“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger.”——Friedrich Nietzsche
Since World War II, Tokyo seems to be more often depicted as the object of destruction, which may related to Tokyo’s historical disaster experience, reflecting Japan’s postwar society’s trauma and uneasy emotions about war and nuclear weapons.
Japanese films and movies reflect the state of mind of the Japanese people to a certain extent – a contradictory state of mind that combines pessimism and optimism. On the one hand, the scars that the war has burned on them and the horror and darkness of the movie image can be seen as a visualization of the pessimism. On the other hand, the happy endings of many disastrous movies show us that they still see hope through their suffering through a bright future.
While these elements can always add attractions to audiences by creating a tense atmosphere and tragic color, making it more evocative and thought-provoking, it doesn’t mean the war is worth glorifying. The war is still a disaster that has already happened, just like spilled water that can’t be retrieved. “Don’t cry over spilled milk”. Those scars from the past will not be smoothed out by time, and the excellence of the future can’t be illustrated, but it can illustrate the vitality of this nation, this country, and the ability to not be defeated by difficulties. What it does show is the vitality of the people, the country, and the strength of character that will not be defeated by adversity.
(248 words)
Zhang Yifan (3036127385)