MovieChat Forums > Soshite chichi ni naru (2013) Discussion > power lines motif

power lines motif

posted 11 years ago by richardrichard
4 replies | jump to latest

Anyone notice the visual recurrence of power lines as a unifying feature. They even appeared during the credits as the camera pulled out to a panoramic view. Do you suppose the use of this motif has symbolic significance.

[–] DC-Tiki 11 years ago

Hmmm, funnily enough I did actually notice that power lines crept into the frame a lot during this film. Unfortunately I am in the dark as much as you whether they represented some kind of deeper meaning or whether there just happens to be an over-abundance of power lines in Japan.

[–] melinda2001 11 years ago

My guess is that it's just a fact of life in such a crowded country. I did wonder about them during the kite flying shots. It's easy to see a metaphor there. It's difficult to fly when life is always ready to drag you back down. I have flying dreams in which I will often have to deal with power lines.

[–] kontorovich 10 years ago

You'll find these motifs often in Japanese films. For instance, Miyazaki's work, or Ozu.. many others.. and actually a lot of traditional Japanese works have those sorts of elements too. I think it's supposed to be sort of meditative. In other words, a scene happens, then cut to power lines or clothes drying outside or a frog jumping into a pool of water. And these scenes give you time to think about what happened during a previous scene, maybe piece things together. Many times when we reflect on life, we look out the window and passively pay attention to that sort of stuff. I think that's the point of those cutscenes.

[–] centrino-kib 10 years ago

Since Japan is particularly earthquake prone, almost all power lines are above ground