Abstract:

Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) is one of the most comprehensive biographical representations of Yukio Mishima’s literature and life, which were retroactively overshadowed by his sensational death. In this film with a multi-layered and complex temporal structure oscillating between documentary and fiction, Schrader concisely adapts The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956), Kyōko’s House (1959), and Runaway Horses (1969), as well as some anecdotal episodes of Mishima, for cinema. The story centres on Mishima’s bizarre act of terror which he executed with his four young soldiers from his militia force, the Shield Society, on November 25, 1970, at the headquarters of the Japan Self-Defence Forces. He committed suicide by seppukku when his call for “Shōwa Restoration” was ignored. Hence, as this biographical film focuses on Mishima’s “death” and his anecdotes connected with his “death wish” rather than on his “life-story,” its genre should be renamed as a “death-story.” On the other hand, Schrader consciously transformed Benjamin’s “shock effect” theory into a method. According to Benjamin, the “shock effect” is caused by the constant and sudden change of images in cinema which subverts the viewer’s consciousness. However, in this way, the spectator, who is forced to re-establish her/his consciousness by taking a productive stance, comprehends the film more efficiently. Our goal is to reveal how Schrader utilised Benjamin’s “shock effect” in his film. To this end, we analysed the above-mentioned literary works and their film adaptations comparatively, with a particular focus on the “death-story” of Mishima.

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