Friday, November 2, 2018
Sushi and Baseball
Early Summer depicts a Japan in transition. Defeated and occupied by the Americans, the Japanese both cling to their traditional ways and embrace new ideas from their occupiers. How does the movie show this transition? Does this movie make a judgment about the new American influence? Is there a political slant, however subtle, in this film? What does this movie think about baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie?
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While the film “Early Summer” entertains the transition between traditional and westernized Japanese culture throughout its story in various ways, the film and its creator seem to take an unbiased approach to the transition, being that it focuses less on its opinion of the transition and more on the rift between those who support both sides. The movie has both major plot points and minor details that express how intertwined and almost confused the Japanese people are in terms of their culture and its expression throughout this movie. From posters and signs that have English on them and express various English pastimes, from movies to travel to sports, to the actual synopsis of the entire plot being the struggle between a modern Japanese woman and her traditionalist family about her decision to marry, the film gets into many specifics of how Japanese culture is changing. To me, the film feels as if it ever so slightly leans in favor of change, as in the end of the movie the family feels as if they have changed so drastically and been broken up. This is due in some part to their unwillingness to commit to and support the change around them, while Noriko finds a much greater happiness with someone whom she never would have been able to marry under traditional circumstances. Many other details in the film, such as the posters about travel and English on signs and in other places throughout the film seem to suggest that Ozu is accepting some of the change in Japan at the time because of his acknowledgement of it within the film. As far as the creator and the actual film as a piece and what they think of different stereotypically American things, it is hard to know their absolute opinion. The details within the movie are subtle; however, I think that Ozu, while being hesitant to make this the forefront of his movie, was generally accepting of the change that was coming to Japan.
ReplyDeleteTransition is one of the most essential elements of the movie. Be it in the way a mother is scared of transitioning to a new setting for her son, the way a woman must transition to a wife, or even the way parents must transition to a life separated from the rest of their family. Ozu shows transitions in social dynamics with beautiful accuracy in the way that he grants women more power in the film. Instead of being weak and simple-minded, the main character is strong-minded and independent. This is until the end when she eventually just accepts the change she must undergo to become a wife. This might be a criticism of the acclimation of the Japanese people to the new-way of life. The girl went from strong and independent to forgoing her principles and convincing herself she is happy despite giving up the way of life she had been so used too. This might also be the director attempting to show that change brings happiness in ways that you are unable to predict. The characters welcome the American influences of baseball and hotdogs and apple pie, so perhaps Ozu is trying to show that the strong and independent can change without having to give up their happiness. He is trying to show that there can be joy in change as change is an unavoidable component of life. Sticking to the elements of Mono no aware, he is showing that happiness does not have to stop with change but with quiet reflection, happiness can instead be bolstered in times of change.
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