MovieChat Forums > Omoide no Marnie (2015) Discussion > I'm gonna punch a wall

I'm gonna punch a wall

posted 8 years ago by Green_Lump
12 replies | jump to latest

This movie was awesome until it turned out Marnie and Anna are related!

First of all, there absolutely were lesbian undertones and people who are simply relating that to people "seeing things through their western mindset", were you even watching this movie? The way the character blushed, when she got jealous about Marnie dancing with the boy, etc

If anything, the people behind the film wanted to give the impression of this being a same-sex intimate bond to trick us and surprise us with the ending. So even if the lesbian undertones didn't go somewhere, doesn't mean they weren't there.

Of course when I say lesbian, I'm obviously talking about 12 year olds, so no not a sexual love interest, just a deep same-sex more-than-friends kinda bond, I mean come on, you don't remember having crushes at that age? I had tons of crushes lol.

I really wasn't looking for the two girls to grow old and realize they love each other and then get into a lesbian relationship, I was just expecting for the story to continue as a mysterious deep friendship between two girls with some lesbian undertones that keep the viewer guessing if they ever grow to realize that their love for each other is more than just friendship and care, orrrrr that all these visions are actually Anna's confusion regarding her own sexuality which is starting to blossom. Either one was fine.

I didn't expect all this beauty and mystery to be sealed with a cliched "twist" that literally tainted all the gorgeous scenes between Anna and Marnie for me.

The ending kind of saddened me. I was too sucked into their bond that I really wanted the ending to still revolve around Anna and Marnie as a pair not to be just a twist where Marnie suddenly becomes a dusty memory. I kind of felt she wasn't real, even though I always knew that she was probably not real but the ending made her feel more distant in a strange way. I don't know...

What do you guys think?

- Waffa

[–] TutuAnimationPrincess 8 years ago

I've commented on this before, but films like this where two young girls had strong, platonic bonds of friendship used to be a lot more common. I get where you are coming from, but a movie should be judged for what it is, not what you wanted it to be. As much as you want to dismiss the idea that western audiences will judge this differently, it is a definite factor. There are some themes here that are uniquely Japanese, including most of the reasons Anna is introverted in the first place. I adore this movie and wasn't turned off by the ending at all, it brought everything full circle and created quite the dynamic story.

"If life is getting you down and needs uplifting, then please come dance with me!"

[–] taliajazel 8 years ago

Unless the films' writer and director come out and make a statement that disproves your theory I'm sticking to it. And I don't really care how many people deny it. It's way too obvious that Anna is attracted to Marnie in a romantic way. I don't think they just put it in to confuse the audience.

[–] PreachCaleb 8 years ago

I didn't expect all this beauty and mystery to be sealed with a cliched "twist" that literally tainted all the gorgeous scenes between Anna and Marnie for me.

Nothing was tainted. There's still love there. No need to sexualize it.

And yes, we all had crushes. We also had deep friendships that weren't crushes at all.

Let's be bad guys.

[–] Green_Lump 8 years ago

Of course when I say lesbian, I'm obviously talking about 12 year olds, so no not a sexual love interest, just a deep same-sex more-than-friends kinda bond

[–] TutuAnimationPrincess 8 years ago

If you want a better understanding of what this film is about, check out the main response in the topic about "Japanese speakers". It should still be on the first page on this board and probably gives the best details of this wonderful film.

"If life is getting you down and needs uplifting, then please come dance with me!"

[–] blust2 8 years ago

You cannot use western mindset to see Asian women. Almost all Asian women will be classified as lesbians under western standard. They hold hands together while walking and sleep together until they get married. They call each other husband and wife. It is culture thing.

[–] Green_Lump 8 years ago

I'm Arab. Never experienced 'Western culture' other than in books and movies.

Do they also get jealous when one of them starts seeing a guy? There is a difference between 'jealous' and 'protective' and there is a difference between 'close' and 'romantically close.'

At least admit (not you personally, but in general) that the director must at least have been trying to trick us all along for the twist to be more effective by throwing hints here and there.

The lesbian feel I got was undeniable. It's not an opinion I can change. It's a feeling I got and felt it was really strong.

[–] Aniki21 8 years ago

You're going to punch a wall? Get a grip OP. If you're so insecure with your own issues that you are experiencing violent urges because you so desperately wanted the two little girls in this anime to be lesbians you may need some professional counseling. A tad creepy.

#NotmyStarWars
http://y2u.be/BIxYGisMN84
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[–] LilyDaleLady 8 years ago

@Green_lump: ew. It was her GRANDMOTHER'S GHOST! do you also think it was about intergenerational incest?

For these many reasons, you are SO off-base:

1. It is based on a 50 year old English children's book...people were not writing about gay & lesbian issues then, not even in sub-text.

2. It was made in Japan, which doesn't have our modern US obsession with sexual issues, gay issues or gender issues.

3. Japanese people in general are more expressive and emotional about friendships. They don't make assumptions like two adolescent girls who have an intense friendship MUST be lesbians.

4. I am 60 now, but when I was 10-13 or so, I had a few very intense female friendships. It is an age just before many girls start being really interested in boys (OR the girls are interested, but the boys are developmentally slower and just too immature!). Girls have cliques at this age, and write in diaries -- they really focus on their same-sex friendships. But 99% of such friendships are utterly platonic, and kind of precursor to both adult friendships and romantic opposite sex relationships. (BTW: I was not remotely a lesbian and neither were my girl friends -- I think we'd know by 60! -- and we laugh about how crazy and intense our friendships were, though we still stay in touch!)

5. There are schools of academic thought today -- at least in the English speaking world -- where virtually EVERYTHING is now parsed for "gay subtext". It's like the old (excellent) documentary "The Celluloid Closet" on steroids! It's wayyy overdone. Not everything is about gays sex, and not every character is secretly gay. And it doesn't make you clever to try and find odd ways in which this is the case.

6. In this Japanese animated film, one problem is that they transitioned the story to Japan from England. Some of it is just fine, but other parts have translated awkwardly. For example,Anna looks like a boy! she wears very boyish clothes and has very short hair. My husband viewing this with me, though for half of the film that she was a BOY. He also thought there was some racial subtext, as Anna seems to be bi-racial and the little girls in the village are Japanese, but Marnie is clearly white & blonde.

Of course, this is not the case -- it was just part of the compromises the animators made to move the story from England to Japan. I don't think young children would be bothered by any of this, because the story is EMOTIONALLY TRUE, if not factual.

[–] reaseltbim 8 years ago

it was definitely a trick. and it was weird. the jealousy thing was definitely something odd to add (and then you add their dance scene together kind of reaffirming that there was more than friendship)
i agree with your points

[–] blacknyellowsquid 7 years ago

I don't know. As an example, let's take two sisters, obviously not a sexual relationship. They have a tight bond. One of them starts to show interest in a boy. The other one might get jealous because it threatens their bond (if she starts paying more attention to the boy, wanting to be with him). Not because the sisters are lesbians. That's how I kinda see it. It's that feeling of abandonment, starting to feel less important, a threat to the one-on-one bond...

[–] MtnMan13 7 years ago

Sorry, but there was no gay subtext. People are seeing what they want to see.