The Cultural Anxieties - Movie Review Example

FILMS AND CULTURE Name of Student Course Name of Instructor Name of School Date FILMS AND HOW THEY REFLECT ON CULTURAL ANXIETIES Culture as an innate method of unifying individuals from a community per se as well as people from different communities has experienced an immense development and most of it has been attributed to film “civilization’’. The Asian culture in particular persists in receiving recognition in the international platform through its many overwhelming and eminent films. Indeed film has an exceptionally influential ubiquity within human culture, more so within the Asian continent. As a matter of fact, the society keeps shifting towards a direction which keeps heightening the anxiety of abolishment and fading of the original culture but most Asian films from time to time bring out the cultural aspect in their films. The filming industry plays a fundamental role reflecting such facts and presenting them to the general public. The study presented in this paper attempts to analyze and compare two films produced from different parts of Asia so as to bring an insightful understanding of the role of filming in reflecting cultural anxieties and the changing world . The films used herein are Sanny which is a South Korean film and Departure, also referred to as Okuribito, a Japan based film. Sunny, a comedy drama produced in 2011 presents a film revolving around a middle aged woman attempting to fulfill her friend’s wish to unite their group of high school friends. The film oscillates between two different timelines that is the present day where the woman is middle aged and when she was still a high school teen in 1980’s. The film juxtaposes high school friends who were indeed humorous and unexpectedly quaint throughout their course. Later, Im Na-Me, the middle aged woman is depicted meeting with her long lost friends in a hospital. This play endeavors to depict the changing role of feminine in the society towards a more globalized context. Besides Sunny, Departure, a 2008 drama film produced in Japan pioneered by Masahiro Motoki presents a young man returning to his hometown after a failed career as a cellist. He later finds a job as a traditional Japanese ritual mortician, a job which was very critical when it came to Japanese taboos and norms. As a result, he became a victim to prejudice by people around him and his friends not excluding his wife and parents a clear illustration on the need for the diversification of cultures and acceptance of changing roles in the society more so career wise and gender roles (Shehu 2011, pg. 45). This play presents a society which is full of anxiety and vindictive to specific jobs and attaches them to taboos. It further shows the fading commitment in marriages within society as the wife fails to buoy up with her husband in times of trouble. These two films, Sunny and Departure appear to have something in common. To some point however, they present a two societies which are different in a particular manner. The subsequent section attempts to establish clear similarities and differences between the two plays with an intention of shoving light to the existing disparities and anxieties in the modern era of cultural development (Bishop & Beverley 2005, pg. 101) Community involves a common dependence on a common life and a common ground where people share beliefs, values, norms, needs and interests. According to (Baca &George 2011,pg. 197), culture is the arts, beliefs, customs, institutions together with other works of human work and thought that works as a unit with regard to a specific group of people at a particular time. Shehu 2011 pg 73 argues that these norms, beliefs, arts and institutions amongst others regarded as constituents of culture require remaining pertinent to a particular community at any given period in time. With reference to the contemporary world, it is ascertainable that cultures associate with different communities especially in Asia keeps diminishing each day as people prolong interactions with their cultural aliens. Allen, Matthew &Sakamoto (2006, pg. 76), further articulates that the fading culture can be associated with the amplifying rate of technological enhancement and acceptance. People tend to copy whatever they glimpse from other people. Eagle (2014, pg.301) maintains that there is need to enlighten people of their culture as well as cultures of other communities around them and globally so as they come to recognize and appreciate the engulfing role of culture in a society. Filming industry in its unique way plays a fundamental role in cultural enlightenment and education. It presents a society which persists to lose its appreciation and comprehension of its initial norms, beliefs and other constituents of its culture. However, to some extent it presents a society which is very keen and willing to punish detrimental acts of people. To understand the role filming in cultural development, it is essential to assess various factors appertaining culture and to demonstrate how they are presented in the two plays presented herein. Cooper-Chen & Anne (2011,pg. 109) state that cultural development requires a high degree of diplomacy. With respect to cultural diplomacy, the vibrant cinematography scene of the current world inspires people globally despite their political differences. However, despite these assertions, some proponents tend to propose that the filming industry has been far much detrimental to culture than beneficial. The proponents presume that filming is of no good to the society as its primary objective is to promote cultural vices thereby eroding the most preserved cultures of specific communities (Gong & Haomin 2011,pg. 67). It is therefore of importance establishing whether cultural anxieties lead to development and if it is necessary or not, whether filming should be used to promote cultural diplomacy or not and whether filming promotes culture or deteriorates it. Additionally, it is of importance establishing whether filming recognizes gender and whether the feminine gender is playing its role as originally approved by culture. Engle (2014, pg.89) establishes that the role women in the modern world keep changing as they tend to take more of masculine roles than appreciating their own roles. The two plays, Departure and Sunny shall thereby be used to establish the fact behind this assertion. Despite the numerous attempts made by researchers and community developers to scrutinize and present clear response to