Tuesday, April 8, 2014
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?
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The transition from Eastern to Western culture in post-WWII Japan plays an immense role in Early Summer. This transition is predominantly depicted through the similar interplay between the grandparents’ generation and the parents’. The clothes from the different generations are the most prominent difference. The older generation tends to wear more traditional Japanese clothing, but the younger generation wears more modern clothes. They then dress up their children in more American clothing, perpetuating America’s influence on Japanese culture. American and Western culture altered more than the belongings of the Japanese. Noriko’s friend envisioned her living a completely Western lifestyle even going so far as to speak English instead of Japanese. Early Summer depiction of Japan in its state of transition from a traditional to modern way of life, but it emphasizes a slower lifestyle more similar to the traditional one. The children’s train track is an example of the movies viewpoint. The children want more train track, but the family’s economic condition prohibits this so their behavior worsens. This connects the typically Western toy and upbringing with poorly behaved children who don’t respect their family members. The traditional lifestyle is further made out to be superior by Noriko’s choice to marry Yabe rather than Mr. Manabe. Mr. Manabe represents a more modern form of marriage because he is a businessman and likes golf, but Yabe chooses to move to the farm country rather than live in the modernizing city. Noriko’s choice to live in a more traditional Japanese setting implies that the movie supports a more traditional Japanese lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteThe transition from Eastern and Western in post World War II in Japan plays a big part in this movie, Early Summer. During the movie you will see the two different cultures often conflicting with each other. The grandparents in the movie usually wear traditional Japanese robes. The parents in the movie such as the father wears suits and ties while he is at work but when he comes home he likes to lounge in his traditional Japanese robe while his kids like to run around the house wearing baseball hats. The kids also enjoy playing with toy trains, which is a very popular toy in America for this particular time period. Ozu is trying to convey the idea that new customs and new ways of thinking starts with the later generations of family because the grandkids in this movie are starting to break away from these old Japanese traditions. This is why the grandkids act rebellious towards their parents and grandparents throughout the movie to symbolize them breaking away from the “old”. I agree with Sam that the film is more in favor of the traditional lifestyle oppose to the modern since Noriko marries Mr. Yabe, who embraces the traditional Japanese customs and since the main plot is about Noriko finding a husband. Mr. Yabe embraces these customs by wanting to move to the countryside so that Noriko and him can start a farm. In fact the title of this movie insinuate the idea of transitioning from Eastern to Western culture. Here in America, the beginning of the summer is a huge deal since kids are on there way to summer break, graduating to the next grade level and then you have teenagers making a transition from a child to an adult since this is a time when they graduate from high school and making their transitions into the real world.
ReplyDeleteOzu’s movie Early Summer was made shortly after the Americans defeated the Japanese. The older women in the movie generally wore kimonos and the working girls would wear western clothing. Some of the women who are around the age of Noriko would go between wearing western clothing and kimonos, showing the transition from traditional Japan to a way that embraces the ideas of America. The young boys however do not relate to the traditional Japanese culture by wearing baseball caps and wanting to play with toy train tracks. I think that Ozu is trying to show that Japan is starting to change from being very cultural to becoming more western and different. Baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie are the more western products that are being brought into their lives and are influencing the younger generations. The two young boys are completely different from their grandparents from the things that entertain them and the way they dress. When the grandparents were finding a husband or wife during their time, their families would arrange it and everything would be set. Noriko did not want to marry the man that her family thought was best for her but went with someone she knows she would be happy with. With the American influences on them from being occupied, the people in Early Summer start to change the way they live and are conflicted between the old cultural Japan and the new progressing western culture.
