Session 24—Th, April 12: Isao Takahata’s “Grave of the Fireflies” (1988) screening Part 1

Topics for this session

◊ screening of "Grave of the Fireflies" (Takahata Isao, 1988)

Thoughts*

Special note: Attendance optional. Please arrive on time. If you arrive late, please be courteous and enter quietly. Please do not multitask during the film.

The film was directed by Isao Takahata. (Goldberg: "[Like the author of the novel on which the film is based, Isao, too, with one of his siblings, was separated from his family for two days during a firebombing. He called it "the worst experience of his life.") Isao is associated with the famous Ghibli Studio, source of some of the most famous of Japanese animation. His colleague there was Hayao Miyazaki ("Princess Mononoke," "Kiki's Delivery Service," "My Neighbor Totoro"). His films are not usually this serious; "Grave of the Fireflies" is in a category by itself.

The film is based on a semi-autobiographical novel (1967) by Nosaka Akiyuki—who was a boy at the time of the firebombs, whose sister did die of hunger, and who lost his adoptive father in the fire-bombing at age 14, the same age as the young male protagonist of the novel and film.

Required—to be completed for today's session

✓ Nothing, but you might consider looking ahead to the reading in Yoshimoto and Murakami.

Texts, multimedia notes, links*

❖◊ nothing yet ...

Other*

◇ Recommended essay — Wendy Goldberg, "Transcending the Victim's History: Takahata Isao's Grave of the Fireflies": at Project MUSE
◇ About the movie on Wikipedia (portions not of the best quality): Wiki > Grave of the Fireflies
◇ A Web site dedicated to Ghibli Studies (with midi of the music, artwork, movie synopsis, etc.): wingsee.com/ghibli
◇ Extensive production details: Anime Newsnetwork
◇ Robert Ebert review

*THOUGHTS: Reading before class probably helps follow session content, reading afterwards might help consolidate notes, revisiting for tests is recommended. Content might be added before class or anytime up until about 24 hours ahead of a midterm.

*TEXTS, MULTIMEDIA NOTES, LINKS: If I have read from something, shown something or presented audio, I usually include that information here. If I consider it testable material, it will definitely be listed here. Miscellaneous material that I show may or may not be listed. I often add material at the last minute and hope to have time later to note it, but often cannot.

*OTHER: When possible I note here names, places, and other details that I have mentioned in a lecture that would otherwise not be accessible in the assigned materials or easily located on your own. As with "TEXTS ..." this is usually sometime after class and, again, I might not be able to get around to doing it.