I have enough problems of my own to need to watch someone else's drama :(
Comment has been collapsed.
The only one I watched from the ones you mentioned is The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and that was mostly because I read that it was directed by the same guy that did Summer Wars, a movie that I liked.
I don't think that I'm good enough at analizing movies to even grasp what would go into this category.
Comment has been collapsed.
I'll take your 'springtime loss' subject very broadly here when I mention the following films that deal with this theme in their own way. It's too hard for me to pick one favourite though, so I'll just list them all:
You may have already seen these, but I hope there are a few new discoveries for you. I'll also mention a few literary works that immediately spring to mind:
Comment has been collapsed.
Nope, that's a pretty standard coming-of-age film. :)
Going out on an adventure and learning from it is a fundamental of coming-of-age works, and is used to reflect the progression into adulthood. "Springtime loss" has coming-of-age elements, but is focused on lamenting and acccepting the loss of childhood [innocence], and thus isn't about entering the world, but on having the world forced upon you. Thus, standard active exploration-adventure elements aren't present in the genre (though as Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Arriety, and Marnie all show, reactive situations can be pretty adventure-filled in their own right).
Put another way, coming-of-age is typically about coming to terms with growing up and putting aside childhood for the sake of maturation, while "springtime loss" is more about enduring hard realities as the protagonists break from "the springtime of youth", losing their childhood innocence or being forced to put aside their sense of childhood wonder along the way. (One could argue that another distinction of non-springtime-youth works like According to Greta and The Perks of being a Wallflower is that such loss of innocence has, in a sense, already passed, but the individual has yet to come to terms with that fact by the movie's start. Thus, such films tend to ground themselves in more adult truths from the start, and focus more strictly on basic psychological considerations, without also offering the reference to metaphorical losses that "springtime loss" works offer.)
Finally, the "loss" element differs in Stand by Me, as loss in that film is just based in standard aging considerations. In "springtime loss", the loss has to be personal and significant, exemplified by a single event or experience, and representative of the loss of childhood.
It's a rather specialized, niche genre, but it's lovely- it embraces the innocence and sense of wonder of youth, and then shows those elements slipping through the protagonist's fingers.. finally ending in displaying the strength of the protagonist as they come to accept their loss, and what it means to move forward. Likewise, works of the genre always end on a hopeful note, implying the protagonist as still having a trace of remaining wonder (Arriety probably embraces that element the best), to indicate that not all beauty of childhood has been lost simply by the need to deal with life's harsher realities- that in growing up, we put aside innocence, but as we move forward, we also still can hold on to and appreciate the things we experienced along the way.
(Yet another reason Donnie Darko doesn't match to the genre: While you could argue a side character does present that note at the end of the film, it's far more bitter in the bittersweetness than examples of the genre ever are.)
In the end, I find the genre both the most poetic and the most beautifully inspiring of drama genres (and hopefully others will be able to better appreciate the genre after this thread, as well. ^.^)
(Also, as a side note, Field of Dreams makes an interesting contrast to the genre, in essentially being a 'Twilight Gain' work- where the works in discussion lament the loss of childhood and the need to put it aside, Field of Dreams (and similar works) lament the loss of childhood but attempt to reclaim its sense of wonder.)
That said, basically any coming-of-age-esque work is fine here- thanks for your input! ^.^
Comment has been collapsed.
Films that also sprang to mind with a coming-of age element (rather than necessarily as the main theme or the Springtime Loss theme) would be the Hotel New Hampshire, the Lost Boys, Pump Up the Volume, Ferris Bueller's Day Off - maybe even the Goonies and of course my own favourite the Breakfast Club!
Comment has been collapsed.
Out of curiosity, did you construct this genre, or is there information about it elsewhere?
I've been referencing the genre since the My Girl days (mid 90s), so by this point I honestly couldn't tell you. I know I've encountered the genre considerations and "springtime of youth" elements themselves in discussion, but I can't recall if I appropriated the label from someone else or if I constructed it myself from elements taken from more generalized discussions (which is something I've been known to do, in situations where I can't find an existing label to reference). Or, perhaps, it may have been a term local to where I grew up, which never made it to significant mention elsewhere. Google doesn't return any results for "springtime loss", so at the very least, my phrasing doesn't appear to be shared elsewhere.
Google isn't offering me any other labels to cover the genre, so either way- we can just start popularizing the subgenre here and now. ^.^
Well, I think I did a decent job in better detailing the considerations involved within the genre in my reply to heavenhairsixes above, anyway, so let me know if I left anything unclear. ^.^
In any case, Colorful is more in the vein of According to Greta and Perks of being a Wallflower, with a splash of Donnie Darko. In other words, it's more about dealing with enduring crappy life situations and coming to terms with yourself, than it is with losing innocence and coming to terms with the world.
I mean, I'm still gonna add it to my watch list, of course. :)
(If nothing else, this thread is getting me some solid anime film recommendations. :D)
Comment has been collapsed.
21 Comments - Last post 8 minutes ago by Mitsukuni
898 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by InSpec
704 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by JJJ7
31 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by drabit642
1,036 Comments - Last post 5 hours ago by sensualshakti
1,942 Comments - Last post 6 hours ago by MeguminShiro
228 Comments - Last post 7 hours ago by Dizzard
349 Comments - Last post 1 second ago by juhaszandor
9,456 Comments - Last post 7 minutes ago by insideAfireball
25 Comments - Last post 13 minutes ago by PonBaron
139 Comments - Last post 25 minutes ago by Serpentus
97 Comments - Last post 30 minutes ago by BHTrellis188
25 Comments - Last post 31 minutes ago by MarvashMagalli
358 Comments - Last post 44 minutes ago by NB264
Examples of the genre include My Girl, Bridge to Teribithia, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The Secret World of Arriety, and When Marnie Was Here.
Coming-of-age themes, loss, uncertainty, and being overwhelmed by things that seem part of another world [figuratively or literally] are all common characteristics of the genre. A key trait of the genre is that the 'other world' comes to the protagonist, rather than the opposite [as is normal for adventure films, where the protagonist goes off exploring, with the adventure often serving as a metaphor for their own growth]. Thus, exploration elements tend to be minimal, with the protagonist simply trying to deal with things as they come- in other words, the protagonist's interactions tend to be reactive, rather than active.
Examples of the genre start with more positive vibes, typically beginning with the meeting of a new person or change in circumstances, with a single darker moment being characteristic of the ending climax. By contrast, films like Donnie Darko are based in rather similar foundations, but lack the 'springtime' element, being thoroughly dark/negative throughout. Likewise, the scope of films like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and According to Greta are rather different, focusing on more typical inclusion of romance and drama themes, with coming-of-age or drama elements carrying the plot more steadily throughout the film, and with such films generally avoiding the 'loss' element entirely (favoring a dramatic character reveal instead).
That all said, if you can't think of any that precisely fit the 'springtime loss' genre, then by all means, use the paragraph just above as a guideline for determining what films and shows share similar concepts, and just list whatever fiction you can think of which closest matches the themes of the genre. When in doubt, just go for the most drama-heavy coming-of-age film in your favorites shelf. :P
[Further elaboration on the genre >>]
(P.S. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The Secret World of Arriety, When Marnie Was Here, Donnie Darko, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower are all highly recommendable, if you think the concepts mentioned above sound interesting and you haven't yet had the chance to try the films for yourself. ^.^)
Comment has been collapsed.