Thursday, April 5, 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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The movie Early Summer depicts this transition by keeping its traditional ways a base to their societal standards while adding the aspects that they enjoy from American culture. They keep the importance of family as the key aspect in society and also keep the rich traditions of honor and respect. This idea of family is shown in most Asian films, thanks to the belief of Confucianism that has carried over generations. These beliefs are shown in the movie through the elders having the most power and their voice being respected the most. For example, the grandparents always have the most information in the movie and a specific happening of this is when Noriko is swayed to marry the man, all because of what the grandmother says to her about marriage. Along with these, they attempt to progress with the world and time by adding Westernized objects such as baseball, shown in the children’s baseball hats and the photography used, which is a western invention, to keep photos of their experiences. This movie judges western aspects as more adds on rather than overpowering themes that will take over their society. Baseball is the main idea for this point because the sport is more of a hobby and for fun. The movie seems to show that these western things are great for their lives and make life more enjoyable. This theme of westernization being fun is well shown through this movie because it is how the west is usually portrayed, as a culture that isn’t always healthy, but you’ll have a lot of fun. I don’t feel there is a political slant, but rather the idea that family will always be the most important no matter how westernized the culture become.
ReplyDeleteThis movie shows the after math of WWII and how it affected the social and cultural aspects of Japan. On a cultural level there is not much that has changed from generations past, with the grandparents being respected the most and having the full attention of their children. You can see this whenever the elders are talking in the movie and have the undivided attention of their children and peers. They also kept the cultural aspects of marriage and how the whole family and the family of the other significant partner have to agree on the marriage. This is something that did not change from after the war and it won’t change for a long time. We see this when Noriko decides to marry the man the family has known their whole lives, but has to get the approval of her family first before starting to plan anything. Taking a look at the social aspects of the post war Japan, we see that American influence and come into the Japan way of life. The Japanese would never have had an American poster, selling the idea of going to the Pacific Northwest before the war, but we see this in a store as Noriko is walking out. America did not make a huge social change in Japan but through the film we can definitely see the influence America had after the war. There is no judgement of the American influence in my mind by the movie, rather just the idea that the culture that has been set up for centuries in Japan will not be shaken or disturbed by small social changes that Americans have brought over with them.
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