these questions, problems still emanates on the presented topic. It is authenticable that indeed films have played an authenticable role in recognition and appreciation of cultural diplomacy. In the beginning of both the plays, a culturally efficient and successful environment is presented a clear indication of the changing roles in the society. Women are initially presented to be dedicated to their spouses and recognize the family and their duties in the family. With reference to departure, Diego Kobayashi with his wife Mika move from Tokyo to his hometown Yamagata after losing his job as a cellist when his orchestra is disbanded. They both live at his departed mother’s house where he initially lived during his childhood (Mccartney & Garrett 2008). On a similar manner, with reference to Sunny, Im Na-Mi, the middle-aged woman and the main actor is portrayed as a wealthy housewife and a mother who is dedicated to her daily routines. The two plays at this point present culturally upright society where each individual takes serious his or her duties. Further, it shows two peaceful and coherent societies where each person takes care of the other. Just as Kobayashi and his wife Mika stay together as a peaceful family, Im Na-Mi also is a mother and a housewife dedicated to her duties. The two societies presented in the first phase of the two plays are indeed diplomatic and ensuring an informed cultural development, through anxiety and sensitivity (Tezuka & Yoshiharu 2012, p43). The second context presents a tainted society where despite people living together, the life is full of anxiety and lost hope. It presents a society where women are subject to humiliation especially as presented in Sunny. In the Sunny comedy film, Im Na-Mi is worried about something. She is depressed about herself. When washing her face, she sees wrinkles on her skin, she was not happy. When she asks of her husband to visit her sick mother at the hospital, the husband replies by giving her money to buy luxury bags, through this the culture of emotional insensitivity on the part of men is depicted as well the ever changing demands from material thing to emotional things (Barlow & Tani 2001, pg.1288). On a similar manner, the daughter seems to be undisturbed about her grandmother’s sickness and is annoyed with her mother requested her to pay a visit to the sick old lady. Im Na-Mi is seen taking her breakfast alone as the husband and daughter take off to work, unconcerned about her. The action of the father and his daughter is against Japanese norms, that is lack of respect. According to the norms, respect is provident even where alcohol is involved. The husband and the daughter became detrimental to this law (Cooper-Chen & Anne 2011, pg.41). In Departure, when Kobayashi came back home in Yamagata, he meets his old dying father whom he had hated for decades. Since he left home when he was six, Kobayashi had never set a foot on his father’s compound. Guiltiness engulfs him for having ignored his father for all those years without taking care of him. He would always speak dreadfully about the father and never respected him in any way. In South Korea however, formal speech was not only necessary in school but also in the family. The films seeks to depict culture where family means a lot in society and the need to respect and cherish the elders more so fathers, less is depicted in regards to respecting thus a clear illustration on cultural anxieties on the roles women play in family development (Banks & James 2008, pg. 131-137). Moreover, Both Kobayashi and Im Na-Mi in this context are associated to breach of a custom with Na-Mi lacking respect from her husband and daughter and Kobayashi lacking respect for her father. Na- Mi when she gets to visit her mother in the hospital begins to think of her high school life. She flashbacks the Sunny group, a group of seven notorious, silly and hilarious high school friends. She gets to recall the affection they had for each other. Later she is seen visiting a number of girl-schools she attended in Seoul when she was still a teenager. This context presents Na-Mi as a disturbed lady, missing something crucial to her, affection, without affect self-esteem is affects consequently illustrating the need for upholding customs and maintaining some cultural aspects from childhood to help avoid instances where one feels hopelessness and unloved (Barlow & Tani E 2001 1288-90) . the changing roles in society has led to women empowerment and this has seen a rise in women taking up jobs that were previously preserved for men as well as shift from stay home mothers to working and respected figures in the society. According to the film, the Sunny group members, the seven humorous girls were so affectionate and greatly loved each other, the bond amongst them was so strong that no other person could break. The bond in her marriage was nothing compared to the bond in Sunny, a clear indication of a lack of understanding and adaptation to new customs and cultures that the marriage offered her (Tezuka, & Yoshiharu 2012, pg.93). This context presents a society where the family bondage is far lost and nobody cares for the other. Na-Mi is the sole individual who takes care of her mother as her husband and daughter keep distant. It is the loneliness and humiliation which drives Na-Mi to evoke the desire for the long shredded Sunny group. On the other hand, Kobayashi finds himself jobless after losing his cellist job in Tokyo. Later, he finds an advertisement for a job with a title, “Assisting Departures”, which he applies for. Assuming that it is a job in the travelling agency, he goes for the interview at the NK Agent where he learns from the secretary that the job is about preparing bodies for cremation in a ceremony known as encoffinment. Despite his reluctance to accept the job, Diego is hired on the spot and given a cash advance to lure him into the job. He accepts and takes up the job. Diego is furtive about his new job and hides the true nature of his job from Mika, his wife. His first task was to prepare a body for a woman discovered two weeks after her death. He is beset with the nausea. On his way back home having boarded a bus, he is humiliated by other passengers following the unsavory scent on him. He lives a life of humiliation because of the work he does. Just like Na-Mi, Diego lives a life of loneliness and humiliation. Both of these contexts present a society of disparity and solitude, a society of ‘a man for himself’ (Allen, Matthew & Rumi Sakamoto, 