Thoughts on Language, Culture, & Education

Language, Silence, and "Screen Time"

in OZU Yasujiro’s Good Morning

January 19, 2018

OZU Yasujiro is one of the most subtle, lyrical, and sublime filmmakers in the history of the medium. His 1959 classic Good Morning (Ohayō) is both a warmly funny family comedy and a bitingly satirical look at language, communication, and intergenerational dynamics. The two brothers who are the film’s leads refuse to speak until their parents agree to buy them a television set – the 1959 equivalent of my twelve year old son’s relentless quest for us to buy him an iPhone.

What’s so refreshing and contemporary about the movie is the way in which the children’s obsession with the (TV) screen becomes a source of extreme anxiety for the adults, who are convinced that it will destroy their eyesight and rot their brains. In the end, the boys’ parents do buy a TV for them, and it ultimately proves to be a source of family cohesion, rather than one of destruction, decadence, or decay. The film is a timely reminder that we should maintain a healthy skepticism regarding our worst fears about new media.

In addition to the film’s commentary on technology, it also includes the boys’ frequently insightful remarks on the banality of the language used by adults. They mock their parents' and teachers' constant greetings and conversations on such obvious topics as time, health, and weather. What’s even more interesting is that at the end of the film, what seems like support for the boys’ position on the banality of adult language is undercut by a demonstration of the subtle messages lying beneath our seemingly quotidian conversations. Two young acquaintances, whose love for each other is clearly about to blossom, talk to each other about the weather as they stand on a train platform. Clearly, this everyday conversation includes a more meaningful subtext that the young boys of the film simply are not yet old enough to grasp!

Ohayō is a true classic that can be read and appreciated on many levels.