In Harp of Burma death surrounds the group of soldiers as they try and complete their mission during WWII. It's not realized until the end, where you find out why one of the soldiers stays back instead of returning home with his comrades. He stays back as a traveling monk to give all of the fallen soldiers a proper burial, and he says that it may take him his entire lifetime to complete, but he believes that was the reason he was sent to Burma. The amount of bodies shown were endless, and they were all rotting out in the open with nobody to care for them. The Japanese soldiers that died at the American hospital were all buried together with no names on the tombstone, and a quick prayer service was given to them. During war, death is to be expected, but one cannot understand how bad unless one was there to experience it in war itself.
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| Taken from houseofanime.org |
The movie Letters From Iwo Jima covered death as well, but in an entirely different view. They had a scene where a soldier was blinded by a grenade, and instead of trying to survive with all his might, he committed suicide. It may seem like a coward's way out, but his actions were for his comrades and Japan. He didn't want to hinder the unit's mobility which would be a great disadvantage for them, and he didn't want to be captured as a POW by the Americans and be forced to give information about the unit's missions and tactical strategies. Another scene was where the captain who was wounded and trying to escape called it quits and asked his assistant to behead him. This plan failed when an American killed the assistant as he was about to give the death blow, but then a soldier who owed his life to the captain 3 times over came along and helped him commit suicide with his own Colt .45. This aspect was a way of dying with honor on his homeland of Japan. These are all aspects of death that are carried out in different ways, and eventually we will see these aspects of death during our lifetime, that's because death is just a part of life.
Chee I totally see what you are saying and I agree. Living in America, we do try to avoid the conversation of death. We all know death isn’t a good thing, so why should we talk about it? However like you said, the Japanese aren’t blind by the fact that death is just a part of life. Of course most people don’t want to die, but why pretend like dying isn’t going to happen. I like how the Japanese doesn’t hide this aspect in the shadows. They just keep living until it happens. On the other hand, suicide is a different story. Like you said, suicide is looked at differently in the two countries. Yes, in America suicide is a really bad thing. Most people do think it’s the cowardly way out. Some people just believe that there is more to live for and should fight watch every there going through, until things get better. As you mention in Japan, suicide is looked at a little differently. Its not necessarily cowardly because they take their own lives for something they are not doing right. Also because they did something bad this is most likely dishonorable to their country.
ReplyDeleteI agree with pretty much everything you said Chee, and Kenneth as well. I do however think there is a difference between embracing the fact that death is inevitable and making death part of every day conversation. We do tend to avoid bringing up death in conversation to a certain extent, but is it really because don't want to accept it? I think it is avoided not because we want to deny that it is true, but actually because we already have accepted it, and we know that talking about it isn't going to change anything anyways. It's a subject that when brought up just reminds you that you eventually will die, and as normal people we don't really need to think about it for any reason. I think that the American Culture and Japanese culture on death are actually very similar. Everyday people walking around in Japan probably don't randomly think to their selves, "When I die it must be an honorable death!". I think only in war, in both America and Japan, is when people realize that they need to go out with success, and the film we watched definitely shows that.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said death is avoided and life is expected in the American culture. It sounds like something out of a quote book, haha. I equally liked how you said that the Japanese openly embrace death and see it as a reality because the reality is, death is very real. It is true that life is celebrated in Japan. They even have festivals that celebrate trees for God sakes! I do not think its a bad thing though, do not get me wrong here. Its rather moving to be honest. Life SHOULD be celebrated, its a beautiful thing, and death should be embraced, because it happens to everyone. What I don’t understand, though, is why it is so hard for most Americans to grasp this idea. Why do we have to shelter death, and everything else for that matter, from the younger age bracket? News flash, they will be exposed to it sooner or later. I had to go off on a rant there for a second. I feel like everyone should live like its their last day. If an opportunity presents itself to you that you wouldn’t normally have, I feel as if you should take it. We should embrace the bad, and celebrate the good in life.
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