Bicicleta Diário do Akiko

American History X

2007-12-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

Despite of violence in the movie, I thought “American History X” is positive and optimistic movie sending a message of “being equal”, and “racism and hate crime is ethically wrong”.
Now, I understand why the rest of my class mates choose this as the Best U.S. film.

In some scenes in the movie, to be honest, I felt like I wanted throw pop-corn onto the screen. Because the scenes recalled my personal memories when I was called “Jap” in front of my face by someone with unfriendly voices, and some obvious hostile words and expressions to my husband who has brown skin in my presence.
These are just examples, and I felt very LUCKY about myself that I could experience this kind of “discrimination” in today’s world. At the same time, sometimes it is unbearable experiences to remember. It feels like you were accused by someone who doesn’t know you at all for doing something wrong for nothing. May be, I should not travelling around the world nor study abroad, but I am not naive enough to stay in my home country.

As an international student living in the Unites Sates, I always amazed how people are careful about the racial related issues and fairness whatever you skin color is, because from my experience, some people and some parts of the world are not ready for racially diverse culture yet like in the United States. At least, discrimination is against the law in the United States, which protects the minorities.
(In some countries, things are much different in terms of discrimination whether it is visible or not. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4397056.stm)

In the film, the several social issues are well depicted in the society, such as racism (hate crime), illegal immigrants and gun control and so on.
For Derek Vinyard, being part of Neo Nazi group helped him to grief loss of his father. In addition, the mentor, Cameron, helped him that he is doing right thing based on the belief.
By being the part of the “group”, Derek became the young leader, however, later in the movie, Derek found himself that his belief was worng.

I think this movie throwing good questions to us why the United States has so many illegal immigrants especially from across the boarder and why some nationhood in the United States still remains poor.

Diarios de motocicleta

2007-12-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

I am not a backpacker (for definition and more information of backpacker/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpacking_%28travel%29) all the time however, I love to go for a trip and, and I love the idea of the backpacking trip. Unlike group tour travelling, individual trip can be adventurous. Moreover, you can make your own schedule or meet local people who probably wouldn’t see you if you were in the tour set by the travel agency.

Travelling by motorcycle, Fuser and Alberto not only they felt a dynamic nature of Latin America, but also they met many people, sit down and had conversations. Especially Fuser, who came from wealthier family in Buenos Aires, was touched by those who were struggling to survive their lives.

The beginning of the movie depicted Buenos Aires when the city used known as “Paris of South America”. The buildings and city structures had European influence. Especially, the apartment where Fuser’s family lived had a art décor taste. Although, the story based on 50’s in this film, Buenos Aires looked quite developed. There were lots of cars in the city as well as people.

After Fuser and Albert left Buenos Aires, they passed Pampa area, the homeland of Gauchos. The Pampa grass looked like Japanese silver grass, but the land was vast and flat like the farm field that you might see from I-80 when you drive somewhere between Omaha to Kearney, Nebraska.

The landscape of Patagonia, especially Fjord, was very opposite to the scenery of flat Pampa land. At the same time, the trip got tougher.

Fuser and Alberto met more people in Chile and Peru, and most of them were indigenes people.
I think Machu Picchu site was symbolic scene in this film, because it really showed Fuser was inspired the heritage of indigenes people. At the same time, he started questioning himself why there is a gap between the straggling native Latin American who he met during the trip and the “Heritage”.

In San Pablo, Peru, both Fuser and Alberto volunteered in the Hansen’s disease facility. Actually, there were colonies like these in Okinawa, Japan as well. It was built in 1950’s, and people were segregated from those who were not infected.

Unlike Fuser, Alberto was always humorous and spontaneous during the trip. I think it is helpful to have a company like Alberto when you go to trip, so you can get over tough times without taking things too serous.

Beat the drum

2007-12-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

To be hones, I do not have any family or friends who have HIV virus, yet. In some classes, I had learned that AIDS is epidemic disease threatening people all around the word however, I still couldn’t get how AIDS is affecting our society, even I was aware what kind of disease AIDS is.

“Beat the drum” really showed me how both country side and the city area threaten by AIDS, and what could be the cause and prevention of this epidemic.

