I found this movie to be hard to watch.  It was beautiful, but it was also terrible.  While watching the part where Tam gets sick I remember thinking how mad I would be if he died.  I was just going to get up and leave.  And then he died…and I was mad, but I didn’t leave because obviously that wouldn’t be very productive of me.  But I was still really sad and I think that set the mood for the rest of the film.  One of the other super emotional parts of the film was when Binh realized that Tam never had to die because he could’ve just taken a plane to America since his dad was a Veteran.  This part was so sad because Binh just broke down.  It was also a turning point in the film.  Binh set off with more motivation than ever to find his dad.

What I really liked about this film, however, was that even though the mood throughout most of the film was sad and hard to watch, it ended on a hopeful note.  Binh finally found his dad and realized that he was a good man.  I think it shows that with enough perseverance, some good can come out of a bad situation.

For the final reading, I’ll focus on the theme of loss and gain.

Initially, Nao started losing her way after quitting school and not doing so swell on her exam tests that her mother told her to take. She kind of lost the will to do something meaningful, even with the “supapawa” she learned from Jiko. Her father lost the will to live after failing to win the auction to get her daughter’s panties back from some unknown “hentai”. After his failed suicide attempt, Nao left home and started working under Babette at a “maid cafe” which actually operated as more of a brothel. Her loss of a direction in life and a strong father caused her to become a worker under Babette, where she served men who paid for her service. The first guy was a nice rich man who seemed to have a shota complex, which is hinted on how he kept dressing Nao in his clothes and liked her better bald or with extremely short hair, only leaving her when her hair started to come back to its original length. Her next customer was a “hentai” who got frisky before they even reached the room. It’s here that she received a text telling that old Jiko was on the brink of death. Without giving a second though, Nao ran away, losing the only way to financially sustain herself, but also gaining her freedom back.

For Ruth, she could be seen as losing some of her sanity. She kept obsessing over the diary and the messages she had sent to the professor that she asked her husband, Oliver, if she was going crazy, to which he responded that she might be. Though she loss some sanity apparently, she gained the answers she was looking for and learned more about Nao’s father and Haruki #1 and how he hated the war and despised the treatment they were receiving while in training. Meanwhile, the family lost the cat Pesto during a storm and assumed he was dead.

Nao, feeling lost on how to get to Jiko’s in time, stops writing further on in her diary, giving the reader the assumption she gave up and killed herself. Wanting to know more, Ruth “transcended” time and space and “met” with Nao’s father, telling him not to kill himself and that Nao needs him more than ever. Cut to Nao meeting her father at the station and both of them fixing loose ends, resulting in them going to see Jiko together. When they arrive, Jiko writes a last poem that says “to live on” and they both interpret that as Jiko’s message to have them not throw away their lives, but live on together. The loss of Jiko brings them together, which is a gain in this matter as well. With this established, Ruth gains an ending she could live with, I guess, and they rediscover Pesto, barely alive, and are able to nurse him back to health after awhile. Finally, although not as important, it can be said that Nao and her father lost the drive for suicide, and instead decided to pursue on the hopes in living, which eventually paid off in that Nao’s father made a good program that erases personal things on the Web while Nao decided to write a book on Jiko’s life and how it spurred her to live on. I guess you can say they gained aspirations.

This reading for A Tale For The Time Being reminded me more of the theme of place. In the story so far, Nao is taken to old Jiko’s temple for her summer vacation, as recommended by her father and Jiko. While there, she feels more “alive” and is able to confess the many negative things that have been happening in her family’s life ever since they moved back to Japan. It should also be noted that at the temple there are not as many modern amenities that Nao had at home, so she is forced to be more active in order to sustain herself and Jiko. It’s also here that the story takes an interesting take in introducing Haruki #1, the son of Jiko who was conscripted during World War II to serve as a kamikaze pilot, due to Japan starting to lose the war. One could say the temple is where Nao learns more truths and develops a confidence of her own, or a “supapawa” or superpower to help her get on with her life.

When Nao returns home with her father, her life is returned to turmoil once again. She left a place where she had a peace of mind, at least most of the time, to a place where everything wasn’t right without Jiko around. School is like hell for her, where she is hardly noticed and when she finally is, it’s for the wrong reasons. For example, a sukeban named Reiko sexually harasses Nao in the bathroom and ends up selling her panties off in an online auction. Using the lesson she learned from Jiko to use her “supapawa”, Nao publicly announces herself in class one day, which stuns everyone in the room and she never returns afterwards.

For Ruth, living on the island away from an urban atmosphere seems to be driving her towards boredom. It’s not until Nao’s lunchbox washes on her shore that she finally gets some excitement back in her life. This isn’t without a cost though as her constant search for answers causes people around her, including her husband Oliver, to think that she might  be a little crazy. The island is supposed to be a sort of isolation from the busy world, but for Ruth it’s not much for a writer to spread out their wings.

On another note, the Internet can seem like a place too. It holds all the clues and answers Ruth needs to solve the case on Nao Yasutani, while it can be a “wretched hive” for others like Nao when personal belongings are sold to strangers on a probably global scale.

For this post, I wanted to focus on the Time/Age elements that I noticed.

While reading all the Nao diary entries, I was seeing the progression and transformation of Nao’s writing. To me I noticed the before and after…Before when she went to visit Jiko, it was still “ok I’m writing this and Like…Like…” I would categorize it as rambling like a teenager would. However, during and after her visit with Jiko, he writing was more fluent, thoughtful, and more descriptive.

For this post I chose environment.

