Blog 2 JJY

The movie “Scent of the Green Papaya” is about a girl Mui and the family she serves. There are many references to the Vietnam War and the culture of Vietnam. Mui is a very innocent child and through her eyes everything seems very peaceful and serene. I think the green papaya represents the peace that the people in Vietnam want. When Mui slices open the papaya the film depicts it as something peaceful and Mui really likes to feel the seeds inside the papaya. Mui is really amused by the papaya. This represents the times before the Vietnam War and the invasion from the Western Countries. The surrounding is a very traditional to the Vietnamese culture. In the beginning in the movie and throughout the movie there are sounds of airplanes flying by. The setting is between 1951 and 1961 when the Vietnam War was going on. The father is also like the countries that have taken control of Vietnam in the way that he always comes and when there are struggles he abandons the family. The planes remind us of the war that was taking place. The curfew also reminds us of the Vietnam War when the people had to be back after a certain time. When the older son of the mistress is killing the ants with the wax I believe that this represents the French controlling the Vietnamese people and not allowing them to have complete freedom. They are not instantly killed, but trapped by the wax and are not allowed to move. In the end when Mui says that things may change, but are from the same peach tree this means that everything will repeat itself. In the movie the first part and second part are very similar. The male cheats on his wife and falls in love with another woman. I think this can relate with the story “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain” where things repeated Ho Chi Minh and the French first fought and later Mr. Li was killed because he said that the Vietnamese should surrender to Communism. The war was stilling be fought years later. Just like how Mui said things will repeat. The cherry tree at the end represents Vietnam in a way, because no matter how much you hit it the tree will never fall.