Abstract
Japanese pure love films and TV dramas have a particular preference for incurable diseases, such as leukemia. To view these illnesses merely as a means to preserve the beauty of the characters is not only inconsistent with the plot but also obscures the cultural—political implications of this obsessive fixation, which clearly exhibits compulsive traits. In fact, by repeatedly emphasizing leukemia, Japanese pure love films and TV dramas complete a higher—order symbolic identification with the victims of the atomic bombings, thereby perpetuating the victim logic upheld in Japanese atomic bomb literature. As a unique trauma narrative, these works skillfully evade both historical and moral scrutiny. Thus, the history of the atomic bombing, as metonymically represented by leukemia, is continually reintroduced through this narrative mechanism and, in the process, achieves global recognition within an eternal synchronicity. In this way, leukemia subtly converges with what Auschwitz symbolizes: the universal suffering and cruelty of humanity. Through this narrative device, Japan's crimes as an aggressor and perpetrator in World War II are, to some extent, cleansed.
Keywords
Japanese pure love film and TV drama, leukemia, traumatic memory, the identity of victim
First Page
127
Last Page
136
Recommended Citation
Jia, Wei. 2025. "The Cinematic Representation of Leukemia and the Politics of Exoneration: Japanese “Pure Love” Dramas as Traumatic Memory." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 45, (6): pp.127-136. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol45/iss6/13
