Between Reason and Hysteria, or Gendering Nuclear Disaster: Sono Shion’s The Land of Hope

• In Event: Commemoration, Catharsis, Critique – Asian Theater and Film Responding to Disaster

Abstract

Writer-director Sono Sion’s Land of Hope (2012) is the first feature film dealing head-on with the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Although set in the near future, the film is clearly modeled after the triple disaster of March 2011 and at first glance provides a clear critique not only of nuclear power but also of the way Japanese society dealt with ‘Fukushima’. The story centers on a farming family which is torn apart when the nearby nuclear power plant explodes. Although their neighbors are hastily bussed to evacuation shelters, the Onos’ house is declared ‘safe’ due to its location a few meters outside the mandatory evacuation zone. The film thus begins by pointing out the absurdity of strictly geographical definitions of danger, and quickly moves on to the issue of ‘voluntary’ evacuation. I will show, however, that underlying this critical narrative is a more conservative, clearly gendered subplot that significantly weakens the anti-nuclear message. By focusing on the protection of unborn life as the only thinkable motif for ‘voluntary’ evacuation, the film ties in with the general mood of the post-3.11 anti-nuke protests. I argue that by connecting ‘voluntary’ evacuation to the ‘natural’ motherly urge to protect future generations, The Land of Hope makes a powerful emotional appeal while at the same time successfully diverting attention from questions of responsibility, thus effectively de-politicizing nuclear threat. As problematically, by associating men with reason and women with hysteria, the film partly reproduces the misogynist undertones of Japan’s post-3.11 conservative discourse on nuclear power.

Author

• Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt, Nagoya University