In Musa’s village, there were not many middle aged generation, because most of them died from AIDS. So, the main residents in the village are elderly, young children, and babies.
The villagers’ lives were depending on the smaller scale of agriculture, however, the losses of the active middle aged generation affected the productivities of the village.

The village consist group of one room houses made of clay, and straws (branches) roof. Most of the house did not have the door.
The climate around the village seemed dry (savanna) so there seemed no forest around the village other than smaller bushes.

The people in the village seemed to follow the traditional local religion of Zulu. So, the Sharman sacrificed the cow, which was the only live stock of Musa’s family.

The track terminal of rural area seemed not only just terminal but they also have prostitutes. Most long distant truckers were seeking some comfort from these prostitute as well as Nobe, the truck driver from Johannesburg.

Life in the Johannesburg definitely had a faster pace than the village life for Musa.
Like Favela in Rio de Janeiro, it seemed there are some sights seeing tour in Soweto as well.
In Soweto, South Western Township, some homeless people living in the house using cardboard. The cardboard houses build under the highway and each house almost share the walls in the limited and narrow spaces.

Street kids lived in Soweto as well. And most of them were involved in small crimes like robbery or pick-pocketing in order to survive. However, Musa, honest little guy, stayed away from those street kids activities.

Musa and the owner of the truck company in this movie symbolized the positive change in South Africa. Musa’s attitude affect both people in the Village and the city how people really face AIDS to change the current situation. The owner of the truck company, at the same time, realized what he thought to his son, who had AIDS, was the right things to do for the society than seeking own profit.

I really hope the awareness and right information can stop this epidemic.

美的人生/Singapore Dreaming

2007-11-20T19:32:00.000-08:00

The movie depicted the typical Singaporean working-class family.

Given the Asian economical boom of the last few decades, including in Singapore, many families experienced a societal transformation from the traditional values to modernized values. This change in values brought confusion to many people as well.

In the film, The landscape of Singapore looked very similar to other Asian metropolitan places like Shanghai, Hong Kong or Tokyo. The region seemed very urbanized and filled with skyscrapers along the islands. This tells us how “living in apartments” is popular in Singapore.

The Loh family, Chinese-Singaporean family, lived in a public apartment. Like in some other big Asian cities, living in an apartment is pretty common. A few decades ago, the “better off” families influenced the apartment market. For example, those who could afford preferred to live in the prestigious western influenced designers’ apartment with “Eames chairs”. Mr Poh and the older generation, was also aware of these societal changes, so he expected a lot from his son who apparently “attended” college in Idaho.

The social class structure of modern Singapore is also depicted in the film. Education has great value Asian countries. For instance, Singapore is (always) ranked as one of the first countries for many years in trends in mathematics and Science(an international assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge of fourth- and eighth-grade students around the world). In addition, it is more common than for any other Asian society for the young Singaporean to go abroad to study in countries like Australia and the United States. As a result, it became very competitive for the overseas graduates from Singapore to find better jobs back home. If you want to be a successful business person in Singapore, you need to have a degree from a well-known school.

Unlike its neighboring countries, Singapore has significant cultural diversity. In terms of language, for example, there are several recognized languages like English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil (or Hindu).In the film this was clear that most people spoke in Singlish (Singapore English) and Hokken, one of the Chinese dialects from Hokken Province. Close to the end of the film, CK (Mei’s husband) was trying to talk in Cantonese even though his mother tongue was not Cantonese.

The story also depicted Siew Luan, Poh’s wife. She seemed to be a traditional submissive housewife of the older generation. When the whole family was speaking in English, she was the only one who couldn’t understand the conversation. This kind of submissive women can be seen widely in some Asian countries.
To me, it is always exciting to watch an Asian movie because I will always find similarities in the cultures depicted in the movie and the values of my culture.
In this movie, the funeral was presented a Chinese Buddism (bit of Confucius influence)ritual, however, it looks very similar most of the Japanese Buddhism funeral.

