Who Is Aaron Gerow and What Can You Find on His Japanese Film Website?

Updated

Aaron Gerow is a scholar of Japanese and East Asian cinema, media, and culture who teaches at Yale University in the United States. His personal website, Tangemania (aarongerow.com), is a hub for his research on Japanese film, along with news, opinion, and links to English-language resources. If you are looking for an academic entry point into Japanese cinema studies—especially early Japanese film, contemporary directors, and questions of genre and spectatorship—his site is a useful place to start.

Who Aaron Gerow Is

Gerow's academic background combines film studies and Asian civilizations:

  • MFA in film studies from Columbia University
  • MA in Asian Civilizations from the University of Iowa
  • PhD in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa

He spent nearly 12 years in Japan, working for the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and teaching at Yokohama National University and Meiji Gakuin University. At Yale, he teaches Japanese and East Asian cinema, media, and culture, and helps run a combined doctoral program in East Asian cinema between the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Film and Media Studies Program.

What He Researches and Writes About

His published work covers topics such as Japanese early cinema, contemporary directors, film genre, and spectatorship. Several of his books are highlighted on the site:

Book Subject
Visions of Japanese Modernity: Articulations of Cinema, Nation, and Spectatorship, 1895–1925 Early Japanese cinema and its cultural context
Kitano Takeshi The filmmaker Kitano Takeshi
A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan A landmark silent film and 1920s modernity
Research Guide to Japanese Film Studies A reference resource for the field

He has also contributed to edited volumes such as City Secrets Movies and Defining Moments in Movies, and worked on DVD releases including The Roots of Japanese Anime and A Page of Madness.

What You Can Find on Tangemania

The site is organized into clear sections, mostly in English, with a Japanese (日本語) section for his activities in Japanese:

  • News and Opinion — updates and commentary
  • Books — his own titles and books he contributed to
  • Articles — including journal articles and internet articles
  • Interviews — conversations with or by him
  • Reviews and Reports — film reviews and event reports
  • Links — a curated list of external resources

The name "Tangemania" honors Tange Sazen, the one-armed, one-eyed ronin from Japanese cinema, most famously played by Okochi Denjiro.

How to Use the Site for Research

If you are a student, researcher, or curious viewer, the site works well as a starting point rather than a comprehensive database:

  1. Start with the Books section to see which of his works matches your topic—early cinema, Kitano Takeshi, or film studies methodology.
  2. Check Articles and Interviews for shorter, more accessible pieces that may be available online.
  3. Use the Links page to branch out to other English-language resources on Japanese film, including blogs, review sites, and film organizations.
  4. Look at the Japanese section if you read Japanese and want to follow his activities in that language.

The site focuses mostly on English-language resources, so it is especially helpful if you are researching Japanese cinema but working primarily in English.

Who This Site Is For

Tangemania is most useful if you:

  • Are studying Japanese or East Asian film at the university level
  • Want an academic perspective on Japanese cinema rather than fan-oriented coverage
  • Are looking for a reading list or research guide to the field
  • Want to follow the work of a specific scholar and his publications

It is less suited to someone looking for streaming links, plot summaries, or general entertainment news. For that, the external links on the site may point you toward other resources, but the site itself is centered on scholarship and commentary.