earticle

영어

The purpose of this study is to examine the entities otherized by Misemono(見世物) and their cultural and historic significance of imperialistic and modern period Japan on the premise of the pornographic properties potentially immanent in the act of seeing. Misemono, which has been developed into a popular attraction since the Muromachi period(室町時代), has existed as a space of spectacle for ordinary people to enjoy. On the other hand, it is also true that the desire of gazing the other and the pathological phenomenon accompanied by that desire, have existed under the name of mass entertainment. During the period when Japan emerged as a new power of imperialistic and colonial state, new deformities of 'lusus naturae'(freak of nature) began to appear in Misemono. These entities, or people, have been otherized as representations of “non-nationals”(非国民) beyond the wall of popular entertainment. Several ethnic groups that remained in pre-modern state outside of Japan were exhibited as objects of the exhibition, and the wounded remnants who served their own country and became disabled in war, became Misemono-genin(見世物芸人) and degenerated as public clowns for earning their livelihood. These historic facts clearly demonstrate the process of otherization through Misemono in pre-war and post-war period of Japanese society. It converges on the process of the building and integrating a modern nation state of Japan and the Empire of Japan. However, the power that operates in the object of Misemono is not reverted to a simple diagram of the state verses the people, and the dynamic relationship in which the desires of various subjects are complicatedly intersected is to be premised. Therefore, in this paper, I will discuss the matter of otherization through Misemono with a variety of relational networks.