If you care to watch the clip, I have posted the link. There are no English subtitles, sorry. Watch at your own discretion, as it contains graphic images.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Telling the Truth
I would like to start this post with a quote read in class from the book Telling the Truth. "The weight of these sad times we must obey. Speak what you feel, not what you ought to say." This really resonated with me. It made me recall the Japanese animated film, Barefoot Gen. I watched scenes of it with my host family in Hiroshima. It showed how, all in an instant, family and friends- people loved and very dear to each other- were utterly destroyed. It showed the entire process of elderly, parents, children, and even infants being burned and their skin melted away before death. I thought, "Who would animate this?" and was instantly horrified. As an American, I also felt extremely uncomfortable. Yet this film was one of the most truthful films I have ever seen. I felt mortified, uncomfortable, sickened and grieved that even one nation experienced something as horrible as an atomic bomb. That feeling has not died down since I watched that film, but has stayed with me and, in a way, haunted me. I felt the film expressed the true emotions of a once devastated land. Nothing was sugarcoated or watered down, it just spoke truth.
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I've read Barefoot Gen (and seen the clip in question...to the point that I don't want to watch it again). As it was drawn by someone who survived it, it makes it all the more haunting. The initial moment of destruction of Hiroshima is bad enough, but all the things that happened shortly after, people with melted skin who didn't die and glass in their eyes trying to get around the city...
ReplyDeleteIts important to see these things. We need to not let it happen again.
I agree! I think many people who argue that it was the right thing to do have absolutely no idea what happened, or how it affected people. The message needs to get out, and I think this animation sends out a strong message. If there is any medium to speak about this issue, I think animation and art is the perfect way to broach the subject that is must never happen again.
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