Topic How Does It End?

FilmGrave of the Fireflies

Participants Alison Jennings (PowerPoint, Critical Analysis)Sara Olsen (Overview, Video, Critical Analysis) Justin Haupt (Introduction, Critical Analysis,

Discussion Questions)

• The film was based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical novel, Grave of the Fireflies, written by Akiyuki Nosaka.

• It was released in 1988 with a budget of 3.7 million USD and it grossed approximately 5 million USD.

• Originally intended for a live action film, it was proposed and accepted that the emotional aspects could be captured better in animated form.

• Brown lines instead of the traditional black ones were used to outline the objects to give the film an overall “softer” appearance.

Film Introduction

Japan in World War II

• In 1940 Japan signed the Tripartite Act which formed the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin Axis.

• After the U.S. announced an oil embargo on Japan Pearl Harbor was bombed.

• Propaganda glorified the Japanese empire and contained anti-American threats.

• Although there were no battlefronts on the Japanese mainland, there were many air raids that strategically attacked factories and small cities.

• Japan surrendered after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Video Clip

Seita

• He is the 14 year old protagonist and narrator of the story

• He tries to be responisble and strong for his younger sister by taking care of her

• His main fault is his pride, which leads to his and his sister’s deaths at the end of the film

Setsuko

• She is the 4 year old younger sister of Seita• She innocent and tends to be oblivious and

naïve about the horrors of the war around her

Seita’s Mother

• She is the archetypal mother figure• She is loving to her children and is calm in the face of danger for the sake of Seita and Setsuko

Seita’s Aunt

• Takes care of Seita and Setsuko when their mother dies• Very attached to her values of hard work for the sake of the

country• She appears more cruel in the American version of the story,

but is a strict head of household and is the reason Seita chooses to live in the bomb shelter

Fireflies

• Associated the glowing lights of fireflies with the hitodama, or the human soul that has been separated from its body after death.

• Fireflies also symbolize the frailty and brevity of life as they live for only 2 or 3 weeks

• The film is set in summertime Japan, during which fireflies appear and light the night sky.

• The curtness of the death of the fireflies parallels the premature deaths of Setsuko herself, and the many other innocent lives lost in war

Duty vs Pride

• Seita is faced with a choice between dealing with his condescending, but mostly accurate aunt, and saving his pride by living on his own.

• In our culture, his decision makes sense, he was trying to do the best he could on his own by working in any way he could to provide for his sister.

• his other choice would have been to buckle down and get a job like his aunt told him, which may have actually saved both him and his sister

• The story is a reflection about his downfall because of his unfounded arrogance when he needed to step up to help the one he loved.

The effects of War on Society• The film takes place toward the end of WWII in

Japan, and focuses on the events and hardships during the last few months of orphaned siblings Seita and Setsuko.

• After losing most of what rations they have to their aunt, Seita and Setsuko leave the home and move into an abandoned bomb shelter.

• Seita turns to stealing from local farmers and from homes that residents leave unattended during air raids.

• This is a “war film” that reaches you at the emotional level instead of the “exciting action” level. The film focuses on personal tragedies, rather than an epic struggle between two factions. The ending message seems to be that war is not worth the cost to civilians.

How it ends

• The movie opens to the end of Seita and Setsuko’s story, as Seita dies in the train station

• This gives a feeling of hopelessness, that in any war we know what the ending will be before it even begins, death.

• At the end of the movie, the siblings look over a modern city, a message to newer generations to not make the same mistakes

Discussion Questions

• Why would Setsuko dig a grave for the fireflies, instead of just tossing them out of the bomb shelter once they died? From watching the video, what seems to be the significance of the firefly in Japanese culture?

• In what ways does Seita try to provide Setsuko with a normal childhood? Does he succeed despite her death?

• How does the film compare to other “war movies” that you may have seen? How would you as the viewer feel after watching Grave of the Fireflies versus watching a modern-day, live-action war film?

• Is Grave of the Fireflies an accurate representation of the consequences of war?

Works Cited

• "Imperial Japan." History. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2014. <http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/imperial-japan>.

• Dower, John W. War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. New York: Pantheon, 1986. Print.

• "The Animerica Interview: Takahata and Nosaka: Two Grave Voices in Animation." Animerica. Volume 2, No. 11. Page 8.

• Ebert, Roger. "Grave of the Fireflies Movie Review (1988)." Review. Web log post. RogerEbert.com. N.p., 19 Mar. 2000. Web. July 2014.

• "Grave of the Fireflies." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 08 Oct. 2014. Web. July 2014.

• Hughes, Thomas A. "The Japanese Surrender." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 May 2014. Web. Aug. 2014.

• "The Light of the Firefly: What Is Its Role in Japanese Culture?" Web log post. すごい犬 A Blog Inspired by My Love of Animals, Languages and Public Relations. N.p., 25 Sept. 2012. Web. Aug. 2014.