Tsotsi

2007-11-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

The movie showed the contrast of urban and rural landscape of South Africa.
The urban side of the city, especially the station seemed like if it was in a developed country. It was hard to believe that it is actually Johannesburg’s central station; the building looked modern, and so did the train(subway). Like in most developed countries, the station seemed diverse and lots of business activiity going on.

According to the Wikipedia, the Sowet area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto ) where Tsotsi lived is also a urban area of Johannesburg. Sowet looked very similar to favela in Rio de Janeiro. However, the historical background in Sowet makes it much different than that of “the favelas”. The houses were made from steel craps, wood or thin panels. Sowet area was also spread out flatter than most favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
In Sowet, there were many garage-size houses and it looked like there was no tap water in some houses. So, people have to go out to get some water. Also, there was no electricity, except in the bars.

The Surrounding areas of Sowet and the house where Tsotsi robbed the BMW looked like suburbs of Johannesburg; it looked more residential and the neighborhood looked much more organized than Sowet. Basic infrastructures were available and well taken care of.

The contrast between blacks and whites were clear. There were no white resident in Sowet. The only white in Sowet was a police officer. There seems to be some rich black people outside of Sowet. Some of them were in the field of law enforcement, however, most of them were not in executive positions.

The Apartheid was not necessarily the major component of this film. However, the film depicted more of the consequences or ramifications of the Apartheid.

The baby in this film plays a symbolistic role in this film. The baby symbolized hope. The baby taught Tsotsi huge life lessons and to get over his traumatic childhood. Tsotsi made a living by stealing money and lives from ordinary people outside of the neighborhood, and finally learned that what he had been doing was illegal and morally wrong after he “had” a baby. Tsotsi’s transformation made him take care of others like Boston who was beaten by Tsotsi earlier in the movie, and even saved the father of the baby boy. At the end of the film, Tsotsi turned himself in to the police to end the vicious cycle.

The movie ends with Tsotsi’s transformation and the hopes for a renewed future for South Africa after the Apartheid.

City of God

2007-11-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

The film is based on a novel written by Paulo Lins who also spend his early age in the favela know as “Cidade de Deus.” (http://socrates.berkeley.edu:7001/Events/spring2004/03-04-04-lins/ )

The movie depicted the city of god, one of the favela in Rio de Janeiro during the 60s and 80s. It was filmed in the early 2000’s in a real favela in Rio de Janeiro.

The movie described the chaotic side of life at the “favelas” (slums). Most of the cast members were former gang members and all of them were at some point involved with drug trafficking. In real life, the favelas are deeply controlled by the drug traffic and most of the time Traficants are the real government and the law. They provide safety and security including social services, weapons, and so forth, just like the gang did in the film. In turn, non-gang members help them when in need. This give and take relationship makes it more difficult for the police to get into the core of the favela to break down the crime. (http://sand.miis.edu/research/student_research/Logan_Human%20Security%20in%20Favela.pdf
Related story of the new movie by the director of “Bus 174” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102101040.html ).
.
There were many meninos de rua, the street children(http://www.udel.edu/butzin/articles/child.html ), living in the favela who became the followers of Little Zé.
Of course, most of the scene depicted the gang scene, however some houses in the favela like for instance, Knockout Ned’s house, seemed simple but organized compared to the gang member’s apartment.

What Martin Holloway experienced in the favela was little different than that of the movie. In the film, the favela seemed more dark and dangerous for the ordinary tourist to get in. He was really lucky that he could get around safely.

The movie started from the recent scene of favela, and it flash back to the old days. This method clearly describes how the favelas developed. In addition, telling the story of each cast who became “the real gang” from the naughty boy in the old neighborhood, totally made sense at the end.
The landscape outside of favela seemed less violent. Like any other city, there was public transportation. However, in the bank, there was a box for the sniper in order to shoot the robbery for just in case.

The country side of Rio depicted two sides, which is the famous beautiful beach side and deep dangerous jungles at night. The costal line leads to Botafogo shows shinny and beautiful side of Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand, the small, dark jungle in the suburb contrasted the shinier side of Rio.

