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?
There are many moments in Early Summer that exhibit the idea of Mono No Aware, which helps express Noriko’s and the family’s appreciation for where they are in life but also invites the change that is Noriko’s marriage and the novelty and emotion that will come with it. Mono No Aware is the idea that one needs novelty in life to feel emotion and appreciate beauty, instead of getting old and becoming stuck in the same routine. I think Noriko describes this well throughout the movie in that she is young and vibrant but she does not want to marry at the beginning of the movie. However, this desire to not get married leads to discourse with her parents and her friends. They speak of happiness and whether married life is conducive to it or whether being single leads to a freer life. Mono No Aware seems to be against the idea of marriage and becoming stuck in the same routine but this is disproven when Noriko decides to marry the family friend on a whim, which instantly makes her and the friend’s mother burst with joy. In contrast to that scene are the scenes with the uncle at the beginning of the movie. The uncle is an old man who is not able to hear well and needs to be tended to all the time. He is less capable of appreciating the new things in life and is clearly not as vibrant as Noriko or her friends. I also liked the symbol of the balloon floating in the sky after the parents talk about the state of the family. There are many emotions that can come from the balloon floating in the sky. The balloon represents childhood innocence and the joy of discovering something new, but at the same time, as the father says, there is a child crying out there that they lost their balloon. That child brings about a sadness that contrasts with what the balloon may have represented at first. On top of that, balloons are temporary, which means that the joy or sadness that comes from them never lasts forever and we must learn to go where life brings us and not focus on the same thing for too long. All of these symbols and stories make Early Summer very representative of the idea of Mono No Aware and help bring the movie together.
ReplyDeleteEarly Summer makes the concept of Mono No Aware more understood in how it affects each generation. The concept of Mono No Aware revolves around the idea that the ephemerality of life is what allows human beings to feel emotion. Early Summer deals with characters spanning across generations, from the youngest child, Isamu, to the elderly uncle. It becomes increasingly evident as the film goes on that the older the family member, the more they appreciate each and every moment. The first example of this can be found in the scene of the uncle watching a balloon fly into the clouds. This occurred after he was expressing that he is currently in the happiest time of his life because his family is all together. As the balloon flies away, the uncle mentions that somewhere out there, a child is crying because they lost their balloon. Here, two very different world views are introduced. The first is of the child who, although lost something that is ephemeral, is portrayed by the uncle as failing to see the true beauty in the moment. In the mind of the uncle, the child feels nothing but sadness the moment they lose their balloon. On the other hand, the uncle, prior to the incident of the balloon, was reflecting on another temporary aspect of life, family, with a much more positive outlook. The uncle realizes that the family will not be together forever, and instead of looking at the impermanance of family negatively, he appreciates all the joy that it has provided him as of late. Another example of older and younger generations interacting differently with the concept of Mono No Aware can be found in the numerous examples of the children disrespecting their older family members. Isamu and his brother constantly tell their uncle and other family members to “shut up,” as well as call them “idiots.” The response that family members give may be surprising, as they decide not to be angry, and instead smile at them. One specific example is when Isamu kicks the bread that his father brought back from his trip. Isamu and his brother are upset that their father didn’t buy them train tracks, but rather bread, and they retaliate by kicking it angrily towards their father. The father surprisingly scolds his children, but the rest of the family disagrees with this decision. There is a common belief in the family that the presence of the children is enough to make one happy. This is especially so since childhood is extremely impermanent, and the adults wish to enjoy the company of their young family members before they grow up and become independent. In the case of the children, only negative emotions such as disappointment and resentment are felt. This is caused by the fact that they have yet to understand that family and life don’t last forever, and that the father returning from his trip alone, keeping the family intact, should be a cause for happiness in and of itself. Early summer does a phenomenal job illustrating how lived experience is the best form of insight. In Early Summer, Mono No Aware transitions from an idea that mortality makes room for emotions, to a more profound belief that age is one of the defining factors in shaping the way in which people approach every aspect of their life. For the youngest characters in the film, their life is ahead of them, and they feel as if worrying about mortality is a non-issue. For the older characters, the better half of their life is behind them, giving cause for them to appreciate every waking moment.
ReplyDeleteEarly Summer helps us depict the real meaning of Mono No Aware, and shows us how it differs for each generation. One good example that we talked about was of the child's balloon. When a child loses their balloon, they become very upset because even though it is just a balloon, it was something special to that child. When looking at an adult's perspective, in this case the uncle's, they wouldn't get upset about the balloon. Instead it reminded the uncle of family. Early Summer shows us that adults try to appreciate everything in life where they are at, while children have their whole lives ahead of them, so they aren't worried about death or losing something that really matters. Another part in the film that illustrates this concept is the way that the children spoke to their elders. Throughout much of the film, Isamu and his brother had no problem calling some of their family members idiots. This was very disrespectful coming from the youngest people in the family, but they were never told to stop doing it. The older family members felt that it wasn't necessary to scold Isamu and his brother because they felt that they should appreciate the children and what they did because they will grow up fast. Within the entire film, the only time that the children get in trouble is when they throw a fit about not getting the gift that they wanted. The boy's father criticizes them for the way that they acted. Overall, the film portrays many good scenarios of Mono No Aware. At times this concept can be relatable, and gives us a good sense of awareness as to what Japanese culture/traditions looked like.
