Entre la transgresión y la perversión: la imagen de Japón en la prensa española a través de El imperio de los sentidos de Ōshima Nagisa

Abstract

This article analyzes film reviews of the work of Japanese director Ōshima Nagisa, published in the Spanish daily press between 1969 and the early 2010s. Its main objective is to examine the image or images of Japan conveyed to the Spanish public through critical discourse. In doing so, it examines how Ōshima’s films —marked by transgression, violence, eroticism, and social critique— were interpreted by Spanish journalists, and how these interpretations helped shape a collective vision of Japan, often echoing the perceptions constructed by 19th-century Western travelers. Through an in-depth study of these reviews, the article emphasizes the value of cinema —and, crucially, its reception— as a source for cultural analysis, offering insights not only into the society that produces the films, but also into those who consume and interpret them.