Why Do Fireflies Have to Die So Soon?: How “Grave of the Fireflies” Humanizes the Cost of War
Kas 158 (Modern Japan) Reaction Paper 2
I like war movies. Stories of soldiers struggling in the battlefield, fearing for their lives while at the same time, willing to give it up for their country, loved ones, and fellow soldiers. It is a classic trope, a bit trite to be honest, but still manages to pull some heartstrings. I am talking about the popular ones: Saving Private Ryan, Fury, Platoon, 1917, All Quiet in the Western Front, and too many to mention.
But my favorite kind of war movies are about those who were not in the trenches, holding guns, and dodging bullets from enemy troops. There is something alluring about the stories of innocent civilians, especially children, who unfortunately got to witness the horrors of war and just how far humanity can go to commit such diabolical atrocities. Perhaps that is why I perceive Holocaust movies like Schindler’s List, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and The Pianist to be more impactful and emotionally compelling. However, for these kind of cinema, I was usually exposed to Western media, depicting wartime Europe, and seldom in Asia-Pacific theatre. That was until I finally watched Grave of the Fireflies.
Despite of the film being animated (which is usually catered to children), the plot is definitely not for the faint of heart. The tragedy started with American military planes dropping incendiary bombs in the heart of a town called Kobe in Japan around June 1945. The Nazis and Italians were long defeated by the Allies and Imperial Japan was the only member of the Axis Powers standing. The whole town was burned into crisp, and tore families apart. The story is particularly focused on the two orphaned siblings whose mother died after suffering severe burns: 14-year-old boy Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko. The father was fighting in the navy, and could possibly die at any time. Virtually speaking, they were alone by themselves.
They temporary lived with their distant aunt at Nishinomiya, with Setsuko still believing that their mother was still alive the whole time. Seita didn’t want to tell his sister the truth. It will shatter her for sure. To survive, they had to sell their mother’s kimono in exchange of rice. Initially, their distant aunt treated them nicely, but eventually turned into something sour. She started scolding the siblings for being freeloaders, and demanded them to find a job to contribute in their household expenses.
Somehow, she implied that only those who “serve the nation” were the ones worthy of having food, water, clothing, and shelter, disregarding the fact that they were literally children. It can be said that this is reflective with the ongoing nationalist sentiments in Japan, where serving the nation is the most important duty of every Japanese people as subjects of their divine emperor.
The siblings eventually left their aunt’s house and lived inside an abandoned bomb shelter. Gathering food is the most difficult struggle for them, that it reached to the point that Seita had to steal crops from nearby farms and loot abandoned houses just to feed Setsuko who is slowly succumbing to malnutrition. Aside from being beaten and arrested for theft, Seita’s frustration escalated when he learned that the Japan already surrendered to the Allies and all of the Japanese nevy ships sank, implying that his military father was also likely dead.
Setsuko eventually died from starvation, and was cremated by her brother, putting her ashes inside the candy tin can that she loved. Seita eventually lost his will to survive and eventually also died from starvation himself. In the end, the sibling’s spirits happily reunited together in a field full of fireflies, and departed the world for good.
To say that this story is tragic would be an understatement, and knowing that the story was created by its screenwriter as his way to move on from his little sister’s death during the war only adds insult to the injury. But I think what makes it more depressing is the story’s usage of fireflies as a symbolism. The siblings used fireflies as their night time light inside their makeshift home, but they eventually die too quickly the next morning. One time, Seita saw his sister digging a small hole to make a grave for their fireflies (hence the title of the movie). He learned that Setsuko already knew about their mother’s death for a long time, and expressed her desire to visit her grave while digging the hole. She then raised this interesting philosophical question: “Why do fireflies have to die so soon?”
It was not about the fireflies having a short life expectancy. It was about Seita and Setsuko’s childhood being taken away too early. Their child-like wonder and innocence, represented through the firefly lights glowing in the night, were quickly extinguished by the harsh realities of their war-torn society. Aside from losing their parents and living on their own, the siblings had to experience a great deal of suffering through starvation that eventually led to their demise. The whole movie, if one would ask me, was as painful as watching the Holocaust film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which involved two innocent children facing a hellish and ghastly fate inside a concentration camp.
Grave of the Fireflies goes to show how children are the greatest anti-war propaganda tool that one could ever use. It is noticeable, at least for me, that the level of this film’s disdain towards war is a reflection of Japan’s overall attempts to stray away from their fascistic military past. Unlike the usual war movies from Hollywood that promotes American military industrial complex by over-glorifying their military feats, these kind of films give testament on how war is just as hellish as to the rest of people, not only to the soldiers. This movie’s usage of superb storytelling and symbolisms, not to mention compelling characters, merits its title as one of the greatest animated films that ever produced.
References:
Takahata, Isao, director. Grave of the Fireflies. Studio Ghibli, 1988. 1 hr., 28 min., 32 sec. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095327/.
Passed on June 30, 2023