The class structure of favela builds upon power. It is crucial for the strong gang like Little Zé and Carrot to keep their territory safe from their enemies. Like I mentioned earlier, these mobs usually target street children to become gang members. In Brazil, one of the social issues is that the children wouldn’t be prosecuted as a criminal, in addition, some younger ones who committed the murder can be out of juvenile jail soon. Sometimes the child protection law in Brazil “helps” young criminals be free forever.

In the place like favela, it is difficult for most of the kids to get proper education because of poverty and lack of opportunities. Because of that, it is very difficult for those meninos de rua to get out from favela and to become non-favela resident. At the same time, the life in favela means co-existence of ordinary citizens and criminals. Sometimes, the criminals take “good care” of the poor citizen in favela much better than the government does.
On the other hand, there are not many minorities outside of favela. Especially in the news paper company, only Rocket seemed to be the black.

Veer-Zaara

2007-10-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

The conflict between India and Pakistan affected the daily lives of the people in the film. The Kashmir conflict in the north-eastern region of the India started during the independence from the British colonization, there have been several wars repeatedly in the past, and it is still on going argument on territory between (including China) these two counties in the government official level.
In the film, the accusation to Veer by the Pakistani local police that he was a spy from India was sounded, considering about both counties’ sensitive diplomatic situation.

English is not official language in India any more; however, it seemed that military personnel spoke in English in the film.
English seemed semi-official language in India. Actors are mainly speaking in Hindu, but English are spoken occasionally and abruptly in the conversations with Hindu accent English. As a foreign language speaker, it is common in my language to borrow some words in English, but people usually don’t mix English phrases in the sentence like Spanglish.

In the film, it depicted more of a country side of India. It showed many fields (I am assuming it was rice field) on the way to Veer’s hometown and many sugar canes appeared on the film.
According to the Indian side of Punjab state official web site(http://punjabgovt.nic.in/welcome%201.htm ), there are several multinational companies like Nestle, NEC, Hitachi, Fujitsu and so on(http://punjabgovt.nic.in/INDUSTRY/MajorMultinational.htm), however, the film mainly showing the rural side of the states, so I could not get urban and developed side of Punjab.
Like any other country’s rural area, there are many fields in the film, however, the infrastructure, for instance, the road, was not well maintenance. There seemed no public transportation in the village or car, other than little bus from the nearest bigger city. People are asking and using someone’s tractor as transportation tool. It took for travelers the tractor ride and some trekking to get to the station in the city to go to the trip to the final destination.

The Bollywood movie has distinct characteristics than the Western movies.

First, there is no scene of kissing or any other sexual contacts. Interestingly, there are some ancient Hindu architectures has direct sexual motif, and there are some sacred objects in the Hindu temple which symbolized the genital parts of male and female. But it is taboo in Indian culture to show affections in the public, as well as in the movie. (By the way, Japanese culture had great influence of Buddhism from India and Nepal region, which has some similarities in Hinduism and Japanese Buddhism today.)

Second, most of the Bollywood movie has some musical scene which is not common in the Western movies. In the Western culture, you will see “musical scene” only when you watch “musical movie” or in the theater. Indian actors must be requiring specific dancing skill other than acting.

In Indian culture, dancing has important role. Historically, there are four main traditional dances which started more than 2 thousands ago, for parsing Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
In addition, there are many regional dances for different purpose, for instance, festival dance, religious dance, harvesting dance and so on. But unlike the dance that many of us dance in the club or some places (Salsa, Hip hop, Samba or Twists?), dance in Indian culture has more of an element of entertainment.

Beijing Bicycle

2007-10-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

The class structure of China was quite obvious in the movie. The leader or the boss seemed to have great authority, power and almost absolute control over other individuals. The president (the manager?) of the bicycle delivery company, for example, seemed to have total control over the workers. In addition, several scenes illustrated well a different approach to customer service rather different from the western way.

The film also depicted the people from rural areas as most of them doing intensive labor that did not require educational skills, wear professional clothing and so forth. The people, including Guei, were described as naive, friendly and honest. The people from the urban areas, on the other hand, appeared to be more educated, sophisticated and well acquainted with urban living. Moreover, they looked well dressed up (wearing suits) and worked in the office.

