Line #8 Film/EmpireOfTheSun


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l_129413_0092965_edd861a7_8353.jpg]]
2
3	->''"P-51! Cadillac of the sky!"''
4	-->-- '''Jim Graham'''
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6	''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1987 American ComingOfAge war film based on [[{{Creator/Jgballard}} J. G. Ballard]]'s semi-autobiographical [[Literature/EmpireOfTheSun novel of the same name]]. Creator/StevenSpielberg directed the film, which stars Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/JohnMalkovich, Creator/MirandaRichardson, Creator/LesliePhillips and Creator/NigelHavers.
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8	The film tells the story of Jamie "Jim" Graham (Bale), a young boy who goes from living with his wealthy British family in UsefulNotes/{{Shanghai}}, to becoming a prisoner of war in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center, a Japanese internment camp, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
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10	Not to be confused with [[Music/EmpireOfTheSunBand the Australian electronic music duo of the same name]] (especially since WordOfGod has confirmed that they didn't name themselves after this work). Nor with ''Kingdom of the Sun'', the original concept for ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove''.
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12	----
13	!! The film adaptation provides examples of:
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15	* AffablyEvil: Basie, a charismatic American scoundrel who Jim ends up assisting with his schemes trying to sell junk in order to get somewhere safer, and later with stealing items of internees who've died. [[spoiler: Basie ends up abandoning Jim as soon as he can find other kids to act as his minions, although Jim ends up on the same transport as him anyways]].
16	* AndStarring: "And introducing Creator/ChristianBale".
17	* ApocalypseAnarchy: Mentioned by Basie, who states that the worst parts of a war are the beginning and end. [[spoiler: True to form, people run in every direction as the Japanese invade, and any token resistance is immediately destroyed. Once the occupation sets in, foreign nationals are corralled into internment camps, where they eke out a somewhat comfortable existence. When the Empire of Japan is defeated, once again chaos reigns as internees are evacuated, any Japanese resistance is wiped out via bombing, and any liberated internees have nowhere to go until Allied forces reoccupy lost territory, and order is established once more.]]
18	* ArtImitatesArt: The shot of Jim's parents tucking him in bed is directly lifted from the Creator/NormanRockwell painting ''Freedom from Fear''. Jim's father even holds a newspaper like the father in the painting. The main difference is that in the painting there are two children in bed. The painting is also featured when Jim is at a camp - in one moment he rearranges the pin-ups on his wall, Rockwell's painting is one of them.
19	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: It would not have been possible to witness the atomic bombing of Nagasaki all the way from Shanghai. See [[https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/21088/how-far-away-could-one-be-and-still-see-the-atom-bomb-explosions this]] for an analysis.
20	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: CPR was not invented until 1960.
21	* BattleDiscretionShot: When Basie gets beaten by Japanese soldiers, first at Jim's house and later again at the camp, we only see Jim's reaction to it with a few shots of Basie getting whopped.
22	* BittersweetEnding: Because of the war, Jim has lost his innocence from witnessing so much death from the people around him and near the end he finally sees the true colors of the man he looked up to throughout the film, but by the last few minutes he not only survives the war and is rescued, he is also reunited with both of his parents.
23	* BloodFromTheMouth: Blood is pouring out of the dead Japanese pilot's mouth due to Jim trying too hard to revive him via CPR.
24	* BookEnds: The movie starts and finished with a close-up of objects floating on water.
25	* BrickJoke: The running gag "You want a Hershey's bar?" becoming real by the end.
26	* BrokenPedestal: Jim was looking up to Basie until the latter escapes without him.
27	* CallOfTheWildBlueYonder: Jim is a huge aviation enthusiast.
28	* CaptivityHarmonica: One inmate at the camp is playing the harmonica.
29	* CharacterWitness: The teenage Japanese pilot saves Jim's life by distracting Sgt. Nagata after Jim showed his good character by returning the model airplane earlier.
30	* ChekhovsSkill: Jim is shown to be a gifted choir singer way before we see him singing at the camp.
31	* ChildrenAreInnocent:
32	** Jamie starts off not having any concept of the brutality of war, but he slowly learns the ugly truth.
33	** The Japanese pilot that Jim befriends is only a teenager. Compared to the other Japanese soldiers, he's much nicer and friendlier, at least to Jim.
34	** Meta-example: Late-movie Jim doesn't look like a teen who's lived on starvation rations for years, for the simple reason that allowing a child actor to starve himself would be both unethical and illegal. As an adult, Christian Bale has a reputation for both gaining and losing weight with potentially unhealthy speed to fit roles.
35	* ChildSoldiers: One of the kamikaze pilots stationed near the internment camp seems to be in his late teens.
36	* ComingOfAgeStory: For Jim.
37	* CoolCar: Jim's parents' Packard limo.
38	* CoolPlane: "P-51, Cadillac of the Sky!" Jim has something of an airplane obsession.
39	** The Japanese Zero makes an appearance as well.
40	* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Averted. Jim attempts CPR a couple of times in the film, it works in neither case and the second time, ([[spoiler:when he tries to resuscitate his kamikaze pilot friend]]), it's not pretty at all.
41	* CreatorCameo: Creator/JGBallard, author of the book, appears as an extra in the costume party.
42	* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: The "dogfight" (if it can even be called that) between the IJN Zeroes and USAAF P-51s]].
43	* DeathFromAbove: Japanese and American air raids.
44	* DespairEventHorizon: After Mr. Victor goes missing during the march to the stadium, Mrs. Victor goes along with Jim telling her to pretend to be dead so that the Japanese don't make them march somewhere else. She does so (and it's something of a PetTheDog moment, as she listens to him without qualm and falls asleep on his chest, after having spent the entire movie neutral about him), but ends up dying in her sleep.