ReplyDeleteThe film Early Summer employs the juxtaposition of youth and elder perspectives to highlight the idea of mono no aware. Mono no aware is the appreciation of the ephemerality of life. The film depicts the differences in thought of generations by cutting between the conversations of Noriko’s parents and Noriko and her friends. One scene towards the end of the film shows Noriko’s parents reflecting on their life and discussing their appreciation for staying together as a family. Throughout the entire film, we see the family living together but it is not until after Noriko decides to leave that they are truly able to appreciate their time together. Noriko’s decision to leave makes it apparent that the family structure is not perpetual and this realization is what makes it so special and valuable. Noriko’s parents' conversation reflects the idea of mono no aware since it demonstrates that true beauty can only manifest from objects of impermanent nature. Moreover, another conversation that reflects ideas of mono no aware is Noriko and her sister-in-law’s discussion of eating short cake everyday. In this conversation, eating shortcake everyday is joked about. The joke implies that they couldn’t eat shortcake everyday because if they did it would not be the same special treat that they enjoy when eaten on the occasion. There are also more subtle references that allude to mono no aware such as the balloon scene where the grandparents reflect on the period of adolescence. The drifting balloon is a symbol of the mortality of youthful innocence and reflects the idea that all beautiful things are merely temporary. Overall, the conversations about change in conjunction with the symbols of momentariness serve to emphasize the beauty in impermanent objects.
ReplyDeleteMono no aware is the idea that finite things contain a beauty in the fact that they are impermanent. The scene that stuck out the most to me was near the end of the end of the movie when Noriko agrees to marry a family friend and the friend’s mother cries. There is beauty in this scene as Noriko is taking a big step in her life and trying to find happiness in marriage while she is also splitting up her family. Noriko’s decision portrayed the impermanence of happiness derived purely from familial connections. Her family was content with living together, but Noriko wanted to try finding happiness elsewhere, therefore she decided to marry the family friend, even if it means being an obstacle to the familial happiness. Another scene that utilizes mono no aware was the scene of the balloon floating up into the sky. Balloons are able to bring joy in the moment, but since they don’t last, they must be treasured while they are still inflated. There is both joy that children get when they receive balloons, but that joy soon turns into sadness due to the impermanence of the balloon. In the movie, the impermanence of the balloon is shown by the helium balloon floating away, and the characters exclaim that a child somewhere is probably crying. Another example of mono no aware in the movie was Noriko’s relationship with her boss. The two seem pretty close and she seems to respect him as she goes out of her way to greet him quite often. However, after deciding to get married, she decides to quit her job. This scene evoked sadness as she would be leaving a close acquaintance, which is sad, but she is also moving forwards to seek happiness as a wife. So her step of quitting causes sadness in the moment, but gives hope for happiness in the future.
ReplyDeleteMono no aware, a famous Japanese film technique, displayed in the film Early Summer directed by Yasujiro Ozu, highlights multiple scenes where the transience of beauty of nature is the center point in these scenes. In the opening scene, it was not a scene showing the characters we will learn about for the next two hours, it was of a beach, of a bird flying in the free air, it was of the beauty nature has to offer that we as humans walk past everyday. This simple shot was able to evoke fond memories of the audience that, most likely, related to family; the theme in the film. Secondly, about midway through the film, the camera was set up on a table, with a beautiful tree centered in the frame. As the family members walked past talking, it felt as though they were only a thought as the audience focused on this tree. Once again highlighting the everyday beauty that nature has to offer. Another key theme the film has is using simple scenes to evoke deep emotions in both the viewer and the characters. The most prominent scene that comes to mind is when the child releases his balloon as it floats into the sky. As an adult, this would be just a minor inconvenience, but to this child it was detrimental. Secondly, this scene showed not only the child's reaction, but the uncle’s. Obviously the uncle felt bad that the child felt like this was the end of the world. But director Ozu wanted the uncle to experience a deeper more meaningful emotion. The uncle started to be reminded of his childhood, his loving family, and started to experience these complex emotions just because of a simple red balloon floating off into space.
ReplyDeleteMono no aware is a fundamental concept behind "Early Summer," both in filmography and in story, and its presence helped me better understand the meaning of the concept that nothing lasts forever, and that a moment should be appreciated for all that it is because it will not last forever. In the movie, the old uncle who can no longer hear well, sits on a park bench to enjoy the sunshine and appreciate the moment while the rest of the world rushes by him. As he watches and points out a balloon floating into the sky, he comments how a child is likely crying somewhere for losing their balloon. He points out a child's likely reaction to the balloon's impermanence while also appreciating this impermanence for both the balloon and childhood itself. But unlike a balloon, childhood only comes once.
ReplyDeleteThe notion that every moment of life is precious, that each moment in our lives needs to be captured in our hearts like a still photo, is something that resonates with all of us as we get older. I recently celebrated the 94th birthday of my grandmother, my grandfather having passed away at 90 when I was only 7 years old. As the years have progressed, I continue to be amazed by her ability to be in the world, fully aware, cognizant of how lucky she is to have her faculties at her age, but also how limited her future necessarily must be. These moments cannot help but evoke both feelings of joy and sadness–joy that she is among the living, able to see her grandchildren grow up and to continue to intellectually interact with the world around her, at the beauty of the life she has led, but also sadness at the notion that the years ahead of her are necessarily cabined by the inexorable march of time.