Sunny and A Simple Life - Movie Review Example

Film review Review of “Sunny” and “A Simple Life" Name Date Course Review of “Sunny” and “A Simple Life" Introduction The concepts of modernity are increasingly becoming popular in most societies. Modernity is closely related to the western cultures that have influenced most societies in the world. The shifting social practices have seen the eradication and replacement of most of the traditional practices that were once valuable to the society. This has led to the change in the lifestyle of the people in most parts of the world. Ephemerality is one of the concepts that is closely associated with modernity. According to ephemerality, nothing lasts forever and this includes life (Döring, 2013). The concept of ephemerality has influenced most of the lifestyle practices like marriage and family values I the society. In Asia most of the people still value the traditional aspects of life including the family values. However, the concept of ephemerality is quickly spreading in the society. Film makers have played an important role in highlighting the importance of traditions in Asia. This is through stories tat resists ephemerality in the Asian society. Sunny from Korea and a simple life from Hong Kong are two films that tend to resists the concepts of ephemerality. The paper thus discusses how the two films resist ephemerality. Plot of the movies The movie sunny is mainly based on a group of seven women who were high school friends and had formed a group which they named sunny. Na-mi is the main character and is introduced to the group by Ha Chun-hwa. The group forms a special relationship with each other based on their friendship. However after the school life, the member of the group parts ways and each takes different careers and lifestyles. Na-mi becomes a house wife while Ha Chun-hwa becomes a successful business woman after she was married and divorced. The Na-mi meets with Ha Chun-hwa years later after she goes to the hospital to take care of her mother. Ha Chun-hwa is also admitted in the same hospital with a terminal disease which eventually ends her life. However, before her death she urges Na-mi to look for the other members of the group so that they can reunite again. However she dies before all the members reunites as the other members are not found easily. The movie revolves around the relationship between family, friends and its effects on the life of the people. The traditional aspects of life are also brought to light by the movie in terms of the family values. The movie A simple life is about a servant who is called Ah Tao. She has worked for her master which is the Leung family for nearly sixty years. During the time she has taken care of all the family members and has almost become part of the family. The family members who have moved to the United Stats of America still consider her as part of the family and occasional visits her and send her happy wishes during the festivals. One day she suffers stroke which forces her to quite her job and move to the nursing home. She is taken care of by Roger who family member of the Leung family which is an indication of the strong bound that she had built with the family. She values the traditional Chinese values which makes her life comfortable. In the Sanatorium, she meet uncle Jian who does not value the family life and traditions and has been lonely all his life. Valuing the family life plays an important role in her life when she became old as she was taken care of by the family although she died eventually. The traditional life as well as the family values is also highlighted in the movie. Ephemerality and the movies In the movie sunny, various traditional practices has been used in various ways to resist ephemerality. The family life is an important traditional aspect of life. Na-mi is married after completing her education and she becomes a wealthy house wife and a mother. Marriage is on of the traditional practices that are highly valued in the Korean community. This helps her build a strong relationship with his husband and daughter. Her parents had made a lot of sacrifices to ensure that she gets the best education and the family bound was built. This makes her more concerned about the family issues and even takes care of her mother when she was sick. Through theses actions, tradition resists ephemerality as the family values creates a meaning in life. The fact that the relationship between the family members lasts is an indication that ephemerality which supports the fact that nothing lasts has been resisted through the tradition. The relationship between Na-mi and her family lasts due to the love that has bound them together as a family. On the other hand, Na-mi and her friends had built a special relationship through friendship with hers schoolmates. Friendship is also regarded highly in the Asian traditions (Fatma, 2012). Unlike the concepts of ephemerality that suggest nothing lasts, their friendship is able to last even years after they have parted ways after completing their education. The group is still able to come together just like in the past when they were schoolmates. As compared to the love that she had with her parents, she has also built a strong relationship with her own family which has contributed to the happiness in the family. On the other hand, it is evident from the movie that modernism doe not work and it leads to ephemerality. This is because Ha Chun-hwa who embraces modernism ends up divorcing her husband in order to pursue her career. Her marriage therefore does not last and hence ephemerality. In her time of sickness, she does not have any family members taking care of her which makes her life more desperate. According to the movie, it is also evident that building a family is an important traditional aspect that lasts forever as the family will always be around in times of need. The bound of the family members also lasts forever as the love compels them to make sacrifices for each other. However the failure to uphold the traditional values and embracing traditional freedom leads to ephemerality as one will have no ties with anyone leading to a sad ending of life. The traditional aspects of life and family values play an important role in the life of an individual in the Asian communities (Biernacki, 