User:Jenfurg/Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies
Themes and analysis

Despite the public's emotional reaction, Takahata expressed that the purpose of the movie was not to be a tragedy or make people cry. Moreover, he regretted depicting Seita as a boy from that era because he wanted him to come off as a contemporary boy who acted like he had time-traveled to the period. He didn't intend for it to be retrospective or nostalgic. He wanted the Japanese audience to be weary of Seita's behavior. Furthermore, he says that his decision to show the audience that Seita and Setsuko have passed away at the beginning of the movie is to protect the audience from heartbreak, "If an audience knows at the beginning of the film that the two will eventually die, they are more prepared to watch the film in the first place. I try to lessen an audience's pain by revealing everything at the beginning."

The fireflies in the film are symbolic of various themes such as the spirits of the lost children, the fires that burned the towns, Japanese soldiers, machinery of war, and the regeneration of life through nature. Okypo Moon states in her essay "Marketing Nature in Rural Japan", that hundreds of fireflies were caught nightly in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a shift to reinstate this tradition and "there are now eighty five 'firefly villages' (hotaru no sato) registered at the Ministry of the Environment in Japan. The movie uses fireflies to visually represent both deadly and beautiful imagery, such as fire-bombs and kamikazes. Takahata chooses to use the kanji "fire" instead of the normal character for the word firefly in the title, which has been interpreted to represent the widespread burning of wooden houses in Japan. Critic Dennis H. Fukushima, Jr. believes that this modification of the title is to emphasize parallels between beauty and devastation, citing the relationship between fireflies, M-69 incendiary bombs, naval vessels, city lights, and human spirits.

In the book, "Imag(in)ing the war in Japan representing and responding to trauma in postwar literature and film," David Stahl and Mark Williams commend the film for not emphasizing Japanese victimhood to avoid responsibility for atrocities of the war they played a role in. They interpret that Seita's character embodies working towards healing historical trauma and victimization, because it is his nationalistic pride and selfishness which ultimately contributed to his sister's death.

Development and Production

Grave of the Fireflies was Takahata's first animated film produced with Studio Ghibli.

Takahata insisted on working with well known animators Yoshifumi Kondō who was working for Nippon Animation at the time and Yoshiyuki Momose. Both animators played a pivotal role in creating fluid, realistic animations of the characters in the animation.

Takahata drew from his personal experience to create a realistic depiction of the air raid on Okayama. In an interview, he criticized TV shows and movies that had recreated images of incendiary bombs, "They include no sparks or explosions, I was there and I experienced it, so I know what it was like."

The location and background in the movie is based off a style created by 18th century Japanese artist Hiroshige and his follower Herge, who created Tin Tin. Roger Ebert examines the contrast of the style of the background in comparison to the cartoonish animation of the characters. He claims that there is an unusual amount of detail in the evocative landscape, while the characters are a take on the modern Japanese animation with childlike bodies and enormous eyes. The depiction of Seita and Setsuko are Ebert believes that this deliberate animation style embodies the true purpose of animation, which is to recreate the raw emotion of human life by simplifying reality to emphasize ideas. He concludes his analysis with saying, "Yes, it's a cartoon, and the kids have eyes like saucers, but it belongs on any list of the greatest war films every made." According to Wendy Goldberg, Takahata's film also includes criticism of the emphasis on nationalism in Japan. In a particular scene, Seita's desire to join his father reflects a "national fantasy of war," which leads him to neglect his sister.

Reception

Well-known film director and critic Haruo Mizuno reviewed the Grave of Fireflies during his popular TV series. He praised the film for the honorary image of the soldiers of Japan through the depiction of the fireflies, and the moving depiction of a heartbreaking experience many people of Japan had lived through.

After seeing the reactions of the audience after a screening of Le tombeau des lucioles at Festival « Pour éveiller les regards », Jean-Jacques Varret, head of Les Films du Paradoxe, knew he had to distribute the movie in France. It was released in two Parisian arthouses and the reaction was modest. Following the release however, Les Films du Paradoxe chose to release the movie on video cassettes and on the streaming service Canal+.