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GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES

SUBJECTS --- U.S./1941 - 1991; World/WWII and Japan; Cinema;
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING --- Human Rights.

Age: 13+; Not Rated.(There is no sex or graphic violence shown in this film); Animated in the style of Japanese Anime; 1988; 89 minutes; Color.

This heartbreaking film shows two orphaned children trying to survive the aftermath of the American incendiary bombing campaign that preceded the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It shows one example of the effects of the Second World War on civilians and provides a clear example of the tragedy hidden behind the euphemism "collateral damage." Roger Ebert said, "Grave of the Fireflies is an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation." Another critic compared the movie to Schindler's List saying that: "It is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen." See Roger Ebert's Review in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The TeachWithMovies.com Learning Guide to Grave of the Fireflies shows how to use the film on its own or to supplement units on civilian casualties in WWII or in any war. The movie can also be used to support TWM's Mass Casualties Lesson Plan, which explores the decision to drop atomic bombs to end WWII.



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SUPPLEMENT SCHOOL CURRICULUM!
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More suggestions about the beneficial use of movies to supplement curricula are added on a regular basis!

Grave of the Fireflies is achingly beautiful. Some critics call it a cut above even an anime classic like Princess Mononoke.



Learning Guide Excerpt

To give you a sense of how our Learning Guides can be used by teachers as lesson plans and by parents to supplement school curriculum or for homeschooling, we have set out below a selection from the Learning Guide to Grave of the Fireflies.

QUICK DISCUSSION QUESTION:   The Second World War was a "total war" in which the combatant countries put their entire economies and most of their industrial capacities into the war effort. Thus, many economic assets of the combatant countries were targeted by their adversaries. In addition, during the Second World War, first the Axis countries and then the Allies, used attacks on civilians to terrorize the populations of their enemies. In light of these facts, were Seita and Setsuko "collateral damage?"

Suggested Response: The answer to this question is both yes and no. Seita had worked in a steel plant; that was clearly part of the war effort. However, Setsuko was too young to contribute to any war. In addition, as children merely trying to survive, they weren't contributing to Japan's war effort and, in that sense, their injuries were collateral damage. It is also true that the practice of bombing civilian areas, started by the Germans when the Luftwaffe bombed civilian areas of Britain, was used to terrorize the enemy's population and try to force surrender. It didn't work with the British and it didn't work with the Japanese, until the U.S. significantly upped the ante with atomic bombs. Although, if the atomic bombs had not been used in August of 1945, the U.S. Army's Seventh Air Force would, in time, have reduced every Japanese urban population center to rubble using conventional incendiary bombs. It is hard to think that Japan could have survived as a nation if that had occurred.


The Learning Guide to the film Grave of the Fireflies contains suggestions about how to sensitive students to the meaning of "collateral damage."

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