The Scent of Green Papaya is a slow moving film that features a young girl among a wealthy family and her travel through time as she gets older and evolves. This film contains many instances of symbolism and uses the nature and world around to help accentuate the film. The first real symbol of the film is the dominance of men throughout Vietnamese culture. The first instance is when the father of Mui's original family leaves. He is able to return to the family, without any cost to him. He is just accepted back into the family. Then he leaves again with all the money and there is nothing that the mother can do but work on a low wage and try to support the family. Then when she struggles, Mui is sold to another man whom she secretly and quietly admires. She must keep her feeling quiet, even though her owner is able to act upon his immediately. It just shows how the males have the ability to act upon their own inhibitions while the women must stay reserved.
Also, nature is used to represent the women in the film. The nature is just sitting their, beauty in its appearance and calming its effects. The women of Vietnamese culture are similar to this because they go about their daily business taking care of all the chores necessary. They do not say a word and they just go about their day not complaining. Content with the way they are, no changes are wanted or occurring in this time in Vietnam. Overall this was a slow paced film but really drove home the concept of Vietnamese culture and was able to use the surroundings to give a better understanding of the life in Vietnam.
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The Scent of Green Papaya is a slow moving film that features a young girl among a wealthy family and her travel through time as she gets older and evolves. This film contains many instances of symbolism and uses the nature and world around to help accentuate the film. The first real symbol of the film is the dominance of men throughout Vietnamese culture. The first instance is when the father of Mui's original family leaves. He is able to return to the family, without any cost to him. Then he leaves again with all the money and there is nothing that the mother can do but work on a low wage and try to support the family. The men here are able to control everything around them. Women must accept the men’s decisions, which show the male dominance. Mui is sold to another man whom she secretly and quietly admires. She must keep her feeling quiet, even though her owner is able to act upon his immediately. It just shows how the males have the ability to act upon their own inhibitions while the women must stay reserved.
ReplyDeleteAlso, nature is used to represent the women in the film. The nature is just sitting there, beauty in its appearance and calming its effects. The women of Vietnamese culture are similar to this because they go about their daily business taking care of all the chores necessary. They do not say a word and they just go about their day not complaining. Content with the way they are, no changes are wanted or occurring in this time in Vietnam. Overall this was a slow paced film but really drove home the concept of Vietnamese culture and was able to use the surroundings to give a better understanding of the life in Vietnam.