Cinema as a Subject in General Education at a University Level

The knowledge of cinema, domestic or foreign, possessed by Japanese university students is hopelessly limited compared with other categories of art like literature, painting and music in spite of the fact that they often claim that they are fond of Hollywood action cinema. I argue that this can be attributed to several factors. 1 ) In Japan, there are very few subjects in general education at a university level where students can acquire the basics of cinema which a sophisticated citizen is supposed to have. 2 ) Less emphasis has been placed on general education since Japanese national universities abolished their departments of liberal arts several years ago. 3 ) Elementary and junior high schools have no subjects related to film because the School Education Act does not establish cinema as a subject unlike paintings and music. 4 ) Movies were capitalized on during World War I1 by the Japanese military authorities as an effective means of propaganda. GHQ (General Headquarters (which occupied and governed Japan for 7 years after the war)) prohibited these films and such movies that show one\u27s loyalty to one\u27s bosses or the authorities. Under its government, the introduction of cinema into the school curriculum would have sounded quite political. 5 ) The Japanese government did not provide a department of cinema in Japanese universities. 6 ) We have only one national institution of cinema while there are many public institutions (museums and research institutes) developed to painting, literature and music. 7 ) Cinema enjoys extremely poor financial support from the Japanese government. The national budgets for cinema in European countries are 3-10 times as much as that in Japan. 8 ) Various reasons have made Japanese people feel reluctant to go to the movies. European people use a movie theater 2-4 times more often than Japanese people. 9 ) Teachers in Japanese universities are so busy that it is unlikely that researchers in cinema needing plenty of time to cover current films will find a position in universities attractive