Blog 2- S.S

The film “Scent of a Green Papaya” was a story regarding a 10 year old Vietnamese girl named Mui. Mui was hired to work as a servant in a home of a wealthy Vietnamese family. Some of Mui’s responsibility included preparing food, cleaning and doing other household chores. Throughout the film there were symbols that represented the Vietnamese people and culture. One of the symbols that were shown repetitively was the symbolism of food. This signifies that Vietnamese people placed a significant value on a good meal. The servants were always shown preparing the food for the family. Vegetables, fruits, and rice were almost always present at the table. Another symbol that I noticed in the film was nature. There were many times, Mui and the other children were shown observing spiders, and plants. This shows that Vietnamese valued and respected their surrounding even to the smallest aspects of it. Another symbol that I discovered was music. It appears that men expressed their feelings through music. The husband was shown playing the guitar beginning of the film, and the one of the sons was shown numerous times playing the piano. This symbolism of men playing the instruments also showed their dominance in the family. The male dominance was also displayed when the husband left his family for another women but he was allowed to come back several times. Another symbol that was significant to me was the siren that went off every night for the curfew. No one was allowed to be outside once the sirens came on but during the day it seemed as if the Vietnamese people lived life as normal. Although this was not the typical Vietnam War film, this film did a great job capturing important symbols from the people and the culture of Vietnam.