Resignifying the Japanese father: Mediatization, commodification, and dialect

- New style of connected fatherhood is demonstrated.
- Language commodification of a regional dialect is reported.
- Regional dialect and stereotypically masculine language is used by a connected and caring father.
- Social class and connected fatherhood are inversely related.
- New indices of warm affect and connected fatherhood are attached to dialect.

A new style of Japanese masculinity targeting the new middle class, specifically stereotypical salarymen, is highlighted in the 2013 Cannes Jury Prize Award winning movie, Soshite Chichi ni Naru (Like Father, Like Son). Belabored by the ongoing economic slump and ever-decreasing birthrates, masculinity is (re)presented both visually and audibly as a hands-on caregiving father who speaks a regional dialect.Through mediatization and language commodification, Osaka dialect is resignified and linked to an affective, hands-on fatherhood. The juxtapositioning of Standard language and dialect serves to underscore a distinction between a cold, distant father and a warm, affective one. The film provides valuable insight into the emergence of a new ideal of fatherhood that is indexed through language.