鉢植えと子どもたち : 映画『誰も知らない』分析を通して

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  • Potted Plants and Children : An analysis of the film Nobody Knows

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Analysis of the use of potted plants in different forms of media has shown that potted plants tend to appear in movies featuring children. One of these is the Japanese film Nobody Knows (Daremo Shiranai, 2004), written and directed by Koreeda Hirokazu. In the film, weeds growing in Styrofoam instant noodle containers are taken care of by abandoned children. This analysis of the use of potted plants in Nobody Knows explores the implicational meanings that potted plants connote and the reason why children and potted plants have often been featured together in certain films. Six symbolic meanings emerge around potted plants. First, the weeds represent the children's status of being "abandoned." Second, the seeds represent the children themselves. As weeds disperse seeds and find new places to grow, the children become free by breaking their mother's rules. Third, the shoots of the weeds represent the children's vitality and resilience. Without any kind of lifeline, the children desperately try to survive. Moreover, Styrofoam containers being used as flowerpots represent the fragile nature of the children's lives. As instant noodle containers are made of polystyrene, they are brittle and easily damaged or broken compared with conventional pottery or earthenware flowerpots. Likewise, the children living by themselves, without parental guidance or supervision, are socially weak. In addition, an important point to note is that pots as containers can be considered female symbols because of their similarity to a womb. Flowerpots offer an environment in which things can grow and live, as the womb of a mother does for her fetus. Finally, caring for plants is a metaphor for personal healing: the four siblings in the film have been abandoned by their mother and must live without parental guidance or supervision? especially the younger two, aged three and five. They are not only absorbed in taking care of their weeds; in doing so, they are also demonstrating how they would like to be treated by their mother.

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