Summary
A boy who likes to play in a world of fantasy became friends with a mermaid. However, the thought control institution tried to make him admit that the mermaid is actually a fish by various torture. Finally, he escaped and left for the sea with the mermaid.
Evaluation
I think the boy died believing he could finally live freely with the mermaid forever at the end of this film. Tezuka wanted to tell us that cotrol of people's free thought means to get rid of their personality and it is equivalent to kill them. According to the official homepage of Tezuka Osamu Production, he created this video to alarm the danger of entrance exam war. When I talked about our dreams for the future with my classmates in junior high school, I was surprised that many students didn't have any particular dreams. They said they would be satisfied if they could graduate a good university, work for a good company and earn a lot of money. My parents have never told me to enter a good school, so I'm studying to make my dream come true, not because everyone else is doing so. However, Japanese belief that the better school they graduate, the happier life they can lead may actually prevent many children from having their own dreams and hopes. We may be brainwashed by the fixed view while we are not aware. It would be difficult for the people without imagination to be happy. Since our freedom of thought was obtained after a long fight of people in the past, we should keep our own personality and respect to other people's way of thinking to preserve our liberties as free citizens.
Keywords
imagination, individuality, control of thought, brainwashing, freedom of thought