The main mode of transportation in Beijing, as depicted in the movie, is biking. Most people in Beijing use a bicycle to go to school and/or work. There are many bicycle lanes for bicycle riders on the roads. In the film, some people even carried electric appliances on their bicycles. However, nowadays, the famous scenery of Beijing with lots of people riding bicycles everywhere has been changing because more and more people can now afford to buy cars (But still many bicycle commuter than any other cities).

Moreover, the urban landscape of Beijing looks like any other metropolitan city around the world, like New York, Chicago or Tokyo. At the downtown area there are many offices skyscrapers and high rise condominiums. Especially, the condominiums right by the community where Mantis, Guei’s friend, lived had a small grocery and a pay phone shop.

On the contrary, the communities where the less advantaged people lived looked very different. The roads were not paved, the houses looked old, the entire area looked sandy, and the infrastructure was not well taken care of. Some of the residents of those communities were from the countryside of China. Rural migration in China is increasing dramatically. For instance, there are many families like Jian’s parents in the big cities of China; they moved from countryside trying to give their children a better education in the city. (For a related story in real life, please see: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/world/asia/25school.html?ex=1327381200&en=940f5c80b1a62304&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)

The Chinese title of “Beijing Bicycle” basically means “Bicycle of Seventeen,” so it shows the gaps between the seventeen years old's from the country side and the urban area.
The fact that the main character of the movie was also beaten by Jian’s friends shows that the urban people do not care much about the rural people. It clearly shows how the urban and rural residents perceive each other. However, as more and more rural residents establish themselves in the city and economic growth continues, maybe the negative perceptions of the people will change as well. As development increases there will be more and more opportunities for everyone and people should recognize the value and contributions of each other.

“Once Were Warriors”

2007-10-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

The oppression of Maori culture by Pakeha culture was clearly noticeable in the film because most of the public officials and administrative officers, the police, judges and so forth were Pakeha people.
There was not much of Maori culture represented at the beginning of the film. Most of the people, especially younger generations were influenced by some other subculture. For instance, most of them dressed like rap musicians (old school/this movie was filmed during 90’s), reggae artist and punk rocker or a Maori gang version of “Mad Max”. Reggae music’s lyrics did fit the context of the movie to some extent. The older generation, like Beth, Jake, and their friends seemed to be less educated and having lower job skills. They also seemed left out of the New Zealand’s main society.

In the Maori culture, men seem to have the power by all means. In the film, there were many scenes where men were depicted as lifting weight, exercising and boxing. Most of the men in the film who have Maori descendent seemed physically well build. We can not conclude nor generalize that all Maori men are violent based only on Jake’s behavior in the film, however, some statistics show a high percentage of domestic violence and child abuse among the Maori people.

( http://www.nzine.co.nz/features/domestic_violence.html , http://www.amnesty.org.nz/web/pages/home.nsf/0/2d3efd1fdeaa1c41cc256ffd0013ae45?OpenDocument , http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/New-Zealand.html )

The history of the Mori was brought into the film as an old legacy. I saw Maori culture as a salvation after seeing young Maori descendants finally defining their own identities. Boggie, for example, seemed much more confident about his culture and himself, after he learned about Haka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka). In addition, Nig, the oldest son, joined the gang. The gang was highly influenced by the some of the old tradition of the Maori culture, like the use of tattoos, the attitude, and even some of their accessories. In any case, both Boggie and Nick took different approaches to earn the respect of Maori culture. But nevertheless, they go back in history to keep the traditions.
Grace, on the other hand, had totally different attitude from any one in the family. In the story, she represented the bright future of the family. In addition, she also represented the silent victim of child abuse and domestic violence. Grace took more of an intellectual approach in her life that seemed totally different from her parents or the others around her. Beth, her mother, knew that her daughter had great potential. She knew that Grace could get out and change her life.

Finally, the urban landscape was depicted mostly from where the family lived and the downtown area. The residential neighborhood where the minority residents lived looked poor. Like other metropolitan areas, it looked dirty and busy. The landscape of the countryside, on the other hand, depicted the natural green of New Zealand.