During this time, Nao is staying with Jiko. She is in a mountainous landscape, living inside a temple.There was all kinds of bugs and clean air…even though it was cloudy. Because of the environment and the bugs, she became immune to the mosquitoes around her. Nao also talked about the weather changing when it was summer time in the mountains. She claimed that the temperature was very hot, and that she could zone out by the pond and not think about anything [at least for the time being].

As for Ruth, I chose the Place/Environment when she was in Wisconsin staying in a farmhouse. It was peaceful, not busy, and the environment around them [Oliver as well] was easy going. But of course all of that was thrown out when Ruth got word of the twin towers were taken down by the airplanes. I can almost imagine how everything was peaceful one second and  next you know you can almost hear sirens, screams, and you can feel your brain being bogged down by all of that stress and losing that zen you had 2 seconds ago. All that happiness is immediately gone.

It seems like Nao and Ruth’s lives had swapped because in the beginning, Nao’s life, even though to her it was boring, it was still chaotic and sad, and now it’s calmed down a little bit ever since she’s been staying with her grandma in the temple; In comparison with Ruth, it’s visa versa. Her life started out peaceful and now it’s gotten very hectic and scary because of all the unknowns [at the time of 9/11]

I felt like Denzel Washington played “too perfect” of a character. He had a job, was respectful, did everything right by the book, etc. Though I feel like this was done purposefully to go beyond stereotypes which I found effective at least. It did provoke a lot of thoughts involving banding together to fight the white man when in reality racism runs deeper than slavery in America. I really enjoyed watching a film from a completely new perspective that didn’t show the typical white vs minority racism, though that still did exist in the film the focal point was the interaction between two different minority groups.

It was interesting to see how accepting one family was of an opposing ethnic group. DW’s new girl was accepted wholeheartedly by his family yet wasn’t shown anything but scorn and disrespect by the girl’s family. The nice guy act of sticking together by the Indian in the motel really showed it was all an act and how deep racism lies in the roots of cultural upbringing.

Outside of the racism in America between the Indians towards the Blacks, there was the reverse happening in Uganda where the Indians were forced and and treated like aliens that didn’t belong irregardless of whether they were born there or not. I compared it to the similar treatment of the Japanese Americans during WWII where groups of privilege strongly stated that they “Go back to their own country.” disregarding the fact that they were born and raised in America.

This movie played on the trope of minority sexuality however, DW was superior to the Indian guy at club and ended up taking the girl right under his nose, in addition it showed the ineffectiveness of passion/love between the arranged marriage abiding by the Indian traditional customs.

Let’s establish an understood environment and premise for a novel about real events and potentially real problems and then just throw it all away in the end with invisible writing magic. I think Ruth waking up and realizing the whole thing was a dream would of been a better ending. The theme for the end section of the book seemed to emphasize “loss”.

Now that that’s out of the way I can get into the nitty-gritty details. I really enjoyed all the sections involving Haruki #1, the power of the letters is truly astonishing and I’m looking into reading some real letters from WWII. In the end I expected some actual connection between Ruth and Nao but it never happened. Sure we learn about the process of Ruth translating the letters and diary but I found that extremely unnecessary in terms of effectiveness of storytelling for Nao. Of course it was heartwarming to see that Nao and her father are finally getting better and after dealing with the loss of Juko they can work together and go on living life helping each other through struggles. My like for Oliver was diminished greatly towards the end of the book as he transitioned from a typical smart guy to a cold-hearted jerk.

Beyond the character interactions I really didn’t enjoy the magic dreams and super power diaries that somehow correlates  its readability directly into Ruth’s sanity. Maybe I’m not thinking hard enough about the symbolism with the crow and fading pages but they seemed extremely out of place. I could understand such things like Nao’s ghostly uncle as he never gave her any information she wouldn’t already know. There is no suspension of disbelief needed as that kind of thing can be explained by coincidence or a lucid/vivid dream. However when it came to time traveling letters and the like it was just completely unbelievable given the nature of the book up until that point. It just made the whole book a joke for me and I very much wanted everyone to turn into witches, goblins and dragons with a time-mage sand-man hero to tie it all together. Again I’m being too critical but it is simply my initial thoughts from the book and I’m sure if I locked myself in a cage for two weeks rereading the book over and over I’d somehow come out and find value and meaning with all the magic.

Attempting to write in the perspective of a kamikaze pilot sending a letter to his family.

Hey Mom,

I’m a month away from the mission that should assist greatly in the outcome of the war. I want you to know that I have grown much since last I saw you and hope you aren’t too worried about me. I’m proud to be a kamikaze pilot and I have lived a full and meaningful life from beginning to end, and there isn’t much more to ask than that.

The military has forced me into becoming a greater person, all of my poor habits of my teenage years have vanished and have been replaced with productivity. I know you might think I’ve become a  different person but I’m still me just a little different. I hope you aren’t mad at the government or military. Please understand that sacrifices must be made for the safety of all of our proud homeland and my job has a sacrifice but with an indescribable joy, the safety of my family.

Anyways, I hope the rest of the family is doing well and keep pushing M and B to do well in school and study hard! B probably won’t understand what my outcome until she is much older I pray that she won’t be too shaken. M will probably hide his feelings like usual but make sure he is healthy and isn’t impacted too hard. We’ve both been prepared for my final moments so I know you can be strong for me and for the family. This will be my last official letter to you so I will keep things short and sweet and let you know that I have been blessed to have you as a mother with such a kind and loving heart.

Sincerely,

A

PS: The books you had me read helps me cure my state of boredom. They’re so interesting!