The Idea that Dwells on the Stage: Takaaki Yoshimoto and the Theory of the "Systematics of the Performer"-1970s

The Idea that Dwells on the Stage: Takaaki Yoshimoto and the Theory of the "Systematics of the Performer"-1970s

The 1970s marked the end of Japan's rapid economic growth and a period of rapid shifts in social values following the oil shocks, the setback of the student movement, and the United Red Army incident. While direct confrontation with politics was becoming more acute in some quarters, "criticism of the system" was becoming fashionable in the media and entertainment industry, and the term "anti-establishment" was beginning to be used lightly by comedians, celebrities, and even in the realm of subculture.

In the midst of this trend, the thinker Takaaki Yoshimoto challenged this trend from a unique angle. In an interview, he said, "It is nonsense for a comedian to advocate 'anti-establishment. He argued paradoxically that comedians are essentially "beings who can only live within the system," and that it is only within the framework of the system that the art of performing can have genuine power.

Yoshimoto saw the geisha as an existence rooted in the "mundane. A comedian is "an entity that functions within the institutional structure of mass society to alleviate communal tension through comedy, pathos, and satire," and its role is "critical of the system, but not destructive of it. In other words, the existence of comedians is also a device to prolong the life of social institutions.

This view coincided with criticism of the trend at the time for celebrities to discuss politics and for intellectuals to "play the anti-establishment game. Yoshimoto believed that in order for art and expression to have real power, it was necessary to have a sense of distance within the system of "joint illusion" and "counter-illusion. Even if a performer pretends to throw stones from outside the system, it is merely a "scheduled performance" that is applauded from within the system.

This is an extremely radical insight into the relationship between art and thought. What is truly radical? --The paradox is that it is not about standing outside the system, but about surviving the system while "dislocating" it from the inside.

This viewpoint of Takaaki Yoshimoto has had a deep-rooted influence on later works in talent culture and media criticism. His questions, such as "What does it mean to be "regimented"?" and "To what extent is acting anti-regime?