Review

Title: Paprika

[Paprika (2006), Satoshi Konm Madhouse]

Paprika is a 2006 Japanese science-fiction anime film directed by Satoshi Kon. It is based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1993 novel titled Paprika about psychologists who uses a device that allows them to enter into the patient dreams in order to help them.

Just like the novel, the movie is about two worlds merging due to the main characters’ duality, the real world and dreams. Doctor Atsuko Chiba, a psychologist, is working with her colleagues are on a device called the DC Mini, which allows the doctors to enter the patients dream and help. Some devices are stolen causing great danger in both worlds.

This movie tries to differentiate dreams and reality, however at the same time merge them together creating a very dangerous world using the CD Mini. However there are other themes portrayed, such as: misapprehension of the past, risk of sexuality and confusion between reality and fantasy.

The colours are very important in Paprika because they represent the contrast between the two worlds. Colourful versus dark, something we desire versus something we cannot chose.The world of dreams, in comparison to the real world, is much more colourful and full of detail – according to the way dreams are portrayed in Paprika. It is full of inanimate objects and random – but – dazzling scenery. Perhaps the director wanted the viewer to understand the role of art -­ communicating the beauty of things no one pays attention to. Contrasting the colours with the intricate and heavy plot. On the other hand dreams are to escape form the real world, go in a world where solely one person can change things.

Paprika was able to shock and confuse me but also it made me think about how I perceive things along with different ways of thinking about the real world.

“Geraldine” and Gender

Geraldine is an animation produced by the French film director Arthur des Pins about a man, Gerald, that one-day wakes up with the body of a woman.

This animation is about the role of women in society and the struggle women are confronted with in the outside world such as work and relationships.

 

The first days she thought it was just a dream but the second day he realises that it’s the real world. While going for a walk in the park Geraldine realises she is treated differently than before and tries to prove herself to the men playing soccer but fails. Meanwhile a woman was looking at her and they decide to drink together. While talking, Geraldine realises how living as a woman is very different and more complex compared to a man’s life due to both biological reason and society’s standards of beauty.

After the days pass by Geraldine starts getting used to her new body. She decides to go back to work but feels physically insecure between all the men that stared at her. Her work is not taken seriously and her co-workers only pay attention to her body. She decides to work as a model for the Playboy magazine and advertisement in order to get attention. After getting sufficiently famous she became the new French feminist figure.

Geraldine communicates the social difference between men and women, how they are treated different, how they are seen, the different types of jobs offered to both genders. The main character, man clueless about the social gap, had to start a completely new life only because his gender changed due to a weather accident. He had to change jobs, clothes, attitude, hobbies, interests, mundane activities.

“Design and Activism” – BABY X

Baby X is an animation is about social integration and children understanding of present issues.

I chose this animation because it represents two issues that I particularly find very interesting: gender stereotypes and the influence of parents. In this blog post I will therefore talk about gender stereotypes and misinformation.

What are gender stereotypes? Gender stereotypes are over-generalisations about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender that starts right when the baby’s gender is found out. Which is the reason why X’s parents did not tell anyone about his gender, causing unanswered question and scared family members.

In the animation we can see a lot of different stereotypes that occur at young age. Already from the first few seconds we can see a scene with the most general ideal of male and female.

However the protagonist of the animation struggles fitting in due to the amount of rules for the different sexes and was often questioned or mocked by his classmates due to their initial lack of understanding.

On the other hand why did X’s classmates mock them? Why did they think “different is bad”? To understand this it is very important to talk about the role of parents. At young age, children try to behave similarly to their parents and follow their rules. We are involuntarily taught that different is scary and dangerous.

However it is interesting to see how the children in the video rebel against their parents and their “old way of thinking”.

To conclude it is possible to say that this animation fully explains the struggles of fitting in the gender stereotypes we have to face starting from young age. Now days people are trying to rebel from society’s rules through art and other different methods in order to convey opinions and this animation is an appropriate example of this movement.