, literally ''common people drama'', is a pseudo-

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

word invented by Western film scholars. It describes a

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

of Japanese realist

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

which focus on the everyday lives of ordinary people. In Japanese the correct word for this genre is ''shōshimin-eiga'' (小市民映画, literally ''petit-bourgeois film'' or ''lower middle class film'').
Film historians Joseph L. Anderson and

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also dir ...

define the ''shomin-geki'' as " sentially a film about proletarian or lower-middle-class life, about the sometimes humorous, sometimes bitter relations within the family, about the struggle for existence, ��the kind of film many Japanese think of as being about 'you and me.'"
The beginnings of the ''shomin-geki'' are assigned to the

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

film studio and its director

Yasujirō Shimazu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, and a pioneer of the '' shomin-geki'' (common people drama) genre at the Shōchiku studios in pre-World War II Japan. Biography Shimazu was born in Tokyo, the second son of merchant Otojirō Shim ...

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

(1903–1963), a former assistant of Shimazu, and

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

(1905–1969) are two prominent directors considered to work primarily in the field of the ''shomin-geki''. Others include

Heinosuke Gosho was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed Japan's first sound film, '' The Neighbor's Wife and Mine'', in 1931. His films are mostly associated with the shomin-geki (lit. "common people drama") genre. Among his most noted works ...

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasu ...

, and occasionally

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Uget ...

Terms

* ''Shomin'' (庶民) – common people, populace, masses, plebeian''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', Kenkyusha Limited, Tokyo 1991, * ''Shōshimin'' (小市民) – petty bourgeois, lower middle class * ''Geki'' (劇) – drama, play * ''Eiga'' (映画) – cinema, film

References

External links

shomin-geki on Cinewiki (Web Archive)
History of film of Japan Film genres Mass media portrayals of the working class Working class in Asia {{film-genre-stub