grave of the fireflies
TRANSCRIPT
OverviewInitially released in April 1988, Grave of the Fireflies received critical acclaim and was lauded as one of
the great anti-war films of its day. Today, while it is often talked about with the warning "be sure to
have a box of tissues handy”, it remains a pivotal example of a society as it attempts to recover
from the effects of war and what happens to those who exist on the fringes of that society in a
culture that normally places high value upon self reliance and fortitude of spirit.
Storyline
Grave of the Fireflies is the story of an orphaned brother and sister, Seita and Setsuko, in the time of
WWII Japan.
After their Mother succumbs to wounds received during an air raid, the two move in with a distant aunt,
who proves to be mean and greedy, encouraging Seita to sell his Mother’s kimonos for rice and
continually scolding the siblings for being lazy and not contributing enough to the household.
Finally, Seita decides to take his sister and live on their own in a abandoned air raid shelter, where
they attempt to subsist on their own with whatever they can find or reclaim.
Theirs is a tale of struggle and hardship as they try to maintain the cultural expectations in a society
which has been decimated by the Hiroshima bombing.
Seita
From the beginning you
are in love with the
fourteen year old Seita
and already sad for his
death. Then it cuts to him
burying a time capsule
and saying good by to his
mother, this is developing
him as a responsible
person as he is the one
saving things rather then
his mom and he is telling
her what to do. After the
capsule is buried he puts
his sister on his back,
showing that this
character has all the
responsibility in the family.
Setsuko
Setsuko is a young child,
small enough to be carried
on her brothers back. She
laughs a lot and is
seemingly un effected by
the war except when she
says “I hate shelters!” this
is the only sign that she
gives off of knowing there
is a war going on other
wise she is as happy as a
clam. But once her brother
tells her that her mother is
sick in the hospital you
see her cry. She is a
strong young child.
Mother
Mother leaves the film
early on, she leaves her
two children alone at the
beginning of an air raid
leaving her burned by a
bomb fire , she doesn’t
survive.
Aunt
The Aunt, is a distant one.
And she is disapproving
also, she calls the kids
pests and gives them a
hard time for eating her
food, and singing during
war time.
Introduction to Film & TextGrave of the Fireflies is based on real life events that happened to the writer of the 35 page story by
Author Nosaka Akiyuki. In the article “Laughter and Tears: The Complex Narratives of Showa
Gesaku Writer Nosaka Akiyuki ” I have found that the writer takes the things that had happened in
his life and write stories to re leave some of the pain from his life. When he wrote Hotaru no haka
(Grave of the Fireflies) he is “Telling lies” (Hiroko 296) as he had been his whole life, these lies how
ever on based on the truth as I've said before all of these theme come from real life experiences. A
theme that he lies about in Hotaru no haka is that of what is was like to be an orphan for him. He is
not really ling about what is was like but more bringing a imaginative twist to his work to make the
reader able to handle the events of his life. For example as an orphan he was the one who killed
his sister by sealing food from her and hitting her over the head. In the story he lies so that setsuko
can be looked at as a good caring boy so the audience will want to follow his story. If he told the
truth then the audience would be appalled and think of him as the villain. (Hiroko pg 300) This is
interesting to know because it shows you how a real orphan has grown to become a story teller
and spread the information of what its like to be an orphan. The theme of Orphans is shared with
the viewer by showing how the parents are lost and what they do to survive after the loss of their
parents.
Major ThemesAll of the themes it covers are social issues such as, War ,Orphans and Hunger.
The theme of War is covered in the film as it takes place during world war 2, All the events that are
occurring are the product of the wars air raids on Japan. It shows the Planes dropping bombs and
people running away trying to make it into a bomb shelter in time. It gives a live action feeling of
what it would be like to be living in a time of war. It shows the pain of losing both parents to war.
One parents life is lost by innocent bystander and the other is lost fighting in the war. The children
are then left orphaned with no one in the community able to afford to help them.
Once the children are orphaned the issue of hunger comes into play. All orphans have this issue as
there is no parent to provide food to them. The issue begins with the two children being forced to
sell their mothers clothing for rice. Then they try living of the land which consisted of lake water and
frogs. Once they are hungry enough they begin to steal what they can to get food. But this leads to
trouble. When you are living off near to nothing the issue of malnourishment comes into play and
that is how this story ends with both children dying from lack of nutrition.
Cultural & Historical AspectsJapan is known to have been a bit reticent to examine their own behavior during the end of WWII, as
demonstrated in the article “Coming to Terms with the Past: Japan”. In the article, the whitewashing
of some historical aspects of Japan’s actions in World War II are clearly laid out. The fact that this
film is able to scrutinize the behavior of people during war speaks volumes about the Japan’s
growing acceptance of human fallibility.
This film also illuminates some of the cultural aspects of Japan’s nuclear family and the roles that each
member is expected to assume. Often older siblings are tasked with taking over some of the
parenting responsibilities. Firstborn girls are expected to assist with preparing meals and lunches
for their other siblings or waking them up in the morning, older boys are tasked with getting work
and helping to bring in money to maintain the household or achieving good grades in order to bring
the family honor. It is apparent in some of Setsuko’s actions (scolding Seita for sitting rudely at their
table, her purse full of coins and marbles) that had she been a little bit older, she would have
naturally settled into the expected norm of responsible, supportive sister and future caretaker of a
household.
For his part, Seita struggles to put food on the table and take care of his little sister, assuming the dual
role of provider and caretaker.
Even in the face of their extremely difficult circumstance, both siblings appear to be unwittingly
attempting to adhere to the expected social norms of their culture of that period.
Technical AspectsGrave of the Fireflies is a traditional Japanese animation film created by Studio Ghibli on 35mm film.
It was created concurrently with another popular Studio Ghibli film, My Neighbor Totoro due to the fact
that Grave of the Fireflies received funding for its production, while the pitch for My Neighbor Totoro
failed. Thus, the Ghibli team worked on the two films at the same time– causing occasional bouts
of confusion for the artists and collaborators.
The film received multiple awards, including in 1994 the Animation Jury Award and Rights of the Child
award in the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival and a Blue Ribbon award Special
Award in 1989.
Video Clips
Roger Ebert Reviews Grave of the Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies English Trailer
Grave of the Fireflies Live Action Trailer
Works CitedGrave of the Fireflies, Dir. Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli, 1988. Film.
Cockerill, Hiroko. “Laughter and Tears: The Complex Narratives of Showa Gesaku Writer Nosaka
Akiyuki”. Academic Search Complete, December 2007
Kersten, Rikki. “Coming to Terms with the Past: Japan”. History Today; Mar2004, Vol. 54 Issue 3, p20-
22, 3p
Hasegawa, Koichi. Shinohara, Chika. Broadbent, Jeffrey. “The Effects of 'Social Expectation' on the
Development of Civil Society in Japan”. Journal of Civil Society; Sep2007, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p179-
203, 25p, 1 Diagram, 3 Charts, 5 Graphs, 1 Map