Onnagata

During our studies of South East Asia the concept of a man playing a women’s role came up multiple times.  This motif was laced throughout the history but, as a class, we never really fixated on it much; more just accepted the custom as an acceptable part of history most cultures endured.  However, the movie’s line emblazoning the belief that men were able to better portray a woman on stage sparked a bit of a debate in class- the first of this genre.

Having taken some Women’s Studies classes and having done many units on feminism in the past I was a little surprised at my own reaction to the line.  I understood what the narrator was saying and actually agree with him, which opposes any normal reaction I am accustomed to.   The explanation Guru and Dr. Palmer offered after further reinforced what I inferred from the single remark.  The act of portraying a female on stage is not synonymous with femininity or being a gendered female.  In my mind, it is the art of portraying what the theatre has built to be feminine- something very different from an actual women as it was a creation of the arts and something that requires years and years of practice.  That being said, I can completely see how the continued use of onnagata puts a sour taste in the mouths of modern society’s women.  Its difficult to stomach the blunt statement that a man can better play a woman than a woman herself. 

I also think it is interesting the origins of Kabuki are rooted in feminism as well.  Studying the history, the creation of onnagata, from a feminist perspective, does seem to be born out of controversial- arguably sexist- origins.  The style itself was created by a woman prostitute but was deemed a distraction by the court.  From there young boys and then men have since dominated the Kabuki stage.  Because society was not accepting of the “erotic” portrayal women displayed on stage, men took over.  This male dominance agrees with the patriarchal society of Japan and the world during this time.  With this history in mind, I think that the onnagata role becomes more controversial since women were originally stripped of their opportunity to foster and manifest the art form they birthed.