The Family Game

The role of the wife and mother in the film is traditional. Hane notes that the place of women in Japanese society improved after the war, though she also notes that "women continued to play a subordinate role in the family and society," which is evident in the film as the woman keeps the house and serves the needs of her family. The father indeed tells her that it is her role to keep the boys in line and to see that they go to school and behave themselves. She asks why she and her husband should sacrifice themselves for their children, but clearly it is intended by society that they do just that. The son comes home sick from school and expects his mother to prepare his bed for him immediately--the role of mother places the woman in a secondary position to her children as well as her husband.

Considerable emphasis is placed on the role of education as a preparation for a job and so for all of life. The grades and class

. . .
s a clear distinction between pre-war and post-war Japan. In other terms, though, there is a continuity between the two eras, with the emphases placed on certain social and economic elements after the war being a change in degree more than kind. The Meiji period was the beginning of the development of economic life in Japan at a much more rapid pace. This was also a period of military buildup, and this buildup has been seen as the major contribution to the structure of the technological foundation for the successful industrialization that followed. The new economic order included the acquisition and dissemination of Western technologies and skills, and this same policy created a demand that was needed to assure the survival and growth of struggling private firms in important industrial fields. The rate of growth for Japan after the Meiji period was considerable even before the boom after World War II. Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan was a feudal society, with the economic limitations that such a social structure would suggest. The Tokugawa system was also beset by numerous problems and tensions that might still have been weathered if the nation had been able to maintain its isolation, an isolation that the Japanese pri
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Family Game, War II, West Efforts, Treaties Japanese, Lady Class, West Japan, II Japanese, Post-War Occupation, Restoration Japan, Meiji Restoration, war ii, world war, world war ii, japanese society, meiji period, pre-war post-war japan, mother film, american culture, economic development, japan considerable, children husband, maintain isolation,
Approximate Word count = 1649
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on The Family Game