Asian Culture and Art Studies (Motaleat-e Farhang va Honare Asiya)

Japanese Cinema and the Rethinking of Alternative Political Order: Sanshō the Bailiff and Biopolitical Resistance

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Poriya Chehardehi 1
Abbas Manoochehri 2
Seyedmohsen Alavipour 3

1 Political Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Faculty of Humanities. Tarbiat Modares University. Tehran. Iran

3 Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS). Tehran. Iran

10.30465/acas.2025.52042.1186
Abstract
The relationship between cinema and politics is one of the central axes of reflection in contemporary thought—particularly when art is conceived not merely as a representation of reality, but as a space for the cultivation of political ideas and the emergence of new emancipatory subjectivities. Japanese cinema, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century, represents a tradition in which this theoretical dimension has received significant attention. Among the prominent filmmakers of this tradition, Kenji Mizoguchi has addressed the issue of liberation from structural oppression through various cinematic strategies. Sanshō the Bailiff stands out as a key example, portraying the vital role of human morality in confronting injustice and envisioning another possible world.

This study, employing an interpretive-analytical method and drawing upon the concepts of “biopolitics,” “constituent power,” “multitude,” and “the common” in the political philosophy of Antonio Negri, seeks to analyze the film not merely as a depiction of suffering, but as a site for the emergence of resistance and the formation of political subjectivity. Here, resistance does not appear as heroic revolt, but rather through sacrifice, silence, and collective memory. Accordingly, the study asks: what narrative of alternative resistance does Sanshō the Bailiff offer? The findings suggest that the film’s core elements of resistance align with Negri’s thought—particularly in the creation of the common and the formation of subjectivity within conditions of shared suffering.

Keywords

Biopolitics
Resistance
Constituent Power
Multitude
The Common

Subjects

Asian Culture and Art Studies (Motaleat-e Farhang va Honare Asiya)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 07 June 2025

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