at the silent movie theaters were dismissed. However, there was also a movement to eliminate the accompaniment of music common in modern film and television, while seemingly narrative voices appeared during processes of trial and error. It is no exaggeration to say that, before World War II, when the history of cinema witnessed the major transition from “silent films” to “talkies,” movie theaters served as hubs for varied sound cultures.
 
In this volume, I try to clarify what kind of sounds resonated with the screen in Japanese movie theaters as well as what kinds of dynamics and relationships were formed between images and sounds. To trace this as concretely as possible, this volume focuses on cinemas in Tokyo and analyzes not only newspapers, magazines, books, and videos but also other material, such as movie theater programs, sheet music, records, and biwa scripts. To consider the characteristics of this sound culture, I tried to broaden my perspective by including cases from abroad and discussing them from the perspective of global history.
 
The current environment for watching movies has changed dramatically, with increasing numbers of people watching short videos on smartphones and tablets. This is reflected in the increasing number of people who enjoy movie-watching events, such as live music screenings and cheering screenings (ouen jōei). We can see an inverse aspect of the transition from the silent era to the talkie era here. Now is the time when the nature of films is changing drastically. I would like you to consider the sound culture of films and movie theaters by gathering clues from the history of sounds in the movie theaters of the past.
 

(Written by: SHIBATA Kotaro / November 25, 2024)

Related Info

Award:
The 4th UTokyo Jiritsu Award for Early Career Academics  (The University of Tokyo  2023)
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ja/research/systems-data/n03_kankojosei.html
 
The 46th Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, Life and Society   (Suntory Foundation  Nov 12, 2024)
https://www.suntory.co.jp/news/article/14700-1.html