Sunday, March 29, 2020
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?
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After watching Early Summer I had a deeper appreciation for the concept "Mono no aware". In Asian and Japanese culture especially, there is a sense of thankfulness and appreciation especially of all things elderly in terms of respect, honor and growth. As the movie showed the different intricate power dynamics in society of Japanese life at home and work, there was a clear sense of warm care and nostalgia very different from Western culture. Unlike the care that a Western family may show with things centered around words and love, the movie showed that these moments of beauty were captured through actions instead. Although there was a sadness to things like the elderly becoming frail and weaker, there was also something sweet about it as the next generation would grow to mature and take care of the older generation. This is a physical manifestation of the appreciation of awareness of mono no aware as they are all aware of the lifestyle and even break down to tears at times but at the end of the movie are brought together just like they are still united in the picture they took near the end f the movie with the naive children and wise and caring grandparents.
ReplyDeleteBefore watching Early Summer, I had a slight understanding of the concept of Mono No Aware but after watching the film I definitely felt like I had a much deeper understanding and appreciation for the concept. Watching this movie right before this pandemic was incredibly impactful to me looking back on it now while we are all on quarantine and have to do school from home. The movie helped me realize how many daily things, even if they are small, I took for granted before. Just being able to drive to school, learn at school, and practice with the team are just some of the many things that I would do almost anything just to do at least one more time at the moment. I feel like this is a perfect example of Mono No Aware because not everything lasts forever and it’s incredibly important to recognize during the time and after the time is over the impact those times had and I give them more appreciation now. Throughout the movie I did notice a difference in filming to portray the idea of Mono No Aware. In scenes where the camera would sit there for a few seconds with nothing going on, it let me look around the scene and even if it was just a shot down a hallway, I could find something to look at and appreciate as my eyes wondered around the still shot. I feel like part of the reason for the slow pace of this movie is to get the viewer to appreciate things we do not normally think about appreciating such as the beauty of nature or even just being able to be around family.
ReplyDeleteEarly Summer gave me a better understanding of mono no aware by looking at it through the ordinary lives of the family that the movie focuses on. One scene that stuck out to me as embodying mono no aware is when the parents are sitting together outside while reflecting on their lives and the lives of their children. The father remarks that he and his wife have lived good lives and many are not as lucky to have lived such lives. This scene has a bittersweet tone because although they are approaching the end of their lives, they are content and grateful for their life experiences. Shortly after the father makes this remark, both the mother and father look up to see a balloon floating by in the sky. They acknowledge its beauty but also the crying child to whom the balloon once belonged. This is another depiction of mono no aware because the balloon is only temporary for the child who once held it and the parents who are watching it drift by. Furthermore, the feeling of sadness that the child has and the appreciation of beauty that the parents have are also temporary. Another example of mono no aware is the family having their picture taken; the photograph captures that one moment in time, which is not long before Noriko leaves Tokyo and her family. It is unlikely that the family will ever live together again, so the photograph captures a moment that the family will never replicate. Once again, this is a bittersweet scene because it is sad that the family is splitting up, but Noriko is starting a new life with her soon to be husband. It represents the ongoing progression of time and the inevitable changes that come with it. These moments in the family’s life are ones that many others and I will experience or already have in life, which makes the film more heartfelt, providing a deeper understanding of mono no aware.
ReplyDeleteFollowing the watching of Early Summer, I couldn’t say that I understood the concepts of beauty and the ultimate sadness of life, but I understood where they were coming from. I realized that Mono No Aware was a concept I thought of many times in my life, perhaps every day, but didn’t have a name to put on it. I thought the movie was extremely interesting, possibly for this reason. Some scenes that I really enjoyed were the family eating together with no dialogue, the old man crossing the railroads scene, the birds in cages scene, the beach scene, and the girls sitting on the hills together scenes. I found all these parts of the movie very calming and wholesome. The reason for this was that I found these extremely simple and common moments in life very beautiful when put in a lens, alongside beautiful music. There were not many moments where I felt sadness, excluding the daughter’s marriage. One thing this movie has reinforced for me, however, was that life has to move on, whether that be happy or not. To me, this movie was happier than sorrow, as the daughter’s new life indicated a new beginning for herself and her family.
ReplyDeleteBefore watching “An Early Summer”, I had never heard of the term “Mono No Aware” but I had heard of the principles of seeing the beauty in every moment and I like to believe I thought about the concept a few times before watching this movie. However, after watching it, I think I have a better understand and appreciation for Mono No Aware. I have begun to look at the world through a different perspective in a way. I am more appreciative of the little things. One example would be the relationships I build. I know how I’d react in the past if I lost a relationship with someone who really meant a lot to me. I’d be very upset with the loss and it would be hard to move forward. After understanding Mono No Aware, I realized that the loss of a person you wouldn’t want to lose can be very sad, but reflecting on the relationship and knowing that they made your life more beautiful is a better way to cope with the loss and generally allow you to move forward. Appreciating what they brought into your life and continuing even if they are gone. One scene that really helps me see Mono No Aware is the very end when there is another wedding after the daughter was already gone. I thought this scene was a perfect ending to this movie because of the way the parents reacted. Yes, they were sad their daughter was gone and that she wouldn’t be with them anymore. However, they also know that she will be much happier with her husband, which is all a parent wants for their children. The father reflects a little to the mother by saying that they did better than other parents would have, in attempts to make light of what could be a sad situation. I think this shows the Mono No Aware as well because instead of being upset about their daughter being gone, the parents chose to look on the bright side and see the good that came of their situation instead of the bad.
ReplyDeleteEarly Summer was the film I found the most trouble with following the plot. It didn’t seem to have one, which really left me confused throughout the duration of the film. However, after deeper analysis, I learned that the purpose of the film is the symbolism and the messages it sends about the culture of the time period. This film sparked many emotions tying to different scenes. One example would be when the little kid walked in on his parents having dinner, and was yelled at. That made me sad because the kid wasn’t treated like a human but more as a product of expectation. This says a lot about the norms of society, and made me compare it to my own life. I am able to appreciate the freedom I have as a child in America, which is a concept that hit me even harder once mandatory quarantine started. It’s hard to understand exactly how lucky you are until you have a reality check, which is what the movie gave me. Mono no aware is a hard concept to grasp because human’s are not self-aware enough to think about the meaning of life or their impact of their existence. A movie trying to spark this type of internal existential debate would naturally be hard to understand upon first glance. Life isn’t something to understand, which could be perceived as very sad or very beautiful. This movie does a good job of posing that question to the audience through symbolism and connection.
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