Barefoot Gen

Of the two WWII anime films I viewed I prefer Barefoot Gen for it’s historical narrative commentary bookending the film with the voiceover technique. The film is relatively short (77 minutes) and is difficult to purchase in the United States for classroom use. Beware region 2 distribution of this film because they will not play on DVD players in the United States. The story by Keiji Nakazawa originated as a manga series by the same title and is available on Amazon as well as online as a downloadable pdf (links below). The animation presents a graphic depiction of the atomic bomb in intimate detail; for example, skin melting and bodies burning are graphically illustrated to portray the devastation of this holocaust (defined as destruction or laughter on a mass scale, especially by fire or nuclear war). These were civilian causalities, but believe it or not Gen’s life after the bomb is the most enlightening because the life of the survivors for generations continually faces trauma and devastation. I am going to use the film Grave of the Fireflies even though I prefer Barefoot Gen because of its literary value and identity shifts my students can track the way they will for Wiesel’s Night. I already called the World History teacher to suggest Barefoot Gen, but if she does not use it I might use it interchangeably from year to year. I like the fact that Barefoot Gen is in both film and manga because there is a CCSS standard analyzing representations of a work in multiple mediums. This movie was a tear-jerker also, especially the scene with Gen’s father, older sister, and little brother. The maggots on the survivors made my skin crawl as well, but I recently watched a science fiction show in a dystopian setting and a doctor used maggots in a patients wound to clean out the dead skin and infected tissue. Knowing this I was a little less grossed out, but I do want to warn potential audiences that it is intentionally graphic as an anti-war film. Last point, the historical commentary in the narration as well as a brief perspective of Gen’s father before the bomb drops is overtly critical of Japanese Imperial rule and blind nationalists that led the country to this point, which interesting in light of this being an anime that represents the Japanese perspective of bombing civilians residing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
https://youtu.be/m8PmqZnpJow
http://www.zakkafilms.com/film/barefoot-gens-hiroshima/
http://www.amazon.com/Keiji-Nakazawa/e/B000APORVS/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rspetersen/HGNOL/HGNOL/Readings_files/barefoot%20gen-ebook.pdf
edited by lbernard on 8/11/2015
edited by lbernard on 8/11/2015
edited by lbernard on 8/11/2015