Seen From Another Perspective

Have you ever seen any Gihbuli movie before? I love Gihbuli movies and I've seen them more than one hundred times. Two weeks ago, I had homestay then I watched Gihbuli movie in the evening with my host family. We watched 'Kiki's Delivery Services.' It was my first time to watch this movie in English with English subtitles. I noticed some interesting cultural differences in that movie.



Beautiful Houses in Stockholm

First, a landscape of the town in the movie is very different from Japan. Of course this movie didn't take place in Japan but Stockholm in Sweden. I can see a color of houses in the movie were so different. In the movie, these houses has a lot of vivid color like red, blue, yellow, and bright white. Also most of them have a same brown color of roof. In this movie, the setting is in a port town. Blue sea color makes the town look more beautiful. Houses in Japan don't have such a colorful apperance. Japanese people tend to make their house with simple color like white, gray, and light cream color.

Second is a different way of greeting. The main character, Kiki, meets many people in this film. She goes to new town as a great witch then she makes a lot of new friends there. There is a scene in which Kiki meets a boy, Tombo, is easy to find the different way of greeting in this scene. She looks unusual in a black dress, as same as other witches wear. However people look at her strangely because they have never seen a witch in their town. Tombo finds her and suddenly he talks to her. She is upset at his action. Then she says 'It is rude to ask somebody's name before you introduce yourself' and ignores him. It's very interesting because in Japan such a thing never happens. Most Japanese people avoid talking to strangers.

Finally, characters show their gratitude clearly. Osono, a one of the women in this film, suggests that Kiki lives in a part of her house. She also offers Kiki breakfast every day to show her appreciation for Kiki's errand. An old madam, who is one of Kiki's customers, gives a great tip to her since she did extra work. In Japan most people don't propose to live with customers nor pay extra money. Japanese people send a present or letter to show their gratitude. Most Japanese people hesitate giving just money so they buy some special things instead of giving money.

I have noticed other different points than these three things in this movie. If a movie takes place in another country, we can enjoy noticing cultural differences. It is another way of enjoying film! Have you ever found any cultural differences by watching movies?

Photo resource:http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=stockholm%2C+sweden&qs=IM&form=QBIR&pq=stock&sc=8-5&sp=6&sk=IM5