So this week’s anime was Harp of Burma. I actually liked it compared to Botchan, which I think is also in like the “Anime Classics” dvd. In the film, a group of World War II soldiers are assigned in Burma until they learn that the war is over and Japan surrendered. One member of their squadron, Mizushima, goes on a mission to get a group of fellow Japanese to surrender but gets wounded while on assignment. When he finally recovers and takes on the guise of a monk, he sees the decaying bodies of all the Japanese soldiers who died fighting in the war and he is unable to cope. Rather than going back to Japan with his team, he dedicates his life to burying the bodies.
Overall, I’d say that it’s just interesting to see the Japanese view of death. Since the Shinto religion doesn’t really promise an afterlife, the Japanese seem to celebrate their lives. Suicide is only valid if it’s honorable, such as the death of Kuribayashi, who was mortally wounded in battle. Suicide to escape punishment or the harshness or life or something of the like is deemed cowardly. From what I’ve seen, there aren’t any examples of “honorable” suicide in America because it’s generally frowned upon here. And maybe that’s because we have such a Christian background that really denounces suicide and even calls it a sin.
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| Kuribayashi from Letters From Iwo Jima |
The best thing I read out of the chapter was probably about the fact that in anime, characters can die at any time or place. Even lead characters. But in America, the good guys always win and main characters usually don’t die. One thing I’ve noticed is that death is also somewhat unacceptable in American literature. If you think about certain books like Lord of the Flies (where the most sensible boys on the island both get killed), A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men, lead characters have all died and these books have all ended up on the banned books list. Maybe their banned status isn’t linked to the deaths of lead characters, but it’s something a lot of banned books have in common. Just some food for thought :)
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| Lenny and George from Of Mice and Men, "LENNY, WE AIN'T GOT NO KETCHUP " |
