Cyclone

Our crew just watched the film "Picture Bride." This movie is an absolute must-see, it brings all of the history we've been reading about and talking about to life. It will make you cry. Don't just brush it off and say you "can't" watch it, you "don't like sad movies," this is a movie about life. Challenge yourself. You won't be disappointed.

The film revolves around a Japanese picture bride, Ryo, who leaves her homeland for Hawaii, wed to a cane-harvester there, and her subsequent experiences. But it's so much more meaningful than I can describe for you here.

However, this post is very much an analysis of the work, so I suggest you go watch the film now and come back to read this afterwards. And, if you do go ahead, I hope you won't reconsider and will still watch the film anyway. It's something you need to experience yourself.


SPOILERS


When Francis told us that the film would make us cry, I didn't doubt it, and I know I started to a bit. It really brought to life everything we've been doing for the past few weeks. Takaki utilizes names and relations in his writing to link us to the subject, and I believe the film was even more poignant to this end - as Francis says, humans are visual beings. But what he really wanted us to write about with this was "why?" Why was it made the way it was, what was significant?

What was stabbing was that he asked us, "Why did Kana and Kei have to die?" There was an emphasis, why was it so important to the film,

"Why did Kana and Kei have to die?"


I looked up information on the meanings of the names Kana and Kei and came up with some ideas. Don't chain me down absolutely to the meanings, I don't know if they're right since a few were different, but I'll try to list as many variations as I can.

Kei I've found to mean "child," "wisdom," and "rapture, reverence" in Japanese (supposedly). In Hawaiian it can be "dignified." Kei certainly is just a child, and is very much Kana's life. Kana's name and its relationship to the film is much more obvious. The information I found labeled it a male name in Japan, and means "powerful." Kana certainly was very very strong, and noticed for it, and even her husband was jealous that she could work more than he could (or would). The word "kana" has also been used in general to mean the Japanese syllabry system(s) - the newer hiragana, katakana, and sometimes the old system man'yogana.

Perhaps their deaths represented a loss, somewhat, of the link to Japanese heritage. A loss of language, the eventual loss of appreciation for the homeland as later generations became "Americanized." Even in the film, when the overseer is talking to the workers, he combines English with Japanese, Hawaiian, and Tagalog into one mixed way of communication. The workers do the same - for example, Ryo's confusion over "hana" - Hawaiian "work," "hana-hana," as opposed to Japanese "flower," "hana."

Also, one of the main themes of the women's singing was "not becoming the fertilizer" for the cane. They all had hopes and dreams of eventually leaving the plantation. But, as illustrated by Kana and Kei's death in the harvesting fire, people did become the fertilizer - sometimes not so literally, but it was probably not uncommon. It brings you back to the reality from the intrigue of the romance sub-plot, that these things happened and people died on the plantations. In general, no matter the exact circumstances, many of the immigrants did not ever see their homelands again, nor did many of them really achieve their true aspirations, such as getting off the plantations or fulfilling their lives a certain way in America. Even as entrepreneurs, many Asian immigrants were forced into jobs like laundries because there wasn't much else.

Once again, humans are visual beings. The parallels and hat-tips to real stories, as well as these symbolic deaths, really bring the history to life and to the forefront of our minds. It establishes a link with these other human beings and spreads out to the people around you every day, people just like you.