"Scent Of The Green Papya"
Submitted by freefortermpapers on 06/24/2008 03:00 PM
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"Scent Of The Green Papya"
Jean-Paul Gauthier
GS 362
March 6, 2006
Writing Assignment #1 (Rewrite)
"Scent of Green Papaya" by Tran Anh Hung
The film "Scent of Green Papaya" by Tran Anh Hung takes place in Vietnam when cultural values were in a process of transformation from a traditional culture to a modern culture. A traditional culture can be viewed as a life style among the family values and that is simple and in touch with nature, while a modern culture is more about the individual and that is complex and progressive towards success. The filmmaker presents the film with a slow pace focusing the viewer's attention on visual expressions throughout the movie. The film makes the viewer feel like he/she is caught between two ideologies that are in conflict, and the choice of acceptance is up to the viewer. The main character Mui is a girl who is situated in a family as a servant from a young age. The filmmaker makes draws attention to the struggles between traditional and modern cultures using Mui as the symbol of traditional culture and the family as symbol of the modern culture. By creating such a sympathetic character as Mui, Tran makes us believe in the positive power of tradition.
The film shows the distinction between modern and traditional lifestyles and worldviews. For example, the clothing styles that Tran illustrates through Mui demonstrate how simple traditional values are compared to modern values. Traditional clothing styles are often more conservative than Modern styles, thus Mui is not concerned with superficial identities like make-up at the beginning of the film. But as the movie progresses, she is seen using lipstick to gain the attention of a young man. Mui thought her traditional look was too plain for the acceptance of the young man, yet it was her traditional values of patience that won the man heart.
Through the vision of the filmmaker, a conflict is set up between modern and traditional values in the...
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