Mono No Aware

Mono no aware is the Japanese idea of the awareness of the transience of beauty and the ultimate sadness of life. After watching Early Summer can you better understand this concept? Where there scenes that evoked both feelings of joy and sadness, moments of beauty and tears?  What were your emotions at the end of the film?  What did you think about some of the images we discussed in class: the waves, the photograph, the child's balloon?  Are there moments when you felt the sadness and the beauty of life?

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?

All in the Family

Early Summer shows the relationship between two aged parents, their grown children and their grandchildren. The young children are rebellious and demanding.  The grandparents try to buy their grandchildren's affection.  The parents and brother try to manage the younger sister's life.  Choices about everything from buying an expensive cake to choosing to marry (and to whom one marries) have implications for everyone.  Eventually the family so painstakingly captured in a photograph breaks up, as Noriko marries and moves to the provinces and her parents move near the great uncle.  How accurate is this portrayal of family life? Is this a "slice of life" (and part of the reason it feels as if "nothing happens")? Does this remind you of your family? Is this how families work? Focus on one scene or character and discuss what it tells us about the dynamics of family life.