Mermaid, Tezuka Osamu (1964)

There was a lot to unpack... 

Setting

The film starts by the sea, on a wide beach in a far-away land. This far-away land is later on revealed as a totalitarian society, where free-thinking is frowned upon and a punishable crime.

The period may be set at the same time the animation was released, perhaps in the 1960s, during the post-war period. 

 

Conflict

The conflict is between the boy and the oppressive society of the land he lived in. He is forced to conform to what is dictated and is pressured to abandon his individualism.

 

Climax

When the boy escapes from the shore and out into the horizon with the mermaid--this is the climax because the boy can no longer return to land. 

 

Symbol

1. Mermaid and Ocean (or Water) = Imagination, Individuality, Freedom

The mermaid is the embodiment of imagination while the ocean represents the seemingly bottomless possibilities of the boy's imagination... 

Mermaids also represent transformation, possibly alluding to how since he can see the mermaid, he's capable of change [e.g. growing fins = accepting individuality, creativity, imagination]. While the rest of those in the country--those who couldn't see the mermaid and only saw the fish--wouldn't be able to do so because they denied themselves of their own individuality. 

2. Books = Conformation, Obedience, A restriction of free-thinking

While books often symbolize knowledge, the stack of books that surrounded him appeared to trap him to think in a certain way. Additionally, the motion of a book being shoved towards him could also be interpreted as him having to follow 'by the book'.

Upon further research, during the production of this animation and while student riots occurred across Japan in the 1960s, Japanese exams were being criticized for yielding mediocre students without individuality despite its infamous competitiveness. Exams were rigorous but the educational curriculum at the time only seemed to encourage and prioritize memorization more than creativity. The books may also be a nod to the strict curriculum that students had to go through at the time.

3. Colors (and Lines?) = Emphasis on the difference between restricted and free thinking

When he returned home with the mermaid, we see the film's palette turn from a blue ocean-like palette to muted colors like brown and grey. Nothing is out of the ordinary, and yet everything looks dreary. 

 Additionally, blue is known to sometimes represent freedom. (But it can also be associated with authority, intelligence, and even order.)

Note: This may just be how I saw it but the lines of the animation in the very beginning felt very soft, whimsical, and abstract. Unlike the jagged and rough lines we saw later on when he was interrogated. This may be interpreted as another emphasis on the differences between restricted and free-thinking. The loss of flow between the moments of the sea and the moments where the boy was being 're-taught'. There are more rigid lines and very few circular or soft shapes. (e.g. When the boy puts the fish into the pool and when it turned into a mermaid, it was a tiny little circular puddle of blue [water]. Whereas his confinement cell, the space he was interrogated in was always made of hard rectangular shapes. Both are isolated shapes.)

4. Bubbles = Impermanence

During his time with the mermaid, there was an abundance of bubbles both under the sea and in the air. And even at some point, the boy appeared to be inside one. Bubbles float freely until they pop, and so bubbles can be associated with temporal happiness. Similar to how as a child, you would happily chase bubbles until they disappeared with a 'pop'. Just like that moment of freedom he had with the mermaid in the beginning, it also had to come to an end. 

Irony

The boy completely abandons society and transforms into a mermaid as he escapes to the sea. Suggesting that he embraced his own individuality instead of conforming to what was expected of him. The irony is that even though he swims against the waves to escape--therefore going against the flow of society's expectations and conventions--he still swims its waters. 

There is also an irony in when he turns into a mermaid. While in the beginning, it symbolized his 'freedom', in the end, it also became a symbol of restriction or the limit to his freedom; just like mermaids, he may be free in the ocean but not on land--indicating that, in reality, there is no perfect society where all our thoughts will be freely accepted. 

 

Theme

While the overarching theme is to cherish and encourage imagination, it also discusses real themes of how governments can oppress their people with policies and national ideals that are only detrimental to the growth of their communities.  

 

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This feels a bit rushed so I hope I didn't get any of the literary devices wrong... But I wondered about this after watching the video and I just wanted to ask everyone--what do you think did the people see when the boy swam to the horizon. Did they, like us, see the boy grow fins and swim to the horizon; and also, were they finally able to see the mermaid? Or did they all just see a boy chasing after a fish, bound to drown because of his 'delusions'?