"Isle of Dogs": The inevitable encounter between Wes Anderson's miniature garden world and Japonisme

Affinity between Japonism (broadly defined) and Wes films

``Isle of Dogs'' is set in Japan, but not in Japan. It is a world that condenses the ``Japanese'' seen by Westerners, something that Japanese people would never be able to depict, and reconstructs it (including parodies of the eccentric depictions of Japan and Japanese people in Hollywood movies).

“Isle of Dogs” ©2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

"Japonism" refers to the taste for Japan that was popular in the European art world in the late 19th century, but in this context I would like to take it in a broader sense. Specifically, this includes ukiyo-e, bunraku, haiku, bonsai, rock gardens, and more recently, ``bento''; a tendency and limitation to strip down elements and simply express the world, which is common to Japanese art and culture. The attitude of creating a microcosm in a confined space has been liked by people in Europe and America.

“Isle of Dogs” ©2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Wes's films have continued to depict this type of Japanese taste, which is Japonism in a broad sense, and the world of miniature gardens. It was inevitable that the two would meet, and ``Isle of Dogs'' was born from that encounter.

In addition, this time, a Kabuki scene is depicted as a play within a play that Wes often uses. This is also a part of Japanese culture that Westerners like, but the image of the puppet audience watching kabuki performed by puppet actors, and us the audience watching, emphasizes the nested structure even more than the live-action play within a play. I even feel a slight trip.

Between the possibility and impossibility of translation