those who hold this interpretation argue that this aspect of ozu's work gives it its universality, and helps it transcend the specifically japanese cultural context in which the films were created. bock writes: "the subject matter of the ozu film is what faces all of us born of man and woman and going on to produce offspring of our own: the family… [the terms "shomingeki" or "home drama"] may be applied to ozu’s works and create an illusion of peculiar japaneseness, but in fact behind the words are the problems we all face in a life cycle. they are the struggles of self-definition, of individual freedom, of disappointed expectations, of the impossibility of communication, of separation and loss brought about by the inevitable passages of marriage and death." bock suggests that ozu’s wish to portray the life cycle affected his decisions on technical matters, such as the construction and use of the sets of his films. "in employing the set like a curtainless stage ozu allows for implication of transitoriness in the human condition. allied with the other aspects of ritual in ozu's techniques, it reinforces the feeling that we are watching a representative life cycle."