Sharon Lockhart

Goshogaoka was shown in class today.

It was Sharon Lockhart's creative work from a travel to Japan. It is a film about a girls Japanese basketball teams warm ups. It was Shot by a 16mm film camera that was fixed. It was also choreographed. One thing that really interested me was that behind the basketball court the camera was perfectly framed on a stage that was behind the court. The thick red curtains closed but none the less it set the stage (basketball court) for a performance. I think it was great, and almost ironic that this choreographed routine be shot on a court in front of a stage.

The big argument was, does this show us anything about Japanese adaptation of an American sport. At first I thought it did but the more I though about it the more I disagreed. This is an American sport being brought into a different culture yes but it doesn't tell us about their adaptation for a couple reasons. One being that it was staged, the second being that it was choreographed by someone who was not Japanese. I think if this film was shot in Germany it would be a little different but other than a few small details it is not going to be dramatically different with the same Choreography. The one thing I thought that showed us something about the Japanese culture was the massage after the warm ups. How do I know this is something they do though? This could be Choreographed, I doubt it is but even so, it tells me very little.

Many argue that this is a strict regiment that no American girls would do. This may be true, but they are acting essentially. If given the time and practice I think it would be very similar if an American girls team would do this warm up. The Japanese team reminded me of a military. Not laughing staying quiet, doing what was told. If they screwed up to get up and try again without laughing. Even if that was not staged, it still tells me very little. Not enough to make a whole film about. The film would of been much stronger had they let the girls do their normal routine, if the message they were trying to get across was indeed the adaptation of culture. Who really knows.