2006 pg. 37). Shehu (2011, pg. 67) argues that filming has indeed played a vital in presenting women as perfect creations who does not need men for their survival. Women have become partisans for each other perceiving men unnecessary. With respect to Sunny, the Sunny group is seen being revived. One day, when Na-Mi was attending to her mother who was cancer positive, she bumps into her long high school friend Chun Hwa, a member of the of the shredded Sunny group. She was also ailing and therefore hospitalized. They are escalated to see each other. However Na-Mi has to leave urgently and asks Chun Hwa of whatever she can do for her. Chun Hwa in her response appeal for Na-Mi to search for the other members of Sunny and to ensure they reunite despite their ages. The determination of Na-Mi to rediscover herself and her friends is illustrated when she hires a detective team to search for and find the other members of Sunny, she longed for a place where she felt accepted and this made her more anxious. At a later date, Chun Hwa, Na-Mi, Jang-Mi and Jin-He got together. Despite the grief, the death of Chu-hwa acted as an explicit avenue for the Sunny group to rekindle their passion for life and enjoy each other’s company. The films seek to demonstrate how women seek solidarity in one another is a male dominated context that hardly understands and respects them, it also brings out the cultural context that believes in mannerism and good morals as the keys to successful marriages and peaceful coexistence and that is the sole reason as to why all sunny members sought to divorce their spouses and settle down as ‘single-mothers’ (Bishop & Beverley 2005, pg. 201). This play presents the changing role of women from being dedicated to their families to being single and seeing no importance in marriage. The same thing happens when Diego’s wife, Maki, in Departure becomes aware of his “encoffinment” job. The wife intimidated him and then left him however, unlike Sunny, they later reunited. Depicting a culture where women are most affected in marriages as a result of the choices the make in life. The director of Sunny was keen to use background music that was composed of instrumentals such as Kim Jun’s Seok that expresses the characters’ emotional state. The tone of the music is associated to sorrow, anxiety and depression which befell the women in their current marriages and life. The song is played when Na-Mi is lonely and thinks about her long lost friends. It also features when Chun Hwa dies, these techniques are purposely meant to guide the audience and arouse their emotions on the plight that women go through or human beings in general when faced with unforeseen circumstances (Erlich, Linda, & Desser 1994, pg. 27). The mixture of 1980’s Korean and Western pop music which evokes nostalgia signifying the western fad that took over students in Korea during that era seeks to enlighten the audience cultural developments over the years whereas comparing the changes facing the society more so in terms of culture (Finlay & Robert 2010, pg.76). The pop music presents a section of culture full of fun and enjoyment. Nothing mattered much for the seven Sunny group members than fun and merriment. On the contrary, in Departure, the background music presents a suffering, a notion in existence over the years that death is pain and it is not worth being associated with it. The cinematography in Departure had no Shots for effect, to depict and ascertain the sorrowness in the film thus; it had the decorum of a mourner at a funeral. Diego’s work revolved around corpses, a work which was religiously considered unworthy and unclean (Chen &Mai 2009, pg.156). The music presents Diego’s state of anxiety and humiliation by everyone in his circle including his wife. In conclusion, According to the analyses done on these two films, it can be summarized that indeed cultural anxieties persists to center on the roles of female characters. According to the discussion presented herein therefore, it can be encapsulated that fewer women are willing to stay in marriages; fewer children are born to families as women continue to occupy schools and colleges. In the modern era, women persist taking up duties initially believed to be men’s such as being doctors, lawyers and high ranked managers. Further, women have begun appreciating sports initially believed to be men’s like football, and boxing amongst others. Filming has played an essential role in publication of these new roles presenting women as equal as men and generally sensitizing the global community. These changes persist to heighten anxiety among men however. References Allen, Matthew, and Rumi Sakamoto, 2006. Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan eds. London: Routledge. Baca, George 2011. "Critical Thinking and the Tide of Scholarly Bandwagons-Liberal Arts Education in the 'Age of Globalization'." Liberal Education and Research 5.2 : 181-203. Banks, James A 2008. "Diversity, Group Identity, and Citizenship Education in a Global Age." Educational Researcher 37.3 : 129-39. Barlow, Tani E 2001. "Globalization, China, and International Feminism." Signs 26.4: 1286-91. Bishop, Beverley 2005. Globalisation and Women in the Japanese Workforce. London: Routledge, Chen, Tina Mai 2009. "International Film Circuits and Global Imaginaries in the People's Republic of China, 1949–57."Journal of Chinese Cinemas 3.2: 149-61. Cooper-Chen, Anne 2011. Cartoon Cultures: The Globalization of Japanese Popular Media. Bern: Peter Lang. Engle, K. 2014. Culture and human rights: the Asian values debate in context. New York University Journal of International Law and Politics. 322, 291-333. Erlich, Linda, and David Desser, 1994. Cinematic Landscapes: Observations on the Visual Arts and Cinema of China and Japan. Austin: U of Texas P. Finlay, Robert 2010. The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History. Berkeley: U of California P. Gong, Haomin 2011. Uneven Modernity: Literature, Film, and Intellectual Discourse in Postsocialist China. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 2011. Mccartney, J., & Garrett, S. 2008. Departure. [Place of publication not identified], Hollywood Records. Shehu, B. S. 2011. The role of film/cinema in national development. Culture, Economy and National Development : Proceedings of the National Seminar Events of NAFEST '89 / Edited by Sule Bello and Yakubu Abdullah Nasidi. 187-203. Tezuka, Yoshiharu 2012. Japanese Cinema Goes Global: Filmworkers' Journeys. Hong Kong: Hong Kong UP. Read More

