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Hints of Sexism And Racism In The Film Sayonara

Hints of Sexism And Racism In The Film "Sayonara"

In Her Essay “Tragic Love and Transcendental Love”, Gina Marchetti uses a keen eye to closely analyze and uncover the underlying themes present in the 1957 film Sayonara. Marchetti argues that, if anything, the film is much more involved with civil rights than it is with any serious ant-war or anti-racism message. Her point is well made and defended by the many examples given of how instances of conservative behavior, often masculine characters craving control, overshadow any hint of moral lesson about interracial relations. The movie repeatedly creates awareness of a social problem such as the absurdity of society rejecting interracial relationships but just as soon as the audience’s attention is captured, the point shifts in another direction causing confusion about what the true message of the movie is. Rather than exploit or challenge the traditional American beliefs and values of Americans towards issues of race, Sayonara succeeds in reinforcing the American conservative views on masculinity versus femininity and the like.

Although superficially posing as an antiwar film, Sayonara is hardly convincing as any discussion about the morality of the Korean War quickly fades out as a main theme of the movie in the opening scenes (Marchetti 128). Gruver, apparently disturbed by an encounter with “the enemy” earlier that day, comments that the pilot had had a face. While the viewer anticipates some type of elaboration on the thought, the subject quickly changes to Japan and there is foreshadowing of what is to come when the doctor mentions the “ Japanese dolls” he is sure to encounter. Marchetti points out that this vague reference to the Korean war is a brief moral consideration only touched upon before it is long forgotten and lost in a love story. By bringing up his moral dilemma in the first place and changing directions so quickly, the movie tends to make light of the conflict in Korea and works against its intention to serve as an anti-war movie. Gruver’s problem is portrayed as an “Oedipal dilemma” as he begins to question why he has committed his whole life to something his father wanted (Marchetti, 129). Throughout the movie, Gruver is continuously questioning whether he is really happy with his life thus far and if what he has accomplished is what life is all about. As he contemplates his life thus far...

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