Come See The Paradise

By: Ashley Stockton, Ruben Chavez, Joseph Pantaelo, Melanie Renton,

Mari Kumagai, and Naoya Nagatani

Agenda

Background Information Central Themes Character Analysis Styles, Techniques, and

Cinematography Theme of Emasculation Jack and Lily’s relationship What have Jack and Lily

learned from each other? Our Thoughts

Background Information

The movie Come See the Paradise was made in 1990 and was directed and written by Alan Parker. It starred Dennis Quaid and Tamlyn Tomita as Jack and Lily McGurn. The director also directed The Commitments, Mississippi Burning, and The Road to Wellville.

Central Themes

In this film, I found two big themes. Love (Between

Lily and Jack)Racial Injustice

(especially Japanese American)

Love

In this story, Jack and Lily fall in love. Jack is a white American and Lily is a Japanese American. They got married in spite of parental opposition and they left California to avoid its law. Lily lived apart from her husband (Jack) because he got lazy in their family but he came a camp to see Lily and Mini without permission from army. Finally, he came back to his family. During World WarⅡ, Japan and the U.S. were enemies each other but Lily and jack didn’t care about that and they come together.

Racial Injustice

During the World WarⅡ, Japanese Americans were taken to concentration camp because they were from enemy country. First generation (Hiroshi) was arrested on suspicion of being a spy by FBI. Second generation (Charlie and Harry) had to choose taking an oath of allegiance to the U.S. or going back to Japan, although they have U.S. citizenship. Italian Americans and German Americans, they are from enemy countries but they were not taken to concentration camp. This fact shows that old Americans had prejudices against Asians.

In those days, marriage between white race and others was banned in California. Jack and Lily had to hold a wedding in other states.

Character AnalysisJACK MCGURN

Jack starts off working as a sweatshop lawyer then later quits and takes a new profession as a Theater projectionist. He later falls in love with his bosses daughter Lily. They both want to get married but they can't because of California Laws. So they decide to move to Seattle to get married and they had a daughter. He then takes a new job as a Union worker but that starts problems in their home. He then gets drafted into the army when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. He goes AWOL (absence without leave) To visit Lily at the camp and Lily' family. He then later returns back to the army because Hiroshi told him too.

Character Analysis Cont.LILY KAWAMURA

Lily works at a Japanese shop making pants. Her father tries to arrange a marriage for her to get married with one of his friends just so he could get out of debt, but she refuses. She gets married with Jack but her father does not approve of this but she gets married to him anyways. She moves into Seattle and she gets pregnant with Mini. Then eventually Pearl Harbor gets attacked and then she has to move into the Japanese camps where the U.S government kept all the Japanese citizens. She worked in the camp and just tried to make the best out of everything. Years later pass and she waits for Jack at a train station with her daughter Lily.

Character Analysis Cont.

MINI MCGANN Daughter of Jack and

Lily. She is mostly a baby throughout the whole movie. But in the end she is a bit more grown up and waits at the train station with her mother for her father to return. While walking to the train she asks her mother to tell her about her father.

Character Analysis Cont.

CHARLIE KAWAMURA Charlie works with Jack at

the Kawamura theater. Charlie is Lily's brother and he introduced Jack to Lily. When Charlie is in the camps he starts having this inner anger towards the U.S government and he joins a group who want to riot in the camp. Charlie answers "No" twice, so Charlie could not live in America anymore because he refused to join the army so he had to move to Japan. Charlie has never been to Japan before.

Character Analysis Cont.

MRS. KAWAMURA HIROSHI KAWAMURA Wife of Hiroshi and

mother of Lily, she was a quiet character and a very obedient wife. Mr. Kawamura tried to write back to Lily when she moved away to Seattle but Hiroshi did not let her write to her.

Hiroshi is the owner of the Theater that Jack works in. He has 2 daughters and 2 sons. He is in major debt with one of his friends and tries to make his daughter Lily marry his friend as a trade for his debt. When Japan attacked he was taken to the camps but was interrogated and everyone in the camp believed he gave away information. He was mistreated by everyone in the camp and later died.

Character Analysis Cont.

DULCIE KAWAMURA HARRY KAWAMURA Dulcie is Lily's sister. She

was taken to the camps. She volunteered to work on a farm, so she was able to leave the camps. When Dulcie returned she was pregnant.

Joyce is Lily's other sister. She was taken to the camps with the rest of the family as well.

Harry is Lily's other brother. He was taken to the camps too. Harry is drafted to join the U.S army and he was killed in action.Joyce Kawamura

Styles, Techniques, and Cinematography

It was released on December 23, 1990 and it was directed by Alan Parker

Movie took place in Los Angeles and Seattle a bit before WW2. Some style and techniques they used is they used peoples

civil liberties, in the union they did not give the people their civil liberties.

One theme the movie had was racial injustice. Every Japanese citizen had to abandon their homes, sell or destroy most of their valuables.

Another theme was about love between an American/ Irish man and a Japanese woman. No matter what happened to them their love was so strong that nothing could keep them apart. Lily's father did not approve of Jack but Jack and Lily still got married. Then Lily had to go to the camps and Jack spend months away without seeing Lily.

Theme of Emasculation

In the beginning of the movie, everyone listens to Mr. Kawamura because is the man of the house. Once the attack on Pearl harbor happens and he is suspected of giving information away, even members of his own family resent him. He feels lonely because nobody will talk to him. Eventually, Mr. Kawamura gets sick and dies before the end of the movie.

Harry Kawamura is one of the brothers in the Kawamura family, early in the movie he becomes good friends with Jack. While in Manzanar , a survey is given out and there is a question that asks even though they have Japanese, are they still loyal to the United States. Harry chooses to answer yes even though he knows the risk of answering yes is going to war against his own people. He was born in America and sees himself as an American citizen so he is willing to fight for his country. By the end of the movie, we find out that he was killed in action.

Theme of Emasculation Cont.

Charlie is the brother in the family who is Japanese before he is American and he wants everyone to know that. While in Manzanar, he is part of a group of protestors who question the authority of the American military at Manzanar by marching through the camp, which ends in bloodshed. Afterwards, the surveys are given out and the question that asks about each person’s loyalty to America is answered “no” by Frankie. He did not want to fight against his own people. He is part of a group who answered no and gets sent back to Japan even though he was born in America. We never see him in the movie after that happens.

Jack and Lily’s Relationship

My Part

What have Jack and Lily learned from each other?

Jack and Lily learned a great deal from each other throughout the movie. In the beginning, Jack was an angry political activist who wanted better working conditions for employees. Lily, however, was much more family oriented. However, after being locked in the camps, Lily became just as angry as her husband when she had to experience the injustice herself. She shows her anger when a camp guard forbids her mother from working with the family. Jack, on the other hand, began to care more about bringing the family together and let go of his past state of mind.

Our Thoughts

From this movie, we can learn that real situation of the camp during the war, where many Japanese American suffered. America has not reveal the existence of the camp before this movie. In this point, this is a great movie to tell us the tragic situation that really excited.

Although this movie was made by American director, it described the sinful history of America from Japanese point of view. We can pay attention how painful racial recrimination or violation of human rights are through this movie. We have to think about this serious problem once more in order not to cause such a situation any more.

The director also described how strong a love is. The love between Lily and Jack got through the challenging situation. Also the strong tie of Kawamura family is a kinds of beauty. We know the real meaning of love when we face a difficult situation.

The other point of beauty they have is “patience”. They always say “Shikataganai”, and try to live with a hope in spite of miserable situation.

The End