Discussion Question
:

What is the overarching theme of Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence? Explain it in your own words. Compared with other Japanese films viewed in this class, how does this film represent the image of WWII? Is ÅŒshima fair enough to depict the two nations in the wartime? Is this an affective film for the viewer? Compared with ÅŒshima’s other film, In the Realm of the Senses, do you find anything common in Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence?

Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence (1983) directed by ÅŒshima Nagisa

Worksheet:

I.                   
Significance of faces: ÅŒshima uses human faces as an important vehicle of abstract meaning. What each of them represent?

John Laurence

Jack Cellier

Yonoi

Hara

II.                
How does each of them interact with the other? And then how each relationship constructs the overarching theme of the film? Consider the following cases:

Laurence and Hara

Laurence and Yonoi

Laurence and Cellier

Cellier and Yonoi

Any other significant interaction we can point out?

 
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III.             
How East (Japan) and West (Britain) are portrayed in the film? Are there any distinctive borderlines between them? Compared with Ichikawa Kon’s The Burmese Harp, how Japan’s participation in World War II is portrayed in Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence?

Roman","serif";”>* The film is based on
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Roman","serif";”> der Post’s novel, The Seed and the Sower (1963).

Roman","serif";”>* An outlook of the story:

Roman","serif";”>Set in the island of Java (today’s Indonesia’s largest island), the Japanese Imperial Army has domesticated the British POW (prisoners of war). The film opens with the tension between the two national groups. In the course of development, the film demonstrates both conflicts and amicable dialogue nurtured across the enemies. Simultaneously, the both groups appear to be equally the victims of the war: the British soldiers as the captives under the Japanese militants’ scrutiny; the Japanese soldiers strictly controlled by the militant order and traditional code of honor are also the war victims. There is an unbridgeable gulf between them — the British soldiers whose ethics is grounded on the commitment to humanity, and the Japanese soldiers who embrace the aesthetics of honor, avoidance of shame, and conformity to order.

Roman","serif";”>* This is one of rare Japanese films that employ no female characters. Most of the major roles are played by non-professional actors but famous musicians (David Bowie and RyÅ«ichi Sakamoto) and a comedian (Beat Takeshi/Kitano Takeshi).

Roman","serif";”>Initial Discussion Question: What is the difference between ÅŒshima’s another film, In the Realm of the Senses and Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence? How can we understand this director’s aesthetic style and philosophy as a filmmaker?

Roman","serif";”>Characters
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Roman","serif";”>Colonel Laurence (Tom Conti): He is an interpreter who understands English and Japanese. He is the British who facilitates negotiations between both national groups. Psychologically too, he plays an intermediary role in bridging British and Japanese soldiers. Oftentimes he needs to confront not only Japanese but also British individuals – he is a character literally caught in the middle of the two nations’ enmities. He represents fairness and universality in humanity that go beyond nationalities: I do not want to hate any individual Japanese.”

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Roman","serif";”>Major Jack Celliers (David Bowie): He is a rebellious British POW, who occasionally instigates the Japanese Imperial Army’s officials. But he has a certain beguiling effect on Yonoi. His little brother’s experience of hazing at public school remains in his memory and torments him in flashback.

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Roman","serif";”>Captain Yonoi (RyÅ«ichi Sakamoto): Sakamoto was a leader of popular electro-pop band called Yellow Magic Orchestra” in the 1970-80s (still playing today after years of intermission) and had no previous experience in acting (the music of this film was composed by Sakamoto). Yonoi is deeply concerned with the traditional sense of honor as a soldier/samurai, but he becomes gradually attracted to Celliers’s irresistible beauty.

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Roman","serif";”>Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano): Kitano is a popular Japanese comedian but not a professional actor (at least in the early 1980s). Hara does not understand English but converses with Laurence, who speaks Japanese. In the beginning of the story, he is a stiff militant man, and the sense of honor in accord with the collective Japanese mentality characterizes him. However, he is also jovial and accommodating in the more human characterization of bushido (the samurai chivalry of Japan) and being the intimidated puppet of Yonoi” (Jaehne 46). His close-up in the last scene is a well-known shot, as it eloquently renders the message of this film.

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Roman","serif";”>Captain Hicksley (Jack Thompson): He is more British than the British in his attention to military detail” (Jaehne 44), while being less sensitive to the cultural other’s (Japanese) reasoning based on hierarchy and code of honor.

Roman","serif";”>Themes
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Roman","serif";”>East-West encounter and misunderstanding of the cultural Other center the filmic narrative — multiple layers of intricate dichotomies such as humanity and atrocity, individual and group, right and wrong (righteousness for Japanese are honor and formal propriety, for British responsibility for humanity etc.). Also, there is a hint of homosexuality throughout the film. The fascination with the other at physical level may be an initial point of negotiation between two radically different cultures.