ReplyDeleteThe film Early Summer shows the both sides of the Japanese culture. On one side you have the traditional grandparents who wear kimonos and the women who cook and clean. The modern women, Noriko wears dress shirts and skits and works for a living instead of being traditional and staying at home to cook and clean. To the contrary of settling down and getting married Noriko is a staple of the modern women. She knows that if and when she gets married her job will pertain to her cooking and cleaning till her husband returns home. It’s not only the women who break the boundary in terms of traditional and modernism. The two young boys wear baseball caps, showing that the two boys are American. Also the way the boy’s treat their elders are a direct link to how the traditional ways have been cleared, resulting in their disrespect towards their elders. The grown children don’t disrespect their parents but have other worries. They try to control each others lives, the brother finding a husband for Noriko to marry and then getting mad when she didn’t pick him. The traditional way is for the parents or the elders to find a husband or wife to marry but instead Noriko takes her life in her own hands like she has done before and choose her own. The film Early Summer the traditional ways and the modern ways mash to make up a completely new way of living, a mixture of modernism with a hint of ancient traditions.
ReplyDeleteThe conflict between more modern Western culture, and traditional Japanese culture, is constant throughout the movie. One of the easiest ways to spot it is through the differing dress of many of the characters. In any one scene you can see male actors dressed in a typical Western-style suit as they walk to work, while at the same time seeing traditional Japanese women dressed in a kimono walking through the streets. Just by the clothing of different characters we can see a country in transition, with some individuals holding on to their traditional past, with others embracing the West wholeheartedly. The scene that depicts this cultural dichotomy most clearly is when Norkio takes her uncle to see the play. As the camera pans across the audience, notable because it's the first instance of significant camera movement in the film, the viewer is confronted with a varying display of dress. Women donning kimonos with pinned up hair, sitting next to other women wearing Western-style dresses. In just one room, one audience, the vast changes between Japanese and Western, old and new,. can be scene.This is just one way, a powerful way I think, the movie shows the clash between Japanese and Western culture.
ReplyDeleteI personally think the director is attempting to provide a critique on the rising American influence in Japan, and therefor isn't much of a fan of hotdogs or baseball. American culture is definitely made to seem desirable by a number of characters, notably when Noriko's friend comments on how she always expected Norkio to live a typical American life, wearing American clothes and living in an American style house with a white picket fence. But the desire to be more like America, on an individual level and on a national one, seems to be tearing Japan apart. People are beginning to hold on to different values, caring about different things, and having different beliefs. Norkio's desire to get married, leave her family, and hopefully live that picturesque American life means leaving her family behind, and in the process, tearing it apart. That final scene, as the Japanese woman in her traditional dress walks across the field in her wedding procession, appears almost to be a sad metaphor for changing times. The old, more tradition-based culture is leaving Japan, to be replaced by a more Americanized one that doesn't put the same emphasis on family. Scenes like this lead me to believe that the director holds somewhat anti-American culture sympathies.
Yasujirō Ozu’s movie, Early Summer, takes place right after the Americans beat the Japanese in World War II. Therefore, there was some American control in Japan as well as a cultural change. This is evident in Early Summer based on a few things. First off the clothing shows how the culture has changed. The grandparents in the film tend to be seen in traditional clothing such as the kimono. Noriko is also seen wearing the kimono, however she is seen in dresses as well. The grandparents seem to be a lot more traditional and embracing their Japanese culture than their children and especially their grandchildren. The young boys are seen wearing baseball caps and enjoying hot dogs and apple pie. These three things are brought to Japan from American and are from the western culture. Secondly, arranged marriages are very common to the grandparents in the family. This was common for a very long time until about the 1940’s. However, Noriko was raised in a different time period and arranged marriages were not nearly as common. Therefore, Noriko was not easily pushed into an arranged marriage. She did not eventually end up with the man her family wanted her to be with. Noriko decided to choose her own path and be with the man she was happy with. Personally I think that it is great the Noriko embraced the Western culture and decided to make her own decision. In the end, the grandparents are obviously closely related to the traditional Japanese culture, but the children and grandchildren are ready for something new.
