The Grave of The Fireflies | Hotaru no HakaDirector: Isao Takahata | Author: Akiyuki Nosaka

Presentation: Matthew Bosworth, Carrie Elmore, Mitchell Koblitz, Griffith Avery and Jodi Marshall.

Portland State University - 2012. For Educational Purposes Only

Grave of The Fireflies Film.

(Isao Takahata, 1988) Produced by Toru Hara.

Hotaru no Haka.Book

Akiyuki, Nosaka | 10/8/1930 |

Also known as Yukio Aki.

Additional novels:

The Pornographers

Author's Homepage:http://nosakaakiyuki.com/index.html

Japanese Empire Cultural.

Japanese Empire Cultural.● Brian McVeigh on Japanese Culture

● Japanese School Uniforms “seifuk seido”

● Comradeship (Firebrigade) : “nakama shiki”

● Seiken “The normalizing gaze”.

● Intensely Patriarchal – Emperor is your god, and that is all you need to know.

● Role of Father in Japanese Society.

● Essential for recognition associated with status in World War II society, as Seita's father was absent and most likely dead as a result of the war, subsequently Seita and Setsuko were hardly recognized as little more than baggage to be rescued in time of dire need.

● Unwavering faith early on in the return of the father, avenging the world for Seita's family.

● Effect of an absent Father

● Recognition in Society

Studio GhibliProduction.

Takahata Isao Recalling separation from family during firebombing.Akiyuki Nosaka death of a little sister.

Empathy in Audience : Adjusting the age of Setsuko relative to Author's sister age.(Sixteen months old vs a four year old)

"Transcending the Victims History" - Wendy Golberg

Studio GhibliProduction.

● Studio Ghibli: the film is visually stylistically characteristic of the studio, it's scenery and human characters reminiscent of those seen in Spirited Away.

● American influence on Japan : The animation of the film is also a great example of the results of the American Occupation of Japan. The characteristic style seen in anime films (such as Grave of the Fireflies) can be traced back to American animated shorts and films (early Disney) brought over during the occupation.

● Historical Japanese influence: The detailed yet compressed landscapes that make up as much of a part Grave of the Fireflies as the characters are reminiscent of those seen in classical prints by Hokusai.

HistoryWar

On it.

"Everything was Beautiful and nothing hurt." (Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut).

Firebombing and the severe toll it can take on a civilian population was a abominable product of World War II. Population bombed included residents of Dresden, Berlin, Tokyo and Kobe in both Germany and Japan and in the tragic air raids involved in the great Blitz of London.

Further reading: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.

History War

Firebombing : Location Kobe, Japan World War II. (Specific to movie)

Examples of psychological effects of firebombing on civilian population

Military Strategy involved : General MacArthur in the Pacific Theater.

Generally viewed as the man that sent many a young men to their untimely deaths in the South Pacific.

See Island Hopping Tactics.

USAF: General Curtis E. LeMay :Absolutely brutal commander. Threatened to court martial crews that missed targets.

Decisions to attack civilian populations to weaken moral, war effort. Widespread psychological effects on population.

Cost of Island hopping, Effectiveness of Firebombing. Decision to drop the bomb.

Every Purple Heart issued in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan is overstock from expected casualties as a result of a mainland Japan invasion.

First use of Atomic Weapons - in Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Firebombing Cities : Targets

Aircraft Carriers.

Naval|Air Warfare : Game changing. Reasons why we have the highest number of Aircraft carriers than any other country and why Japan was second highest.

Allied: London, Coventry, Chongqing

Axis: Dresden, Berlin, Tokyo, Kobe – Almost every major Japanese city. See: Location of the US Pacific Fleet – Considering length of missions, pilots crews effect on.

Western : Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse Five “Everything was Beautiful and nothing hurt”.

Nationalism : Japanese People: Dehumanization in Propaganda. View them as inhuman to achieve end result.

Supremacy of A Nation, Race, Ideologies.

War changes, people dont

Bibliography.“Film and Video Programs.” MoMA 2.7 (September, 1999): 15-30.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4420385

Greenberg, Raz. “The Animated Text: Definition.” Journal of Film and Video 63.2 (Summer, 2011): 3-10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jfilmvideo.63.2.0003

Imamura, Taihei. “Japanese Art and the Animated Cartoon.” The Quarterly of Film, Radio and Television 7.3 (Spring, 1953): 217-222. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1209818

Newitz, Annalee. “Magical Girls and Atomic Bomb Sperm: Japanese Animation in America.” Film Quarterly 49.1 (Autumn, 1995): 2-15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1213488

Roger Ebert on why anime was an effective choice for the film version of Grave of the Fireflies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU3mZT0a9Rw

Wendy Goldberg. “Transcending the Victim’s History: Takahata Isao’s Grave of the Fireflies”. 2009 Mechademia Vol 4 Project MUSE http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mec/summary/v004/4.goldberg.html

Hotaru no Haka, dir. Takahata Isao (1988); translated as Grave of the Fireflies, subtitled DVD (Central Park Media, 2002).

Nosaka Akiyuki, “A Grave of Fireflies,” translated by James R. Abrams, Japan Quarterly 25, no. 4 (1978).

Brian McVeigh, Wearing Ideology (New York: Oxford, 2000), 86–87.