You Can Succeed, Too! Maybe...?

Effects of the Fantastic in Eizō Sugawa's You Can Succeed, Too! (1964)

Abstract

Musicals have shaped audiences’ understanding of film reality in that the extraordinary and fantastic are not only permitted but expected conventions, whereby characters break into spontaneous song and dance, teleport to staged sets, and perform for both diegetic and non-diegetic crowds. Dyer (2002) claims these genre films provide utopic solutions to contemporary struggles and injustices. Yet, the scope of these utopian sentiments is limited to the Hollywood context. This paper argues how the Japanese salaryman musical connects to its American prototype, with the latter’s ideas flowing seamlessly into the former because of the potential of transnational cinema. You Can Succeed, Too! (1964) draws on conventions of the Hollywood musical to comment on how the genre has become synonymous with America. Using pastiche and parody throughout the film, the Japanese musical reflects upon Hollywood cinema and its global role through stylistic critique and creative reinvention of musical conventions. Yet the musical genre that encourages imaginative, free-spirited portrayals of inner thoughts and emotions still supports the status quo. This paper analyses how while Japanese musical utopic sentiments are conveyed differently than in Hollywood musicals, the resolution remains the same: to absorb the dreamer protagonist into the censorial narrative structures that surround them. By focusing on the number “A Dream Desert,” it argues how hopes and aspirations are rendered attainable only through self-sacrifice and compromise with capitalistic ideals. Through its three renditions, it situates the main character as transforming from a wayward fantasist into a hegemonic conformist through his growing proximity with ruling hierarchies. As the world and its media become increasingly cosmopolitan and transnational, it is crucial to examine how the musical genre has impacted film conventions both within and beyond Hollywood, bridging continents and entrenching other national cinemas.