ReplyDeleteDue to the time period in which the film was shot, it's very clear that there are certain "American" influences in Japan after the end of WWII on the Pacific front. However, it's also very easy to see today that there is much Japanese culture in America, and American culture is notably difficult to define because we are such an immigrant-heavy nation. So, that said, the baseball caps that the two youngest boys wear are undoubtedly the biggest American icon in the film, with the angel food cake coming at a close second. I don't believe it's fair to say that the younger characters in the movie are wearing more casual clothes to be more American, it's more that that's just the way that the world is moving. Even in the United States, you very rarely see elderly men and women of similar class to Noriko's grandparents in T shirts and jeans. That's just the way the world works. Perhaps in 100 years everyone will wear 3 piece suits where they go, much like in the 1920's in the United States. I don't believe that the director has anything against the American culture. If he did, he missed a big opportunity. He could have made a bigger statement (if he wanted to) by making the two young boys very nice and polite to show that Americans are rude, but rather the Japanese young boys were just as ill mannered. With all that said, there are certain elements of American presence in the film, but not enough to constitute any opinions of the director.
ReplyDeleteThis movie both holds on to traditional Japanese values, while making it clear that the country was experiencing a period of change. The role of women is one area where both past traditions and a move towards a more progressive society is visible. On one hand, there is a lot of pressure put upon female characters in the movie to become married. Noriko is constantly berated by her family to find a nice man, especially since she is already 28 years old. Furthermore, women are still subservient to their husbands in their marriages, always making sure that they are comfortable and well-fed. In that sense, Early Summer is still holding on to the past. On the other hand, society is becoming more inclusive to women and their decisions, similar to what the United States was experiencing at the time. At the end of the day, Noriko does decide by herself what she wants to do with her life, even though her family does not fully approve of her future husband. Furthermore, Noriko and her friend embrace their single lifestyles, and don't back down to their disapproving married friends. Furthermore, the transition of Japanese society in the movie is seen in other ways as well. The young boys in the film wear baseball caps, which although is a minor detail, shows a particular fondness for American tradition. Also, the father of the house even works on Sundays, a decision that is critiqued by the grandmother in the film. Regardless, he goes off to work, even though it’s irregular to work on that day.
ReplyDeleteEven though there is a transition towards a more western culture, America and its traditions also seem slighted in the film. The one scene where this clearly occurs is when Noriko is having a conversation with her fellow friend who is single. Her friend tells her that she never imagined Noriko would be moving out to the countryside. Rather, in a mocking tone, she tells Noriko that she assumed she would be a standard American housewife, living behind a white picket fence and speaking in English. However, it can be seen that this sort of depiction isn't sincere. Rather, it's a bit of an attack on the American lifestyle. The film makes out American culture, with its hot dogs and baseball caps, to be fine, but there is a subtle disapproval present.
Early summer is a film that focuses on a traditional Japanese family, while also exploring a younger generation that experiences change after the Americans had defeated the Japanese. Of course, the most visual aspect of this change is the young boys wearing the American baseball hats, with the traditions of America starting to infect the Japanese. The communication problems between the generations are most evident when it comes to Noriko’s marriage, as her family expects her to marry the man that they sought out for her, Mr. Manabe, because those were the traditions they experienced. Pre WWII, the cultural assumption in Japan was that a woman would accept a match made by her family when the time was right. However, it is clear that the cultural values of American have started to seep into the younger generations of kids, as at the time in the U.S., women began playing a more prominent role is day-to-day life while no longer being bound by the restrictions placed on them by a patriarchal society. Noriko chooses the match that she thinks is best for herself, Kenkichi Yabe, and it is also a sign of the times that Noriko’s family decides to live with the disappointment and accept her decision rather than making her change it. Therein lies the judgment the film makes about Western culture, as rather than resisting this change the older generation realizes it is inevitable and has to live with it. While the Japanese may not have necessarily agreed with “baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie,” once the train got rolling there was no stopping it.
