Scott Nygren

I would like to propose a presentation on the politics of
representation in Shinoda's film _Double Suicide_ (1969, Japan).  This
would allow me to discuss Japanese student activism in the 1950s and
60s, as it relates to theories of textual agency and the politics of
desire.  The film uses puppet masters from the Bunraku puppet theater
as metaphors for the invisible forces of history and economics, and
mobilizes popular culture as a strategy of counter-cultural
resistance.  I would expect to discuss the film's implicit critique of
US policies in Vietnam and militarist "direct action," as well as the
translation of a traditional story of romantic suicide into a critique
of capital and gender hierarchies.