Anpo: Art X War: The Art of Resistance - Essay Example

Linda Hoaglund’s documentary ANPO: Art X War uses the provocative photos, films, paintings, and anime by the Japanese in order to express the powerful message that brought out the continued Japans resistance of 1960 that was unified against ANPO (Yonamine). ANPO: Art X War documentary shows the tale of Japan's historic opposition to United States of America military bases in Japan via an electrifying set of artwork developed by that times artists of Japan. The documentary articulates the sinister, enduring effect that the American military presence has brought on Japanese lifestyle, and the innovative methods that artists have come up with to broadcast the spirit of opposition or resistance.

The occupation of the troops from United States of America continued until 1952 in most parts of Japan. The presence of troops in Okinawa however continued until the year 1972. The removal of trips in Japan unfortunately does not mean that the presence of United States military in Japan ended. Currently it is estimated that there are about 90 United States of America military bases in Japan and an estimation of about 40000 soldiers that are American (Yonamine). This presence of United States troops caused mass resistance among Japanese citizens and thus incorporated the use of art in their culture to show their distaste in this presence of troops in their land.

In Japan, the growth of media is mostly due to its effort to make itself better both intellectually and socially. In all of Japan's history, the top level associates of Japan’s community have competed with each other culturally by keeping up to date with the newest literature, theater, and artwork. The government has over the years used Japan’s love for the artistry into an easy, extensive, technique to educate its citizens about politics, political interests, and history after the Meiji revolution.

Thus is a common practice in the culture of the Japanese people to use art to express their political views and this was very evident in the 1960 mass revolution that so artists take into paintings, photography, anime and films to demonstrate their views on their dissatisfaction with the presence of United States of America troops in Japan (Yonamine). The culture of art in Japan has been existent since the time of kabuki form of art in the theaters in 1600 and Noh that came to be in 1300 and was perfected in 1600.

Kabuki was a dramatic art performance that majored in dance (Troop). This has evolved over the years and it has made art to be used as a way of communicating and offering teachings among the Japanese people. The use of painting is very common in Japan and was one of the arts used during the mass resistance against American military troops in Japan. Painting is among the most ancient and most greatly refined of the visual arts that are common in Japan. Paintings encompass a wide range and variety of styles and genres.

Japanese painting has been seen to exhibit a competition between the native form of painting and the implemented ideas borrowed from the Chinese paintings. Art became popular after World War II period in Japan. Together with many shifting sections of the documented video and discussions, the paintings provided in the movie get noticed quite well. Purposely jarring in their demonstration, the most stunning pictures leap from the display in demonstration against the foreign occupation and