Bloggity Blog Blog (part deux)

The film The Scent of Green Papaya follows the story of a young servant girl in Vietnam named Mui, and her progression from a young girl into a beautiful woman. It is clear that from a very young age that Mui has a deep appreciation for simple natural things and occurrences: ants toiling to and fro in the sun; frogs sitting in small puddles; the dew on a leaf; the scent of green papaya. Mui's calm, observant demeanor is in stark contrast to just about everyone that surrounds her.

The first 10 years of the film begin with Mui's arrival to a family in Saigon in 1951. The family she serves is simply a mess. The father (the master of the house) is a drunkard of dubious principles, as is represented by his fleeing home one night with the family fortune to go off gambling and commit infidelity. The mother, though a kindhearted woman, is brokenhearted from the loss of her daughter at a young age, and accepts fault for many unfortunate things in her life including her husband's infidelity. They have three sons, but the film only gives screen-time to the two youngest: the youngest is a little hellion who terrorizes Mui during her daily chores; the second youngest is a quiet sadist that passes the time by reading and torturing ants on his windowsill. There is also the grandmother, who spends her days praying at the family alter. All of this is set to the backdrop of a seemingly peaceful looking Vietnam, but with the constant reminder of conflict shown with the nightly curfew siren and planes flying overhead.

When she matures into a young woman, the family has fallen into dire straits since the death of the father. She is sent off to work for a family friend, a successful musician whom she has fancied since a young girl. He has a trophy girlfriend for a fiance, but his feelings begin to change when one day he notices a Buddha statue. He observes the statue, and compares the face he sees on the statue with the face he sees on Mui, and draws a picture depicting such. The two eventually engage in an affair, resulting in his fiance leaving in an angry fervor. He teaches Mui how to read and write, perhaps to repay her for showing him how to take time and notice the little things he had neglected before, such as the smiling Buddha.

The film depicts the clear distinction of gender roles in the Vietnamese culture. Women do everything from cooking, cleaning, and other household chores, and even run family businesses (like the mother does in the family). The men, in contrast, are more often than not lazy and self indulgent. While men are considered superior, it is the women that ensure everything continues to run. There is also a prevalent religious and familial reverence, as is symbolized by the respect for the elderly grandmother and the veneration of the family altar. Additionally, the simple nature of Vietnamese culture is embodied in the way Mui views and appreciates the simple nature around her.

A recurring motif is the the ants, seen multiple times throughout the film. We see Mui interact with the ants once as a child and once as an adult, simply admiring their hard work and smiling. We also see the second oldest son interact with the ants, once drowning them in candle wax and again crushing them with his finger. The wax could be viewed literally to represent napalm, burning innocent Vietnamese.