ReplyDeleteThe transition is prevalent in the different generations. The grandparents are more traditional, the parents are less traditional, and the children are hardly traditional at all. The grandparents display images of traditions such as wanting to choose who their daughter marries or their clothing, whereas the children are not obedient and they wear garments of clothing that are not customary. They wear baseball caps and shirts and shorts in a family portrait, where their elders are wearing traditional Japanese clothing. A prime example of the children not being obedient is where the youngest one repeatedly says "I love you" to the grandfather to continue to get treats from him, but just as they boy leaves he says "I hate you." He does not respect his elders in any sense. This act of behavior is like that of American culture, which shows the Westernization in Japan. There is a political slant about America. At first I thought that this movie was not characteristic of Japanese culture because Ryuji said that children are always obedient to their elders, however I know have come to realize that Ozu purposely made the kids rebellious to emphasize the point that Japanese traditions are becoming Americanized and losing strength. This movie is poking fun at the stereotypically American ideals such as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. I believe this theme in the movie was made to try to revert Japan back to traditional beliefs and actions, such as respecting elders and wearing traditional clothing, not baseball caps and shorts.
ReplyDeleteThe transition of culture that Japan was going through post-WWII was shown in the characters. The traditional ways of Japanese and Eastern culture was older way of life, while the American and Western culture represented a more modern way of life. You could see this transition in the different generations of the characters in Early Summer. The grandparents would wear the more traditional clothes and still pushed for more traditional ways of living for their daughter. Their children, who were the middle generation for this family in this movie, showed styles from both the new and the old culture. The brother pushed for more traditional values, while Noriko began to wear more modern clothes and think outside of the traditional way of living. The youngest children showed a completely modern way of living. They would only wear Western clothes, like their baseball caps, and even had fun playing the Western game of baseball. The transition that Japan was going through was perfectly shown through the different generations of the family. The movie makes a statement with which one it supports through Noriko’s decision of who to marry. She had the opportunity to go and marry a more modern man; he was a businessman who enjoyed Western activities like golfing. Instead, she decided to marry a man who was associated with the more traditional was of Japanese culture, and live out on a farm somewhere instead of the city that was heavily Western influenced. Her choice to marry this man instead shows the movie’s support of the more traditional culture of Japan.
ReplyDeleteThe Americanization of Japan emphasizes the generation gap that is already there between Norkio’s and her parents’ generations. Her parents cling to the old traditions for example they try to keep the whole family staying together in one household or that they believe that family as a group should decide who marries whom rather than the actually people involved in the marriage making the decisions. The children are more indoctrinated in American culture. This can be seen in the baseball hats that Isamu and Minoru wear in the family picture and Minor’s obsessions with his electric trains. Both of those things can be considered exports of American society of the 50’s.
ReplyDeleteThe most noticeable conflict of old Japanese tradition with American culture can be seen in Noriko. Her friend imagines her living the american life style with the white picket fence and the fridge full of cocoa cola. Her friend seems to have no problem with this image. Noriko does not see herself in that same light but she does seem to resist some old traditions. For example marrying for the good of the family. She is reluctant to go into an arranged marriage with Mr. Manabe because she does not have any feelings for him. That is why when she jumps at the chance to marry Kenkichi Yabe, even if her parents disapprove. She knows him well and she is sure that she will be happy with him and might even love him. This is a very American idea marrying for love.
As many above have already suggested, during the period the film was created, Americanization in Japan was growing, as represented in the film. The fact that Noriko has an album full of pictures of Audrey Hepburn and her friend has a fridge full of coca-cola epitomizes the Americanization, specifically in the younger generations. The Americanization of the younger Japanese ages and the differences between them and the older Japanese family members displays the generation gaps growing. Noriko doesn't want to get married, despite the fact that her ever elder in her entire family and even older friends think it is best, and are tirelessly pushing to find her a husband. This shows a difference between generations growing, creating a bigger hole. Yet another example is the scene where the two young boys of the family ask for train tracks, and when the father brings home bread instead, a necessity most likely, they throw a fit. Right after, the father scolds them both saying to his wife how they are basically spoiled and the scene shows the difference of opinion on material things between the older generation and the rising one...the one that is influenced most by America.
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