I did not see a forum topic that was devoted to discussion of this movie, but if there is, please tell me so I can move my comments on it to the proper place. I also messed up on titling the discussion, I was trying to make it into a Wiki Word so it would link to the Barefoot Gen entry on the wiki here but I probably shouldn't have squished the words together and I don't know how to fix it without a mod's help.
I saw this anime movie first in my 7th grade history class, which was probably a very bold and risky move on the part of my teacher. After viewing it at first, I was annoyed that she had shown it to us, since it frightened me so much, but in hindsight, it probably was a good idea to at least give the students a glimpse at what the other side experienced in WWII, and the discussion of the bomb would be a good way to start to explain the story of the Cold War that happened next. However, I would say that anyone who would show this to anyone, especially a large group of people (of any age) who would have different levels of squeamishness and sensitivity, should at least warn people of the type of graphic depictions in this movie. Even though I probably knew what the movie was going to be about, I think part of the reason it frightened me so much was because I didn't expect it to be quite so graphic and realistic, given the Animation Age Ghetto in the USA. However, even with the proper preparation and knowing the context of the bombing, it still can be quite a frightening movie. There's a reason it has a Nightmare Fuel page.
When I was 12 and saw it, it made me rather paranoid about atomic bombs for awhile, and even about seeing/hearing airplanes in the sky, especially in a clear sky (like in the movie). It was much later that I was able to understand that while there are sometimes cases where cities get randomly attacked, usually bombs (nuclear or otherwise) are dropped on strategic targets, and the place I live would not be considered a strategic target like Hiroshima, which had a minor military base at the time. It also made me scared of anime in general, since even seeing other things in the same animation style would make me think of Barefoot Gen. Ironically, it was another "pika," Pikachu and Pokemon, that got me to get over that fear of anime and was the start of me becoming an anime fan. (it probably helped that while they're both anime, Pokemon's style is a little different in some ways, since they were made by different animators and in different time periods)
Now that I'm older (27 as of this posting), I was able to come back to the movie and it wasn't quite as scary or shocking as it was before (at least not in a "fear it could happen any moment so I need to be paranoid" kind of way), probably because I knew what was coming and understood the subject matter better (and I'm less paranoid about things in general than I was as a teenager). It also helped to read analyses of it in some books about anime that I have, and to also understand the messages the movie was trying to give along with telling the semi-autobiographical story. Despite its dark subject matter and tone in many parts, I do like this movie, and it does have an ending that has at least some message of hope, especially when one considers that the person whose story it is based off of had to have survived to tell his story. Probably the thing I like most about it is that it shows that not all the Japanese people agreed with what their government was doing, showing some of the victims (such as Gen's dad) were people who disagreed with their government. I haven't really read the manga version (I've seen some pictures from it but not actually read it) but I've heard that the manga goes into even more detail about Gen's dad disagreeing with the war. This movie is pretty much why I hate atomic weapons and war in general, and especially when civilians get killed/otherwise attacked in wars.
Two comments/questions I have about the movie in general. One is, I wasn't sure if the scene where the ants come into the house right before the bomb drops, was that real or was that just movie symbolism? Also, I noticed that the "duck and cover" thing was a double-edged sword for Gen and his family. While the fact that Gen was bending down to pick up his rock and was by a stone wall is probably what saved him, it was possibly reversed for his family. It shows that his mother was on the porch (and thus less under cover) and because she was knocked away from the house, she survived while the rest of the family was trapped under the burning rubble.
In searching for "duck and cover" in relation to Barefoot Gen, I found this video that splices in clips of the movie with the old 1950s "Duck and Cover" PSA. Be warned that this video shows some of the more graphic scenes from the movie.
I did not see a forum topic that was devoted to discussion of this movie, but if there is, please tell me so I can move my comments on it to the proper place. I also messed up on titling the discussion, I was trying to make it into a Wiki Word so it would link to the Barefoot Gen entry on the wiki here but I probably shouldn't have squished the words together and I don't know how to fix it without a mod's help.
I saw this anime movie first in my 7th grade history class, which was probably a very bold and risky move on the part of my teacher. After viewing it at first, I was annoyed that she had shown it to us, since it frightened me so much, but in hindsight, it probably was a good idea to at least give the students a glimpse at what the other side experienced in WWII, and the discussion of the bomb would be a good way to start to explain the story of the Cold War that happened next. However, I would say that anyone who would show this to anyone, especially a large group of people (of any age) who would have different levels of squeamishness and sensitivity, should at least warn people of the type of graphic depictions in this movie. Even though I probably knew what the movie was going to be about, I think part of the reason it frightened me so much was because I didn't expect it to be quite so graphic and realistic, given the Animation Age Ghetto in the USA. However, even with the proper preparation and knowing the context of the bombing, it still can be quite a frightening movie. There's a reason it has a Nightmare Fuel page.
When I was 12 and saw it, it made me rather paranoid about atomic bombs for awhile, and even about seeing/hearing airplanes in the sky, especially in a clear sky (like in the movie). It was much later that I was able to understand that while there are sometimes cases where cities get randomly attacked, usually bombs (nuclear or otherwise) are dropped on strategic targets, and the place I live would not be considered a strategic target like Hiroshima, which had a minor military base at the time. It also made me scared of anime in general, since even seeing other things in the same animation style would make me think of Barefoot Gen. Ironically, it was another "pika," Pikachu and Pokemon, that got me to get over that fear of anime and was the start of me becoming an anime fan. (it probably helped that while they're both anime, Pokemon's style is a little different in some ways, since they were made by different animators and in different time periods)
Now that I'm older (27 as of this posting), I was able to come back to the movie and it wasn't quite as scary or shocking as it was before (at least not in a "fear it could happen any moment so I need to be paranoid" kind of way), probably because I knew what was coming and understood the subject matter better (and I'm less paranoid about things in general than I was as a teenager). It also helped to read analyses of it in some books about anime that I have, and to also understand the messages the movie was trying to give along with telling the semi-autobiographical story. Despite its dark subject matter and tone in many parts, I do like this movie, and it does have an ending that has at least some message of hope, especially when one considers that the person whose story it is based off of had to have survived to tell his story. Probably the thing I like most about it is that it shows that not all the Japanese people agreed with what their government was doing, showing some of the victims (such as Gen's dad) were people who disagreed with their government. I haven't really read the manga version (I've seen some pictures from it but not actually read it) but I've heard that the manga goes into even more detail about Gen's dad disagreeing with the war. This movie is pretty much why I hate atomic weapons and war in general, and especially when civilians get killed/otherwise attacked in wars.
Two comments/questions I have about the movie in general. One is, I wasn't sure if the scene where the ants come into the house right before the bomb drops, was that real or was that just movie symbolism? Also, I noticed that the "duck and cover" thing was a double-edged sword for Gen and his family. While the fact that Gen was bending down to pick up his rock and was by a stone wall is probably what saved him, it was possibly reversed for his family. It shows that his mother was on the porch (and thus less under cover) and because she was knocked away from the house, she survived while the rest of the family was trapped under the burning rubble.
http://www.veoh.com/watch/yapi-SlNU3x8Mrr4?h1=Duck+and+Cover+remixed+with+Barefoot+Gen
In searching for "duck and cover" in relation to Barefoot Gen, I found this video that splices in clips of the movie with the old 1950s "Duck and Cover" PSA. Be warned that this video shows some of the more graphic scenes from the movie.
edited 9th Sep '12 8:09:14 PM by Rainbow