Grave of the Fireflies- War Through the Eyes of A Child
In the waning days of World War II, American bombers drop napalm canisters on Japanese cities, creating fire storms. These bombs, longer than a tin can but about as big around, fall to earth trailing cloth tails that flutter behind them; they are almost a beautiful sight. After they hit, there is a moment's silence, and then they detonate, spraying their surroundings with flames. In a Japanese residential neighborhood, made of flimsy wood and paper houses, there is no way to fight the fires.
"Grave of the Fireflies" (1988) is an animated film telling the story of two children from the port city of Kobe, made homeless by the bombs. Seita is a young teenager, and his sister Setsuko is about 5. Their father is serving in the Japanese navy, and their mother is a bomb victim. The first shot of the film shows Seita dead in a subway station, and so we can guess Setsuko's fate; we are accompanied through flashbacks by the boy's spirit.
It tells a simple story of survival. The boy and his sister must find a place to stay, and food to eat. Their story is told not as melodrama, but simply, directly, in the neorealist tradition. And there is time for silence in it. One of the film's greatest gifts is its patience; shots are held so we can think about them, characters are glimpsed in private moments, atmosphere and nature are given time to establish themselves.
The locations and backgrounds are drawn in a style owing something to the 18th century Japanese artist Hiroshige and his modern disciple Herge (the creator of Tin Tin). There is great beauty in them--not cartoon beauty, but evocative landscape drawing, put through the filter of animated style. The characters are typical of much modern Japanese animation, with their enormous eyes, childlike bodies and features of great plasticity (mouths are tiny when closed, but enormous when opened in a child's cry--we even see Setsuko's tonsils). This film proves, if it needs proving, that animation produces emotional effects not by reproducing reality, but by heightening and simplifying it, so that many of the sequences are about ideas, not experiences.
There are ancient Japanese cultural currents flowing beneath the surface of "Grave of the Fireflies," and they're explained by critic Dennis H. Fukushima Jr., who finds the story's origins in the tradition of double-suicide plays. It is not that Seita and Setsuko commit suicide overtly, but that life wears away their will to live. He also draws a parallel between their sheltering cave and hillside tombs.
Fukushima cites an interview with the author, Akiyuki: "Having been the sole survivor, he felt guilty for the death of his sister. While scrounging for food, he had often fed himself first, and his sister second. Her undeniable cause of death was hunger, and it was a sad fact that would haunt Nosaka for years. It prompted him to write about the experience, in hopes of purging the demons tormenting him." (from www.robertebert.suntimes.com)
Questions- Type on a separate piece of paper
1.This movie was set in the first 8-9 months of 1945. According to your book, what was going on in the war at that time? (3 pts)
2.Why did Seita move himself and his sister out of his Aunt’s house? (2 pts)
3.This film is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by a man who survived the war as a child, and would have been the “Seita” character from the movie. He spent his life tormented by guilt over his sister’s death. Do you think “Seita” could have made any choices that would have saved his sister’s life? Why/why not? (3 pts)
4.Movie critic Ernest Rister compared Grave of the Fireflies to Schindler’s List, and said, “It is the most profoundly human animated film I’ve ever seen”. Do you agree with this assessment? Why/why not? (3 pts)
5.Create a collage that tells the story of Grave of the Fireflies. Do NOT use still pictures from the movie. Think about: the war in general, family, childhood, fear, hope, despair, greed, suffering, and any other theme you may have seen expressed in the film. Collages should be on regular 81/2x11 paper, and should be turned in with the rest of the questions. Please remember to put your name on the back of the collage. (9 pts)