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forbidden love

I have been wanting to keep a log of all the movies I watch, since I keep track of all the books I read on goodreads.com. It would be nice to get better at critically analyzing the movies I watch, just because it's so easy to watch a movie but to think about what I've seen is complicated.

So I will start today with a Japanese movie, made and released in 2006, called Boku wa imouto ni koi wo suru. My translation: "I fall in love with my sister." It stars Matsumoto Jun (he's in all the high-profile J-dramas these days like Gokusen and Hana Yori Dango, both of which were adapted from manga.) Not surprisingly, this movie is based on a manga of the same title, written by Kotomi Aoki and published by Shogakukan Publications, Ltd. Since I'm interested in social politics through manga as a medium, I'm going to talk about how the movie works in a social context.

There are two different issues I want to talk about: Japanese geographic culture and Taboos.

Geography and Culture:
Almost every little valley or coastline in Japan has a spot where tour-guides will stop and tell customers the following story: "Long ago, two lovers drowned themselves in this lake/pond/cliff/body of water when they found out that they were biological siblings." I haven't come across this phenomenon in other landscapes that I've visited, but of course, it may have to do with difference in context, access, etc. In any case, incest is apparently worth throwing oneself in a lake with your sister/brother.

Taboos:
In this movie, various people witness/find out/guess that the twins are making out with each other and try to tear them apart. One of those people trying to tear them apart is the brother himself. He feels so ashamed/guilty/abnormal for falling in love with someone he is not supposed to fall in love with that he sabotages his own relationship and constantly denies his right to express love for this person.
But incest is not the only taboo relationship in this movie!!!!!!!!!!
I don't want to spoil the plot but (I'm going to do it anyway) one of the male characters who seems to be in love with the sister... is actually in love with the brother.

Could this movie, while seeming to address the impossible love between twins, be making a broader commentary on societal taboos? Specifically societal taboos of a sexual/loving nature???? Hmmmmmm... Hmmmmm....

Finally, The Ending: no, they do not jump into a lake. It's a sad ending but not one that should leave the audience with the conclusion that sibling-love is impossible and can only happen if you decide to kill yourself in the end. But The Ending does emphasize the impossibility of societal acceptance.

Hmmmmm.... hmmmm... think about it.
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Comments

janeifer wang said…
mika, i started watching this movie recently and i didn't get a chance to finish it yet! but i had no context for it, and this is helpful. i wanna talk to u about it when i finally finish it!!
October 25, 2007 at 9:12 AM
giselle said…
i'm into calling out why incest is so taboo. lets watch this the next time i see you ok?
November 4, 2007 at 5:26 PM
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