MovieChat Forums > Ukikusa monogatari Discussion > Slap Slap Slap

Slap Slap Slap

posted 13 years ago by EveryWhichWay
4 replies | jump to latest

Bloody hell. A lot of women getting slapped scenes in this film, plus a slap for the son and the little kid gets slapped upside the head once or twice. Was it acceptable with Japanese audiences to see women getting slapped in the 1930s? Ditto children getting slapped?

I enjoyed this film but just couldn't find the slap scenes and the aftermath of the slap that credible.

Spoilers

The main character Kihachi slaps his lover and afterwards she asks to make up. Just didn't ring true.

Kihachi slaps his son's lover and then she asks Kihachi to take her away with him.

Kichachi slaps the females multiple times but only slaps his son once.

[–] emncaity 13 years ago

"Was it acceptable?"

Absolutely so. You might be both fascinated and disgusted by just how patriarchal Japanese culture was at the time (and still is in many ways).

[–] Kawada_Kira 10 years ago

Yeah it was considered normal at the time. Not just in Japan either but all over the world, including the US. Things sucked for women everywhere back then. Why single out Japan?

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[–] Keely 10 years ago

So true. James Cagney slamming a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face was considered high comedy in 1931.

[–] monthofsundays 9 years ago

I also think it his treatment of those women show that he was a well-meaning but ultimately broken man. Past his prime, past his physical peak, father to a boy who believes he's someone else and his own father dead.

Though the civil servant fib was not his idea, I believe this is the director's subtle nod to the type of man he could have become, if not for his mistakes.