Blog 2 AZ

The scent of Green Papaya was a very slow film that placed a strong emphasis on the simple, every day tasks and details of life. It explored the normal household activities during the time period of the Vietnam War. Although there was very little dialogue and an almost non-exhistant plot, the film did a wonderful job of portraying the natural beauty of Vietnamese customs, environment and house hold surroundings. For example there was constant serene music that played in the background ( birds singing, crickets chirping, rain falling, the father playing his instrument or the other man playing the piano). The only time there wasn't calming background music was when the occasion airplane would be heard overhead or the alarms announcing the curfew would go off. These noises served to remind us of the war that was going on at that time.

There were also lots of scenes in the movie that centered around animals such as frogs, lizards, and ants. I think this represents how the Vietnamese are very observant and seemed to pay attention to a lot of small unnoticable things. For example, the young boy who slowly watched the ants die in the candle wax. This scene could represent the soldiers fighting in the battlefields of Vietnam and how helpless some of them were. How the entire country was stuck in the war and had no way to avoid it. Another example of creatures was how Mui kept to her crickets for years. These crickets stood for goodluck and they could also be thought of as a symbol of certain occupiers during war that oppress people.

The film also highlited the traditional roles in the Vietnamese society. For example the different expectations between men/women and servant/master. One other thing I found interesting in the film was the emphasis it placed on cleanliness. It seemed like every other scene involved some sort of washing or cleaning. I think this just further emphasizes the amount of detail that the Vietnamese pay attention to in their life.