Film: Only Yesterday directed by Isao Takahata
Taeko is young, but not so young that people don’t frequently ask why she doesn’t just settle down and marry. Resolute in her decision to explore life fully, volunteer, and learn about the way different people live, she is un-swayed by these judgements. She goes to the countryside, where she learns to plant and harvest safflower seeds and eventually turn them into dye, the traditional Japanese way. Throughout this experience, she reflects back on her early childhood.
Novel: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
In a dystopian world, Kathy H reflects on her childhood and in particular, her friendships with Tommy and Ruth. She recounts her sheltered and idyllic days at Hailsham boarding school and how as youth and innocence slipped away, she and her peers had to deal with the dark reality that awaits each of them.
A Meditation on Memory
Through the lens of matured eyes, both heroines Kathy and Taeko reflect on their childhood. There are things about their past that they need to reconcile with. We all feel this way as we get older. We look back and try understand why we acted the way we did, what we could have done to be better. For many of us, it takes time to forgive ourselves. While it’s important not to dwell on the past, I do believe that taking time to reflect on who you were is important too. For some, it can remind you of a time you felt more free and self-assured. It can guide us to reinvoke that spirit. For others, it can remind us of all our misjudgements and regrets. This too is good, because it reminds us how far we’ve come and that we are ever-evolving beings.
Back to the Future
This is where the film and novel diverges. In Never Let Me Go, there is a futuristic and dystopic ambiance. Unethical science has foregrounded the ethics of humanity. In fact, the question of humanity and what it means to be human is one of the novel’s main concerns. However, in the film, Only Yesterday, Taeko moves from the urban city, to the slow and peaceful countryside. Science and technology are secondary and are not as valued as manual labour. The irony is that both stories are set in the 90s, when the world was only just beginning to recover from the tension of the Cold War. Both offer a beautiful way to pose the question: what is it we value most about existing? What do we cherish about being humans that age, that fault, that love, that breathe, that cry? It urges us consider whether we are moving in a direction that dehumanizes us or if the answer is to return back to a traditional values. Perhaps there is a way for both the future and the past to coexist without violence?
We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.
Never let me go
Creation as a Divine Gift
The connection between ‘making’ and ‘being’ is a significant theme for both narratives. Our society tends to limit the idea of art to drawing, painting, writing poetry or making music. However, art is also creation. Whether, it’s planting in the fields, making a warm meal for your loved ones or even giving birth to new life – these are all acts of creation. Both novel and film made me realize the importance of understanding this distinction (or lack thereof) of art and creation. For me this meant that in every creative pursuit, namely one that calls for our gentleness, our precision, or even our free-spiritedness – it should never be taken lightly. And we should never shy away from it. We should embrace the vulnerability of creating. After all, it is a gift that each an everyone of us has.
All in all,
These two narratives offer a rich yet simple, contained yet expansive perspective on what it means to live. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what a person can take from these two stories. I hope that this blog encouraged you to watch Only Yesterday or read Never Let Me Go. I also hope it encouraged you to look kindly at your past selves, to relish and cherish each breath of the present. And above all, to create with purpose and presence!
Thank you so much for reading!