I've Got You Under My thumb?

  Early Summer is the story of a society in which women are expected to marry before the age of 29, often in arranged marriages negotiated by their family, especially fathers and brothers.  Yet at the same time, Noriko rejects the candidate chosen for her by her boss and family and  -- on the spur of the moment -- agrees to marry a family friend.   What is this movie saying about patriarchal structure, marriage, and women's liberation in the modern Japan of the 1950's?

Sushi and Baseball

 Early Summer depicts a Japan in transition.  Defeated and occupied by the Americans, the Japanese both cling to their traditional ways and embrace new ideas from their occupiers.  How does the movie show this transition?  Does this movie make a judgment about the new American influence?  Is there a political slant, however subtle, in this film?  What does this movie think about baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie?

Mono No Aware

 Mono no aware is the Japanese idea of the awareness of the transience of beauty and the ultimate sadness of life. After watching Early Summer can you better understand this concept? Where there scenes that evoked both feelings of joy and sadness, moments of beauty and tears?  What were your emotions at the end of the film?  What did you think about some of the images we discussed in class: the waves, the photograph, the child's balloon?  Are there moments when you felt the sadness and the beauty of life?