Rabbit Proof Fence

2007-10-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

The film clearly depicted the Aborigine community, Jigalong, and the Moore River Native Settlement.
In Jigalong, the land seemed very dry. Obviously, the land was not suitable for agriculture. Most of the trees did not have leaves, and there were bushes without green leaves. According to the Wikipedia many Aborigine tribes have some similarities among them like not having written language, living by traditional hunting and gathering, and craving art on the stone wall.
In addition to the dryness of the land, there seemed to not be many wild animals living on the land. So, for most of the Aborigine, like the Jigalong Aborigine community where the Molly’s family lived, it was difficult for them to make their living without depending on the rationing from “British” ruled Australian government.
The Family lived in a small house made from tree branches and bushes. It seemed like there were no significant belongings.
On the other hand, in the Moore River Native Settlement where three girls were taken by the government authority, the nature seemed completely different than Jigalong. First, there was lots of more green around the area. Obviously, the area was named after the river close to its water source. Secondly, there were sugar cane fields; therefore the land was suitable for agriculture. Thirdly, it rained around the area which produced humidity. The rabbit fence clearly shows us the borderlines between both environments.
The controversy about the accuracy of the film is based on the debate whether “stolen generation” really existed. Stolen generations are the mixed aborigine children forced to separate from their parents. The conservative Australian commentator claimed that Auber Octavius Neville was wrongly portrayed in the film.
In addition some people claim that there was no forced separation of Aborigine children from their parents. The rational behind the separation was to take good care of Aborigine children. However, even today, some aborigine people are still discriminated.

Viva! Otaku! ｷﾀ━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━!!!!!

2007-09-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Densha-Otoko is a movie about an Otaku, who lives in Tokyo and is falling in love with a charming Japanese young lady, Miss Hermés, in a train (Densha). The train man helped this lady in the train, and later he got help from many online anonymous supporters who had never met him in real life but helped him through the internet Bulletin Board System to take Miss Hermés, a typical Japanese middle upper class young lady, to a dinner. The story seems just like any other love story, except for the fact that the train man (Densha Otoko) is an Otaku, that is, a nerd fascinated with Japanese comic books, computer, arts and so forth.

As Japanese looking back to my lovely home country from another country, I personally realized points that I am really proud of in my home culture, and noticed some major cultural differences in general. These Cultural reflections and understanding, especially, help me to get around with my Brazilian husband and Nebraska born son.

In the movie, there is a place that you can not miss when you talk about Otaku and Japanese culture. The area called Akihabara (http://www.akiba.or.jp/english/index.html), a neighborhood in Tokyo, is like a sanctuary for Otaku people and the place where there are lot of computer equipment, small electronic devices, specialty book store (for instance, manga/comic books, animation, and Gravure magazine etc), and other stores that sell all kinds of manga or animation character related products. Within a few block around Akihabara subway station there are many three to four stores tall warehouses packed with electronics. Unlike Ebisu(http://gardenplace.jp/english/index.html?mv=gn), where Densha Otoko and Miss Hermes went out for a date in the movie, there are not so many prestigious restaurants or classy department store (lets say, like Barneys,) in Akihabara. Akihabara is not trendy place for trendy people in Japan. Despite selling advanced, high-tech computer products Akihabara is out of target for the redevelopment project for the trendy area like Omote sando (http://www.omotesandohills.com/english/index.html), Roppongi, or bay area of Tokyo.

Like many of us, train man seemed heavily dependent on computer technology, the internet, cell phone, or the little black berry. But it is not common for many of us like Densha Otoko to communicate with Miss Hermes following the simulation conversation plot that he input in his little computer in advance, because Densha Otoko did not know what to say. In addition, he spoke with polite Japanese when he talked to Miss Hermes, which is rare for a twenty-two-years old young man going out with a potential future girl friend.
Japanese otaku, in general, is described as an outcast of modern Japanese culture which is highly influenced by western culture (not only culture from U.S. but also European culture). However Otaku is brought into this film as a heroic figure for the rest of the naive Otaku family. Densha Otoko truly gives the audience positive aspects of otaku figure that make them sound and look sophisticated.

