EA 170 Week 8b Week 8b Reading: a) Lorie Brau, "The Women's Theatre of Takarazuka," The Drama Review, vol. 34, no. 4 (Winter 1990), pp. 79-95. [click here] b) OPTIONAL: Jennifer Robertson, Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan, pp. 1-24 [click here] video: “Dream Girls”
Reading questions: The Brau article is a very basic introduction to the history of Takarazuka. The article attempts to think through the question of whether Takarazuka, and in particular the role of the otokoyaku (male role impersonator) might be subversive of patriarchy or whether it simply reinforces the dominance of men in modern Japanese society. 1) (p. 79-80, 83-4) What was the original purpose of Takarazuka? Who still controls and manages the theater and school? How might this have had an impact on the productions? 2) (p. 81, 91-92) What does the (largely female) audience find attractive in Takarazuka, and particularly in the otokoyaku? 3) Why did Kobayashi feel it necessary to argue that Takarazuka actresses make "Good wives, wise mothers"? Do all the actresses follow this path? 4) What is the role of "kata" (learned performance techniques) in the creation of femininity and masculinity? Do the otokoyaku and musumeyaku imititate real men and women? Do the otokoyaku continue acting as males off stage? 5) How does the "silver bridge" (ginkyo) work to connect the otokoyaku and her fans? How is this comparable to the Kabuki hanamichi walkway? What other theatrical stage devices are used? 6) According to Brau, what are some of the ways that androgyny and homoeroticism played on in performance? 7) In the end, do you think Takarazuka is empowering or disempowering to its female fans?
OPTIONAL Reading questions for Jennifer Robertson, Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan pp. 1-24 1) How does the emergence of Takarazaka in 1913 correlate to changing economic conditions of the Taisho period (1912-25) and the lingering Meiji ideology about women ("Good wife, wise mother")? How does it conflict with that ideology? How did Kobayashi (the founder) attempt to make it fit? 2) In the 1920s what was the problem with female actresses? (see also pp. 14-15, 21) Why did the founder Kobayashi feel it necessary to refer to the actresses as musume (daughters)? (see also p. 16) 4) Why does the management say they make the students go through such a military-style training (including being taught to bow by members of the self-defense forces)? 5) What features are considered important attributes of the “secondary genders” of otokoyaku and musumeyaku? On what basis are these “secondary genders” assigned to the students? 6) What are some of the kata used to distinguish otokoyaku and musumeyaku? What are they based on? 7) Do otokoyaku seem to maintain their secondary gender off stage? 8) How is the relationship between onnagata and otokoyaku asymmetrical? 9) How does Robertson distinguish between sex, gender and sexuality? How is the Japanese attitude towards these roles different from that of the West?
General Study Questions about Takarazuka and Kabuki Come to class prepared to think about and discuss how cross-dressing characters and actors, both male and female, have both stablized and destablized gender identity historically. We will concentrate on the following questions: 1. How "realistic" are the representations of femininity by onnagata and masculinity by otokoyaku? 2. How does each learn their gender (who do they take as their models and why)? 3. To what extent do each continue their roles off stage (and especially with respect to otokoyaku, how is this looked upon differently by management and audience)? 4. Why do you think the management makes the women go through military-style schooling? 5. How do their fans relate to them? What is it that they like about them? 6. Do onnagata and otokoyaku seem to subvert the gender=biological sex equation? 7. To what extent do they reinforce the dominant gender roles of their time (Bernstein's essay will help answer this)? To what extent do they subvert them?
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