Thoughts on Watching Daft Punk's Film | Akira Wakita, Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
2020.01.28
I often watch movies with the students in my research group. We watch Ozu and Riefenstahl to contemplate creativity that transcends time, and we learn about the diversity of interpretation from the space films of Kubrick and Tarkovsky. Writing it like this makes it sound cool, but perhaps the students are just indulging my hobby. I could clearly tell they were put off when we watched one of Hideo Gosha's yakuza films together.
One day in our research group, we watched a film called "Electroma" by Daft Punk. Since it was directed by musicians, I thought it might be a promotional video, but it turned out to be a wonderful road movie. Music plays a crucial role in this work, yet it contains no songs by Daft Punk. The song selection is impressive, featuring artists like Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno, and Curtis Mayfield, skillfully revealing the protagonists' emotions to match each scene. There is not a single line of dialogue.
The story could be summarized in just three lines, but it painstakingly depicts the "texture" and "flavor" of each and every scene. The one-point perspective camera angles reminiscent of Kubrick, the unity of beautiful landscapes and music—these elements create the unique sense of immersion characteristic of a road movie. I believe there is no better work for immersing oneself in such lyrical and emotional sound and visuals.
But the film's appeal doesn't stop there. It portrays the world, organizations, and communities as seen by artists. Within them, there is an unavoidable sense of unease. The world is full of strange things, so why does everyone live so calmly without noticing? The film meticulously depicts the critical perspective of artists who are treated as heretics and outsiders in society.
The setting is a society where robots live. The protagonists (the two members of Daft Punk) are, of course, also robots, and they dream of becoming human. After much effort, they finally become human and stride through the town. Their gaze at that moment is very striking and critical. However, the townspeople return their gazes with cold stares. Gradually, they begin to try to exclude them, chasing them all over town. The protagonists, who tried to become human in a robot society, are driven out of town by the ordinary people (ordinary robots), wander the desert at a loss, and continue their march toward a tragic end.
A student told me that the "oma" in the title "Electroma" apparently means "tumor." In other words, the title translates to "electronic tumor." The "Electro" part probably comes from the robot society or the fact that their music genre is called electronica. Are outsiders excluded from every organization? Is there no safe haven for mavericks? At the end of the story, the terribly sad conclusion left all the members of the research group in a somber mood.
There are many mavericks among the students in the Wakita Lab. I think it's probably related to our focus on art, but it seems to attract people who feel they don't have a place at SFC. I wonder what they felt after watching this film. That evening was a welcome party for new members, but I couldn't attend because of an urgent matter related to my duties as dean. I wanted to continue the conversation with the students who had gathered in the lab—those young mavericks who feel a sense of unease with society—and exchange our thoughts on the film.
--- Four months have already passed since the beginning of this semester when we watched that film. It's also my fourth month as dean. I must confess that in my new position, within a new community, I've been spending my days, much like Daft Punk in the movie, unable to shake a feeling of being out of place. When I say something I believe is very important, I get looks that say, "Why would you say that?" and for the first time in my life, I am grappling with the wall known as consensus building. Well, since a person like me is serving as dean, I want all you students who can't be "normal" not to worry and to look forward. I want you to cherish that sense of unease within you and engage with your research and creative work. I want to give my full support to such maverick students.
P.S. At my checkup last week, I was told that the malignant tumor I have been fighting for five years is completely cured. The tumor inside me is gone (I hope), but my existence and way of life will not change.