In the movie, Densha Otoko was also supported by many unknown people in BBS web site. Throughout the film, the communication between BBS users and the Densha Otoko is made through the internet. This describes how people are into virtual reality than daily life, which makes less real life communication in real world. Especially in a big city like Tokyo face-to-face communication may happen much less than in a place where everybody knows each other.

Both the Nerd and the Otaku definitely share some characteristics. For instance, both are unstylish in general, and they are less attractive than others. They are slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.

At the end of the film, the scene shows that Miss Hermes knew that Densha Otoko is kind enough to care about others. This gives positive influence to many Otaku guys and girls; it reinforces their belief that doing the right thing is important. Ms. Hermes had noticed the train man righteousness much earlier in the movie than thought before.

Finally, in this film, the landscape of Tokyo is depicted as crowded and highly technologically advanced. Most aspects of people’s lives are affected by some kind of technology on one way or another. Thus, Otaku is brought into the film as a modern subculture in Japan, which is very much dependent on technology and that makes technology a way of life. The Otaku individual pretty much lives in a virtual world, almost secluded from face-to-face interactions and represents an aspect similar to the concept of nerd in western culture. The help that the train man receives from the online support group exemplifies the impact of the virtual world in our lives today; more than ever before people who do not know each other have now the possibility of gathering on the internet to impact changes just about anywhere. Thus, the internet has become one of the most powerful vehicles of information.

In conclusion, I am very proud of some positive part of otaku culture and hopefully, this culture would be popular and accepted all around the world just like Toyota, Sony and Poke-mon.

Good bye, Lenin!

2007-09-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

The movie “Good By Lenin” is almost nostalgic for me. When I was in Junior High school, I had a friend from GDR who used to write to me about life in East Germany. She also used to send me pictures. A few years later, I saw the Berlin Wall fall. It was a great historical moment. What a change!
In the movie, Alexander and his sister, Ariane, were shown being raised by their mother, Christiane, whose husband had escaped to the West Germany. Members of the Communist Party visited their home constantly and questioned Christiane about her husband’s disappearance. Because of her husband’s disappearance and possible feeling guilty of the plot to leave the GDR as well, Christiane becomes mentally unstable. Despite that, she became a strong supporter of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. In fact she worked for the Communist Party and as a result, she was honored by it. She became so involved in the party affairs that she had the influence to request changes and services.
Christiane’s family life seemed very similar to those of former USSR residents. The whole family lived in a small apartment, and even Ariane, who had a baby when she was a university student live there as well. In addition, Alexander’s clothing that he wore all the time later in the film reminded me of the time when I saw many Russian visitors come to my homeland of Hokkaido in Japan from CIS in the late 80’s.
Nevertheless, after “the Wall” lost its meaning, Alexander himself saw “the change” on his society from communist, totalitarian to democratic society. Although many things changed in GDR, I did not see many of Alexander’s cultural confusion toward the western cultural flow into GDR at first, other than when he and his girl friend from USSR were in the club discothèque, where the band played German techno music with kinky costume. He may be one of the young generations who can adapt to cultural differences quicker and easily. He seemed adapted well in the changed the environment, and as a result, he became “Wessis” good friend through his united parabola antenna job (the boss was matching the worker from “W”est side and “O”st side). This wessi friend, later in the film, helps Alexander by using his filming technique. In addition, his sister Ariane was working for Burger King, and she was even on their TV commercial.
In the scene which their mother was hospitalized, the hospital equipment seemed quite old. Especially Alexander collected for his mother a DDR pickles bin, a coffee flavored drink and so on which were difficult to get in the supermarket even right after the unification. This clearly showed me that the ideology behind the ostalgia is Alexander’s sense of looking back his good old childhood with Sandmannchen TV programs when GDR still existed. It was clearer to me when he visited his father in the west side of Germany; because Alexander seemed as if he is from totally another country even both East and West Germany was unified. So the word, ostalgia may have sense of missing good old memories of DDR.
Finally, in the movie, the landscape of Berlin and surrounding is shown as red and poor. There is clear sense of isolation and imprisonment. There is also a contrast of culture between capitalist and communism in the way people carry on their daily lives. Lenin’s image, itself, represents the despair of totalitarianism coming to and end. Furthermore, the contrast between the old and the new, the east and the west, and the BMW and the trabants is a constant in the movie. In the end, ostalgia means the struggle between the old and the new, the desire of easterners to return to their old way of life.

