| Subject: Re: Japan in WW2 |
Author:
Jake
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Date Posted: 15:06:06 04/29/03 Tue
In reply to:
Adrian
's message, "Re: Japan in WW2" on 08:42:07 04/29/03 Tue
>>Grave of the Fireflies shows more respect for the
>>viewer's ability to determine the significance of
>>events for himself.
-snip-
>It's a little naive to say that Grave is showing
>respect for its audience. Grave is just as motivated
>a plot as Gen. Grave has an agenda, a story to tell,
>a point to get across. Lack of commentary doesn't
>mean that the agenda isn't there. Grave isn't just a
>listing of historical events. It tells a specific
>story for a reason. Grave makes a clear anti-war
>sentiment.
The point here is not that GotF has no message. The point is that GotF communicates its message in a more subtle, mature, and effective manner than Gen. GotF has a definite conclusion it wants the viewer to reach, but it doesn't explicity state it. Instead, it presents its story in such a way that the viewer is likely to come to that conclusion himself and therefore believe in it more strongly. Gen, on the other hand, essentially comes right out and says, "This is what I want you to think!"
-snip-
>On the other hand, Gen says that the Pacific War was
>stupid because Japan was obviously going to lose.
>This implies that some wars are not stupid. Gen isn't
>critical of war in general-- just this war. Gen
>doesn't have a big anti-war agenda like Grave.
Hmm. Yeah I can see the validity of that interpretation. I think I actually saw Gen as anti-war in general, but I don't really remember why. And it seems like that was the general consensus in class discussion as well. Oh well, I'd have to watch it again.
-snip-
>Grave sees the war as an avoidable tragedy, while Gen
>sees it as simply a bad episode. In that sense, I
>agree that Grave is more realistic.
>
>Unfortunately, due to the Japanese educational
>system's whitewashing of war history, most Japanese
>young people today probably see it more as a bad
>episode than as an enormous tragedy. Many Japanese
>political and religious groups still refuse to accept
>responsibility for their wartime practices.
>Revisionist history has turned Hirohito into a kind,
>powerless puppet of Tojo, when in fact Hirohito was a
>warmonger fully in charge.
Here I have to disagree though. From what I've learned in this class, it seems that most Japanese people view war as pretty much universally bad. And in productions of art and popular culture, this seems to be the common view as well. But you're right about the problem of the white-washing of history and the refusal of organizations to admit responsibility. As a result, war is often depicted as a kind of natural disaster; nobody knows where it came from, and nobody's to blame, but everybody suffers.
However, an interesting schism seems to be forming recently between the government and the general population. While the government seems to be becoming more militaristic and nationalistic again, most people in Japan remain very much anti-war and anti-nationalism. Hence the great controversy every time Prime Minister Koizumi visits Yasukuni shrine.
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