Grave Of The Fireflies Analysis

“Grave of the Fireflies” is a Japanese film directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli, which concerns the lives of Seita and Setsuko, the two protagonists, who are mere children from the first incendiary bombings of Kobe, up to their deaths, during World War II. The screenplay is adapted from an award-winning autobiographical short story by by Nosaka Akiyuki. Its purpose is to highlight how war is nondiscriminatory and strips its victims of their humanity and hence argues that people should be more reflective and critical of war and the blind patriotism that led up to it, particularly among the post-war Japanese audience, which adopted a policy of denialism. Given the arguments we shall present, we argue that the thesis is sound. In addition, we shall discuss the theories of history brought out in the

The film’s content supports the thesis. The film starts off with an establishing shot of Seita lying next to a pillar in a dishevelled, unkempt state, yet most passers-by treat him without a trace of empathy, instead spewing insults towards him. This suggests that the war had transformed the people and left them bereft of kindness and sympathy. This message is further reinforced with the character of Seita’s Aunt; she is a stubborn, self-righteous figure, begrudging Seita’s lack of contribution to the housework and demanding that they do their own cooking, and eventually chasing them out. However, she justifies her actions using patriotism, noting Seita’s failure to help the war effort, and using nationalism as a reason to force Seita to sell his mother’s kimonos, claiming everyone had to make sacrifices for the war. The