Barefoot Gen

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Saturday's seminar on 'Cool Japan' was utterly fascinating. Sitting in the presence of such brilliant and engaging scholars was at once educational and, for lack of a better word, pure fun. I hope that I can bring that same amount of enthusiasm and engagement to my own students.

At the end of the session, one of our colleagues highly suggested the documentary, Price for Peace: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki as a great instructional film to teach about the war in the Pacific. This suggestion, in conjunction with the conference on Saturday, got me thinking about another video that I show in my Modern World History classes when I am nearing the end of the second world war, specifically, the bombing of Hiroshima. The movie is called Barefoot Gen and it recounts the events of August 6, 1945 as experienced through the eyes of the six-year-old protagonist. The story is semi-autobiographical and does a marvelous job of showing what transpired on that day, and, more importantly, how the razed city, its inhabitants, and the rest of the country reacted to the bombing the weeks after. The movie is a manga anime feature and tells the story in such a powerful way - a way that always excites, engages, and truly touches students. It is cute, funny, horrifying, and sobering. The themes and visuals presented in the film (particularly the bombing scene and the scenes depicting the first days after the bombing) can be a bit disturbing to some viewers. There are some extremely graphic scenes, but if you feel that your students can handle the movie and are mature enough for the film, then I think it is an excellent resource, not as propaganda, but as a statement against the atrocities of war.

I am not sure if it is available to stream, but I got my copy at Vidiots in Santa Monica. Here is a clip from the bombing scene (warning: this material may be a bit strong):

[Anonymous]

bdeleon great use and selection of Japanese manga anime in your world history class. In my U.S. history class I also use Barefoot Gen which I streamed from youtube. If I am not mistaken there is a 10 minute clip that begins with the moments before the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima to the point where the six year old protagonist has to make a critical decision minutes after the devastation of the bomb. I juxtapose this video with a clip from a documentary called the Atomic Cafe. In the Atomic Cafe, the pilot who dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki is interviewed on what his thoughts were as he dropped the bomb. I do this to give my students different perspectives on how the US and Japan viewed this event.

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