La Grande Séduction (Seducing Dr. Lewis)

2007-09-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

The film shows the contrasts that exist in today’s so-called “globalized world”. At the same time that are small communities all over the world thriving with new opportunities as the result of globalization, there other smalls towns though that were once thriving communities but that now are trapped on the global economy. That is, at the same time that there are new emerging communities, there are old ones struggling to survive. That is the case of the small northern Quebec island of Saint Marie-La Mauderne as pictured in the film.

Isolated from most of the modern developments in Canada and elsewhere, the small fishing village, once a thriving community, sees itself now dependent on government welfare. The fish long gone and the landscape apparently not well fit to agricultural development or any other industrial activity the residents are caught in an almost hopeless situation. But besides, the lack of development and hopelessness in the face of its residents there is also the entire problem faced by many rural areas throughout the world today, and that is the difficulty that rural residents find to received quality public services, including medical, transportation, communications, and so forth.

The movie also depicts the cultural contrast between the French and non French Quebec. The French Quebec, mostly catholic as it seems to be case of the Island of Saint Marie – La Mauderne, is somewhat ignored by the government that assists with welfare but that fails to promote long term development in the Island. However, reluctant to live the area, the local residents then finally see hope when there are talks that a factory is looking at the possibility of being located in the region, but with one condition: that a medical doctor reside in the region. The store develops around the many techniques the local residents use to attract a doctor, in this case, Dr. Lewis from Montreal, to live in the rural village. From there on, the story develops itself showing the cultural contrast between rural and urban as well as French and non French.

La Petite Vendeuse De Soleil

2007-09-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

In the movie, I saw Sili Laam as a metaphor for the Less- Developed Countries (LDC) straggling economically and socially in the world’s stage.

Of course, one cannot solve the LDC problems by focusing on one subject only. There are other factors and conditions that affect the lives of people in the developing world, like historical factors, geography, social structures, politics, wars and so forth. However, poverty is exacerbated by lack of opportunities and an unequal distribution of income which is very common for LDCs.

In the movie, La Petite Vendeuse De Soleil, the physically challenged girl Sili is shown selling newspaper in the capital city, Dakar where she makes a living. In this story, Sili not only found the way to make some money but her life selling newspaper on the street of Dakar constituted her social world where she interacted with customers, co-workers and friends.

In this entire social context, Sili’s life is not only challenged by her disability, but also by her struggle to survive on an environment where she was threatened constantly by her co-workers because her ability to outsell them. But Sili’s life was not only full of challenges and sorrow. She also had the help of a good friend like Babou who supported her after she was attacked by her co-workers. Babou helped Sili but he did not give her any money. He only helped her get back on her feet.The same should be true for development aid aimed at developing countries. Aid should be in a form of tool or technique that will help countries get back on their feet.

In this movie, the director Dijibril Mambety well described the most LDC’s economic situation by using Sili’s life and her disability. It is nearly impossible to change the economic dependence from developed county for most LDC. For instance, our lives are heavily depending on small electric devices like cell phone, lap top computers and so on. In these devices, we use some natural resources to make small batteries, however these natural resources come from some LDC sometimes causing turmoil among those competing for control of such resources. In today’s global economy, LDCs are encouraged and/or forced to trade with other countries including developed ones. However, most of the time, the rules of the trade are unbalanced and LDCs don’t always have the power to bargain.

In the movie Sili helped her blind grand-mother and shared her little wealth with beggars on the street. It is possible that to find a balance between the developed and the less developed world, given the historical conditions that countries find themselves today, a serious redistribution of wealth and resources be necessary.

Thus, Sili’s last words in the film, “We continue,” express the hope of the less developed countries and oppressed people, especially women throughout the world who envision a world of opportunities for all, independently of race, class, social background, birthplace, physical disability, gender, religion and so forth. However, at the same time, it could mean LDC's long lasting cycle of dependency on the developed world and being carried on by it.