A woman sits slightly to the left of the frame. She is a plain looking Japanese woman wearing traditional Japanese garments and a pair of round-rimmed glasses. She has dark hair that appears to be tied back in a bun. She is probably between thirty and forty years old. She has one hand to her face, obscuring her mouth. Her other hand lies in her lap. Her left cheek shines with the stain of tears. She is looking up and to the left at someone in front of her standing outside the frame. She is sitting in a dark room, but there is light falling across most of her body and part of the room. In the background the shadow of a ceiling light is seen on the wall. The background is fuzzy, the frame focused on the woman. Two young boys are lying side by side on the floor behind her. They are under a blanket. Part of the blanket is caught in the light, but the faces of the boys are slightly covered by shadow.
The frame is from a scene from Ozu's film "I Was Born But..." The two boys lying on the floor are Keiji and Ryoichi and the woman at focus is their mother. The boys have just had a fight with their father. The boys were upset after having seen their father making a fool of himself in order to win the favor of his boss. The father explains that he has to submit to the boss in order to earn a living, but the boys don't understand. They are disappointed and angry at their father and throw a tantrum resulting in the one boy being spanked by the father. After they have gone to bed the mother watches them sleep, the father stands in the doorway. This particular mise-en-scene effectively shows the emotion behind the scene.
The emotion of the mother powerfully shows the sadness behind the moment when children realize their parents aren't as powerful as they thought. The tears on the mother's face don' just show the sadness coming from watching her family fight, but her sorrow for her children's future. It's interesting the way the mother covers her face wiping away the tears. It's almost as if she's trying to hide her emotion, wipe it away like she wipes away the tears. The mother isn't a particularly expressive character, she doesn't talk much or clearly show her feelings very often in the film. The focus on the mother and her emotional state is what makes this scene stand out so much. The mother is clearly a wise character, indicated by her glasses, glasses often being a sign of wisdom. If the mother is crying that must mean that her emotion comes from a place of deep wisdom. She knows that the fight between the father and sons meant more than just the average family spat. In her wisdom she can see what the situation of the father implies for the future of her sons.Will they suffer the same fate as their father? Will they have to grovel to their superiors like he does?
It's interesting to note the way the children's faces are covered in shadow. If the father is standing in the doorway that means the shadow across them could be his shadow. The boys are lying in their father's shadow, implying that they will one day follow him. It's also interesting to note the closeness between the mother and the boys. The boys lie close together with the mother beside them while the father is in another room. At this point in the film there is a loss of closeness between the father and sons and having the father waiting outside the room clearly reflects this. It's also interesting to see the warmth of that closeness between mother and sons. While the rest of the room is dark their is light over the mother and part of the sons. Even though you can only see the shadow of the lamp it still appears as if it's hanging over them in the room. Where there is a shadow connecting the father and the sons, light connects the mother and the sons. This is a really important visual image in a film that mostly concentrates on the relationships between fathers and sons. This mise-en-scene is very strong in the way that it shows this emotional and physical connection between the mother and sons. It really brings out the mother as an important figure in the film.
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ReplyDeleteIn a few areas of the blossay there are some typos or mis-punctuation. Outside of that, I believe the first paragraph does a very explicit and accurate job of describing the entire scene whether it be the lighting, positioning, and characters. I believe the assessment of the importance of this scene was accurately described in the 2nd paragraph with an important statement in the closing sentence signifying that this scene is really about emotion. The next paragraph has many good points made about what the various actions before, during, and after this scene meant. For a split moment, I forgot my train of thought and had to re-correct myself as it came to me that the tears from the Mother couldn't really relate to the fight the children and the father had, but it would make more sense for them to be there because of the grim outlook for the kid's futures. What particularly caught my interest in all of this was the interpretation of the lighting from the mother and the father. The father casting a shadow over the children's faces representing the possibility they could end up like him? It'd take a good 20 minutes of really picking apart a picture to really make such a connection after getting through the basics, and I am impressed by that. The Mother's relation to her lighting on the boys showing how close they are and how much farther the father is now from his kids after that fight. I am in agreement with the descriptions, but more so intrigued by the interpretations near the end. Though, some proof reading wouldn't hurt to get rid of the typos and fix punctuation.
ReplyDeleteHey Tommy, thanks for the comment. I read through my blossay and tried to fix some of the typos. I'm glad you enjoyed my interpretations regarding the lighting. I think lighting is a very significant aspect of film, especially in black and white films that lack the use of color to portray ideas.
DeleteTalking about father's shadow, Valerie you said that lying in the shadow indicated that one day, the boys would follow father's path and it also shows the gap between the boys and father. However, in my culture which is similar to the Japanese culture, men are not suppose to show sad emotions before others even before his own children. I think that is why the father just stands outside the room and does not sit with his wife. Therefore, lying in father's shadow probably indicates that the boys are protected by their father even the father is not in the same room with them and there are gaps between them after the argument but father still loves his children. In the movie, father also grabs a bottle of drink and drinks alone to show his sadness instead of showing his sadness to other people. Other than that, it was a great and detailed blog essay and I like you mention every detail of the picture in the first paragraph.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the blog! I appreciate that you brought in some elements of culture into your comment. I don't know a whole lot about Japanese (or Asian) culture so that's really interesting to know. I still think the shadow could be an indication that the boys may follow in their father's "shadow." Though that may be a very American analysis considering "following in someone's shadow" is such a popular English expression, I think the parents conversation after this scene also supports that reading. But I do think you're right about the father staying out of the room because he doesn't want his family to see his emotions.
DeleteI really like your analysis of the frame and enjoyed reading them. You described in great detail. The analysis of shadow and light is very interesting. As you wrote the shadow which covered children is father’s shadow, on the contrary the light reached mother and the part of children. I haven’t thought the relationship of them before I read your blossay. I think the shadow from father expresses disappointment for life and remorse for his sons, and the light shows mother’s hope for sons’ future. And the point of distance of parents and sons is also interesting. Although father is not in this frame, we can know his existence because mother’s eyes. We can clearly understand the distance between parents and their sons. I think it shows not only their physical distance but also psychological distance.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the blog and that you found my analysis of shadow and light interesting. I think you're right, there is a psychological gap as well as a physical gap. Your reading of the light as an indication of the mother's hope for her son's future is really interesting. Thanks for the comments!
DeleteI really like your analysis of the frame and enjoyed reading them. You described in great detail. The analysis of shadow and light is very interesting. As you wrote the shadow which covered children is father’s shadow, on the contrary the light reached mother and the part of children. I haven’t thought the relationship of them before I read your blossay. I think the shadow from father expresses disappointment for life and remorse for his sons, and the light shows mother’s hope for sons’ future. And the point of distance of parents and sons is also interesting. Although father is not in this frame, we can know his existence because mother’s eyes. We can clearly understand the distance between parents and their sons. I think it shows not only their physical distance but also psychological distance.
ReplyDelete