45	* DiegeticSwitch: A Welsh lullaby goes from being sung by Christian Bale's character to playing with choral backup after the character has stopped singing.
46	* DiesWideOpen: Amy Matthews dies with her eyes open. When Jim's attempts at CPR cause a post-mortem eye movement, he believes that he's brought her back to life.
47	* TheDogBitesBack: The Asian housekeeper slaps Jim in the face once there is no fear of retaliation.
48	* EtherealChoir: Jim Graham is a [[CherubicChoir boy chorister]], with his singing voice dubbed by real-life choirboy James Rainbird. Choirs contribute throughout the soundtrack.
49	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Jim's hair is noticeably shorter after the TimeSkip of three years he spent in the camp.
50	* FutileHandReach: Both Jim and his mother try to reach out for another when they get separated in the crowd.
51	* GreatEscape: Basie and his fellow Americans plan one [[spoiler: and are successful, but they leave Jim behind]].
52	* HeavenAbove: DiscussedTrope; Jim asks his mother whether "God is above" means he is flying.
53	* TheHelpHelpingThemselves: A day after Jim loses his parents in the confusion of the Japanese attack on Shanghai, he returns to his family's empty estate, where he sees a maid (whom he berated earlier in the film) and a companion stealing some furniture. When he demands to know what she's doing, the maid stops what she's doing, walks over to Jim, slaps him in the face, and then leaves with her companion and the furniture.
54	* IfWeGetThroughThis: After Basie was beaten into a pulp by Sgt. Nagata, Jim plans for both of them to live together after the war.
55	* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Mrs. Victor is seen coughing to show us that her days are numbered.
56	* InnocenceLost: Jim loses his thanks to the war and Basie's true colors.
57	* IronicEcho: In the first minutes of the second act, one of the American internees named Dainty (played by Ben Stiller), gives Jamie a pretty mean joke:
58	-->'''Dainty:''' Hey kid, would you like a Hershey bar?\
59	'''Jamie:''' Oh yes please, Dainty!\
60	'''Dainty:''' So would I kid. Have you got one?
61	** After being accepted into the American dormitory, Jamie repeats this rude rebuttal to a little girl named Nina. In the end, Jamie [[BrickJoke does end up getting a Hershey bar]] as a parting gift from Basie.
62	* JerkAss: Basie, despite taking care of Jim for the most part, often leans towards this.
63	* MadnessMantra: Jim starts repeating "I can bring everyone back...everyone" while he [[spoiler:tries in vain to revive the Japanese pilot he befriended]].
64	* TheMedic: Dr. Rawlins, who also tries to act as a ParentalSubstitute for Jim.
65	* MissingChild: Your child is separated from you in the chaos of an invasion, and you spend four years not knowing whether he's alive or dead. Even if he survives, having your child taken and living through such trauma and suffering would be awful.
66	* OpeningCrawl: The film opens with exposition in the form of text scrolling across the screen.
67	* OrchestralBombing: Complete with a score by Music/JohnWilliams.
68	* ProudWarriorRace: Jim seems to view the Japanese as being something of this, and certainly the Japanese see themselves as this, but for the most part we see Japanese guards beating unarmed prisoners.
69	* RansackedRoom: Jim entering the mother's bedroom after it was raided.
70	* RefugeInAudacity: On the way to Lunghua Civilian Assembly Camp, Jim slaps the Japanese soldier driving the truck. ''And gets away with it,'' despite being a powerless POW boy. The look on the Japanese man's face is [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments priceless.]]
71	* TheScrounger: As time goes on, Jim acquires scrounger skills from Basie, an American sailor and master scrounger.
72	* SpoiledBrat: Jim starts out as a spoiled little wuss before he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]].
73	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Ambiguously so for Mr. Maxton. In the novel, Maxton wastes away from starvation and exhaustion, Jim stays with him as he dies. The last time Jim sees Maxton in the film, he's alive (though exhausted and frail) and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse his ultimate fate is left open-ended]].
74	* StabTheSalad: The Japanese pilot uses his sword to help Jim cut open a mango. Basie doesn't realize this and shoots him.
75	* StuffBlowingUp: Averted for most of the film, but plenty of flashy explosions when it counts, including [[spoiler:the distant flash of a nuclear weapon]].
76	* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler:Subtle example. When Jim tries futilely to revive the kamikaze kid pilot with CPR, he sees himself at the start of the film laying on the ground instead. Who Jim was at the start of the film is never coming back.]]
77	* ThousandYardStare: Jim gives one in the ending since he has lost his innocence and witnessed all the death and violence of the war along with the true colors of someone he once looked up to.
78	* TimeSkip: In the second half of the movie, it skips from 1941 to 1945.
79	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The story is semi-autobiographical after all.
80	* WarIsHell: The emphasis of the story is on the impact of war on civilians.
81	* WeaponsUnderstudies:
82	** Postwar Soviet GAZ-69 SUV as an Imperial-era Japanese military vehicle.
83	** Same goes for the Zeroes, which are replicas created from T-6 Texan trainers not unlike the ones featured in ''Film/ToraToraTora''
84	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Jamie ends up reuniting with his parents, but no mention is made to where they went to or what they did during the five long years (let alone them coping over Jamie being lost from them) and the book doesn't specify either. In reality, J. G. Ballard's parents were sent to another camp with even worser conditions than the one their son was imprisoned in.
85	* WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler:Jim salutes and serenades the kamikaze pilots.]]
86	* TheXOfY: ''The Empire of the Sun''

Context Film / EmpireOfTheSun