Shehu 2011 pg 73 argues that these norms, beliefs, arts and institutions amongst others regarded as constituents of culture require remaining pertinent to a particular community at any given period in time. With reference to the contemporary world, it is ascertainable that cultures associate with different communities especially in Asia keeps diminishing each day as people prolong interactions with their cultural aliens. Allen, Matthew &Sakamoto (2006, pg. 76), further articulates that the fading culture can be associated with the amplifying rate of technological enhancement and acceptance.

People tend to copy whatever they glimpse from other people. Eagle (2014, pg.301) maintains that there is need to enlighten people of their culture as well as cultures of other communities around them and globally so as they come to recognize and appreciate the engulfing role of culture in a society. Filming industry in its unique way plays a fundamental role in cultural enlightenment and education. It presents a society which persists to lose its appreciation and comprehension of its initial norms, beliefs and other constituents of its culture.

However, to some extent it presents a society which is very keen and willing to punish detrimental acts of people. To understand the role filming in cultural development, it is essential to assess various factors appertaining culture and to demonstrate how they are presented in the two plays presented herein. Cooper-Chen & Anne (2011,pg. 109) state that cultural development requires a high degree of diplomacy. With respect to cultural diplomacy, the vibrant cinematography scene of the current world inspires people globally despite their political differences.

However, despite these assertions, some proponents tend to propose that the filming industry has been far much detrimental to culture than beneficial. The proponents presume that filming is of no good to the society as its primary objective is to promote cultural vices thereby eroding the most preserved cultures of specific communities (Gong & Haomin 2011,pg. 67). It is therefore of importance establishing whether cultural anxieties lead to development and if it is necessary or not, whether filming should be used to promote cultural diplomacy or not and whether filming promotes culture or deteriorates it.

Additionally, it is of importance establishing whether filming recognizes gender and whether the feminine gender is playing its role as originally approved by culture. Engle (2014, pg.89) establishes that the role women in the modern world keep changing as they tend to take more of masculine roles than appreciating their own roles. The two plays, Departure and Sunny shall thereby be used to establish the fact behind this assertion. Despite the numerous attempts made by researchers and community developers to scrutinize and present clear response to these questions, problems still emanates on the presented topic.

It is authenticable that indeed films have played an authenticable role in recognition and appreciation of cultural diplomacy. In the beginning of both the plays, a culturally efficient and successful environment is presented a clear indication of the changing roles in the society. Women are initially presented to be dedicated to their spouses and recognize the family and their duties in the family. With reference to departure, Diego Kobayashi with his wife Mika move from Tokyo to his hometown Yamagata after losing his job as a cellist when his orchestra is disbanded.

They both live at his departed mother’s house where he initially lived during his childhood (Mccartney & Garrett 2008). On a similar manner, with reference to Sunny, Im Na-Mi, the middle-aged woman and the main actor is portrayed as a wealthy housewife and a mother who is dedicated to her daily routines. The two plays at this point present culturally upright society where each individual takes serious his or her duties. Further, it shows two peaceful and coherent societies where each person takes care of the other.

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