2013). Building a good relationship with other people by establishing friendship is also important as a good friendship relationship lasts forever. The love among friends and family members which are traditional values will always last forever as opposed to the modern concepts like individual freedom. The traditional values therefore disprove the concepts of ephemerality that suggests nothing lasts forever. In the movie a simple life, the family values which are part of the traditional values in Chinese revisits ephemerality. Ah Tao becomes part of the Leung family although she is a servant as a strong relationship is built between them. The relationship that she has built with the family members lasts forever and hence resisting ephemerality. The family members do not forget her at all even when some of them have moved to a distance country in the United Stars of America. The fact that the family members would travel back to China to visit her and show her their babies are an indication that their relationship was strong and would last forever. Due to the long term relationship that she had built with the family members, she was no longer considered as a servant but a family member. Roger whom she had taken care of took the initiative of taken care of her when she was sick and had to move to the nursing home. Roger considered her as part of the family as he did everything to ensure that she was happy. He was willing to go to any length to see her happy during her sickness. The relationship that they had developed could not be broken and it lasted forever and hence the resistance of the ephemerality through the family bound which is a traditional value. The traditional values in Asia always intend to build a relationship among the people that lasts forever (Leaman, 2013). Abandoning the traditional values and embracing modernism is also portrayed as slavery in the movie. This is because it lowers the quality of life with the individuals ending up desperate in their time of need or when they grow old. Ephemerality is seen to thrive in the life of uncle Jian who had no family and had embraced the individual freedom. Throughout his elderly life, he was desperate as no one would come to visit him and he had to rely on begging and borrowing. On the other hand, Ah Tao who embraced the traditional Chinese values lived a happy life despite her sickness in the old age. If ephemerality were to be true, them the love and special relationship between the family members would not have lasted. In comparison it is also evident that there is a difference between Ah Tao who embraced the traditional values and uncle Jian who embraced modernism. On the contrary, modernism does not last and the traditions creates a special bound between the family members which lasts forever (Sing, 2013). Ah Tao was also able to live a happy life in her elderly period due to prioritizing the family issue which created a lasting relationship. Although her life ended, the relationship that she had created with the family members could not end due to the strong family ties. The traditional values cannot be broken easily as it binds the people together and hence resisting ephemerality. The two movies have indicated that traditional values can successfully resist ephemerality. This is because the Asian traditional values are for the purposes of bringing people together and building a relationship that lasts forever (Taylor, 2013). The movies also highlighted that a strong relationship is perfect and timeless. The group sunny was able to reunite after a long period of time to take care of their member who was facing a terminal illness. If the relationship was not permanent, the friends would not have reunited to support their member. On the other hand, Rogers and his family members stood by Ah Tao in her time of sickness and old age due to the special relationship that they had. The relationship between the family members will always last and cannot be broken by any factor and hence resisting the concepts of ephemerality. However, it is evident from the two movies that modernism and individual freedom cannot last forever and will always lead to a sad ending. This is because the concept of modernism tends to keep people apart and hence resulting to problems when they are in need. Desperation is usually encountered by the individual who embrace modern freedom in the late stages of life as they always lack someone to take care of them. The movies also heighted the fact that a true relationship between the people can never be broken and it lasts forever. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the traditional values play a role in terms of resisting ephemerality. The two movies highlighted that a strong bond can be can be created through friendship and family values. The family members and friends will always sand by each other in times of need. It is also evident from the movies that relationships that are perfect always last forever. The traditional values in Asia also play an important role in terms of uniting the people and ensuring that a strong bound is created among them. However, it has also been highlighted in the movies that concepts of modernism do not last forever. This is because it keeps people apart and hence creating a gap that can never be filled. All the character in the two movies that embraced individual freedom ended up desperate since they had no family members to take care of them in their times of need. The traditional values therefore play a significant role in the Asian communities as it leads to eternal relationships. References Döring, T, 2013, Ephemeral user interfaces: valuing the aesthetics of interface components that do not last, interactions, 20(4), 32-37. Fatma, G, 2012, World Voices: Short History of the Short Story: Western and Asian Traditions, Loving Healing Press. Biernacki, L, 2013, Panentheism Across the World's Traditions, Oxford University Press. Leaman, O, 2013, Encyclopedia of Asian philosophy, Routledge. Sing, M, 2013, Confucianism and Democratization in East Asia: DC Shin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), Journal of Contemporary Asia, 1-2. Taylor, K, 2013, Cultural Mapping: Intangible Values and Engaging with Communities with Some Reference to Asia, The Historic Environment, 4(1), 50-61. Read More