Roman","serif";”>Notable scenes/sequences
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Roman","serif";”>–           Opening scene: Sergeant Hara brutally accuses Dutch prisoner and De Jong (a Korean guard for Yonoi) for their homosexual liaison – the scene conjures up a historical reference to the Japanese army’s brutality in the South East Asian region during the war.

Roman","serif";”>–           Jong’s Ritualistic disembowelment.

Roman","serif";”>–           Confrontation between Celliers and Yonoi at the Army court.

Roman","serif";”>–           Celliers’s verdict is postponed and he becomes a captive.

Roman","serif";”>–           Celliers’s mime of glooming in the morning in Britain.

Roman","serif";”>–           Celliers is executed by Japanese soldiers but does not die – what does this suggest about him?

Roman","serif";”>–           A Japanese soldier’s rebel against Yonoi’s treatment of Celliers – a soldier tries to kill him by transgressing the line of military order – Cellier is the devil who disrupts the peace of your mind.”

Roman","serif";”>–           Celliers’s confrontation with Yonoi upon escaping with Laurence.

Roman","serif";”>–           Hara recites Buddhist sermon for the soldier who is executed.

Roman","serif";”>–           Dialogue between Yonoi and Laurence: We must punish someone” – Doesn’t matter who is punished? [] I am the one to die to preserve the sense of order. [] Should I have told the lie?!”

Roman","serif";”>–           Laurence’s blasphemy of the Buddhist altar –  he displays his anger for the first time.

Roman","serif";”>–           Hara: I am Father Christmas, Merry Christmas” – what does the scene suggest?

Roman","serif";”>–           Celliers is buried alive after kissing Yonoi.

Roman","serif";”>–           British soldiers’ singing after Celliers is punished, and it is right before Christmas.

Roman","serif";”>–           Yonoi cuts Celliers’ hair as a memorabilia and shows respect for him.

Roman","serif";”>–           1946 (four years later): Hara and Laurence meet again. Now Hara is sentenced to death for his wartime crime as a commander. He has learned English.

Roman","serif";”>Friendship and Psychological Intimacy (with Homo-erotic implication?)
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Roman","serif";”>–           Between Laurence and Hara.

Roman","serif";”>Dialogue on shame”; being a captive is not a shame, it is not one’s intention; it is scary and wants to run away – for Hara, Laurence is a pedagogic portal to human reality beyond formality.

Roman","serif";”>–           Between Celliers and Yonoi: Yonoi is intrigued by Celliers since the time of his trial and wants Celliers to be healed quickly.

Roman","serif";”>–           Between Laurence and Yonoi.

Roman","serif";”>–           Between Yonoi and Hara within the hierarchy: Hara receives a cigarette with an Imperial emblem from Yonoi.

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Roman","serif";”>Cinematography
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Roman","serif";”>Image of faces– According to ÅŒshima Nagisa, his characters’ faces convey abstract meaning. What each of them represents in Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence?

Roman","serif";”>–     Cellier’s flashback: How does the memory of the past intersect the ongoing event? – the younger brother is bullied by the mob at a British public school, and responds to them by singing. Cellier was a successful lawyer, but separated from his younger brother – I wish I could sing.” Conversation with the younger brother is recalled before his death – (What is the effect of the repeatedly played song in this case?)

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Roman","serif";”>Laurence’s monologue: He tends to be an intermediary figure who connects British and Japanese soldiers, and at the same time plays a role of responsive interlocutor/interpreter. There is an occasion in which he speaks in monologue – what does this suggest?

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Roman","serif";”>Irony: the opening scene depicts Hara’s accusation of the homosexuality between a Dutch prisoner and a Korean guard, while the story culminates with Celliers’s psychological conquer of Yonoi by virtue of his physical beauty and intriguing persona.

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Roman","serif";”>Chiasms (in this case, counter-balancing or compensation of cinematic narrative elements): the guards and guarded are ‘captives’” (Jaehne 45). For instance, as a symbolic episode, in the last scene when Laurence pays a visit, Hara is waiting for his execution – their lives are equally at stake as captives in different moments.

Roman","serif";”>–     Music: the main theme is repeatedly interposed on dramatic scenes. What does this repetition accumulate in the viewer’s mind?

Roman","serif";”>Discussion Question
Roman","serif";”>:

Roman","serif";”>What is the overarching theme of Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence? Explain it in your own words. Compared with other Japanese films viewed in this class, how does this film represent the image of WWII? Is ÅŒshima fair enough to depict the two nations in the wartime? Is this an affective film for the viewer? Compared with ÅŒshima’s other film, In the Realm of the Senses, do you find anything common in Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence?

Roman","serif";”>Merry Christmas, Mr. LaurenceRoman","serif";”> (1983) directed by ÅŒshima Nagisa

Roman","serif";”>WorksheetRoman","serif";”>:

Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";”>I.                  

Roman","serif";”>Significance of faces: ÅŒshima uses human faces as an important vehicle of abstract meaning. What each of them represent?

Roman","serif";”>John Laurence