"The Scent of Green Papaya" gives us great insight into the lives of a tradition viatnamese family. The firts relevant sign of this is the lack of dialogue in the household. We see in the first few scenes that the men and women dont talk to each other much, if at all. The women are also doing all of the work, while the men are playing their instruments. The women care for the men no matter what they do. The grandmother tells of the husband who ran away with all their money three times and was taken back in each time. This just shows us the power that the men had over the women at this time. Even after she tells this story we see him leave again with the money. In these times women would not divorce their hubands as it was severely frowned upon.
Mui, the main character, is being taught to do the housework, such as cooking and cleaning when we first see her. One thing i oticed right away is that she has an atrraction to nature, especially the green papaya. Her attraction symbolizes the connection with nature that the vietnamese people have. They do not just take from the earth, but they nurture and respect it. Most of the sounds throughout the entire movie is the sound of nature surrounding them.
The burning of the ants is a very symbloic moments pertaining to the war. As we watch the ants struggling to survive, and eventually dying in the wax, all i can think of is the images of the Vietnamese people that ive seen kiled by american forces. Many airstrikes were called in during the war sending many villagers and other innocent people to a fiery grave. Thoughout the movie we hear airraid sirens, announcing the arrival of enemy planes. They also have acurfew in effect during the war which is intended to save lives from the bombings.
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