Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

In any film, it must be recognized that the deeper meaning of the film goes beyond the story depicted in the film. As such, audiences from different epochs have the perspective of their various political and social experiences to create the meaning as indicated by the film, and also to create a personal meaning that is beyond the collective intention of the film and the reaction of the audience. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is a film with nuances that make possible a variety of interpretations, including those relating to the overt relationships among the men at the prison camp, and the less expressed but still evident reactions and the emotions that underlie these. As such, the film depicts both the overt and subtle in a way that connects these two types of relationships and makes the film a platform for deeper meaning according to the interpretation choices the audience makes.

The most obvious plot element in the film is the Second World War setting in 1942. The fact that it portrays a prison camp rather than the war itself creates a good platform for the deeper nuances and meaning making possibilities of the film. As such, the film portrays the result of the war, rather than the war itself. This manifests not only in the physical conditions of the prison camp, but also in the psychological realities and relationships that develop from these conditions. These relationships are the combined result of the conditions within the camp and the inner psychological foundations according to which each character operates. The interactions of these various psychologies are then what give rise to the various conflict situations depicted in the film; both internal and external.

Again, the interpersonal conflict is most concretely depicted by the differences in culture, most specifically represented by the camp commander Captain Yonoi, who is Japanese, and Jack Celliers, a recently captured British pilot. The culture clash is manifest in the way in which both cultures see the concept of honor. In both the Japanese and British minds, the culture represented by the other depicts little honor in terms of what is known to both cultures. Conversely, in both minds, they themselves display more honor than their cultural opposites.

Despite, or perhaps because of, these opposites, Yonoi finds himself attracted to Celliers. According to Jackson (p. 156), this homoerotic desire is only ever depicted in the long, lingering looks Yonoi casts in Celliers' direction. The desire never culminates in physical closeness. This in itself could be interpreted as a restriction of the social, ideological, and political setup of the camp, which does not allow for homoerotic displays of affection. Instead, the covert affection is manifest in overt violence, the mistreatment of prisoners, and murder. Indeed, the rape of Hara, Yonoi's associate camp supervisor and the frequent displays of violence such as murder, ritual suicide, and even rape, are manifestations of the denial to the self of what is considered socially unacceptable.

In terms of the audience and its historical present, this might be seen in the context of the "other" as experienced in social and sexual reality. For audiences that viewed the film for the first time at the start of the 1980s, for example, the depiction of the latent desire between Yonoi and Celliers could create a type of fear of the unknown as represented by the gay and lesbian subcultures at the time. During this decade, these subcultures were definitely present, but far from overtly part of general society. Hence the film provides a depiction of the general suppression not only of the desire itself, but also the suppression of any awareness that such desire and its fulfilment exists.

Another interesting element in the film is the presence of the mediator. In the war camp, the mediator between the Japanese and the British is manifest in the person of John Lawrence, who is also the title character in the film. He is a Japanese-speaking Liaison officer at the camp, and serves as mediator between the cultures. His job is made difficult not only by the cultural tensions inherent in the camp, but also by the sexual ones. While Lawrence can indeed provide mediation between the cultures, he cannot substitute the release that women would have provided, had they been allowed to visit the camp. Thus, the violence is further exacerbated not only by the cultural divide, but also by the denial of sexual release either by means of hetero- or homosexual affection.

Again, from the point-of-view of audiences, the film could provide a type of warning in terms of a sense of fundamental honesty. The characters in the film are unable to honestly examine their feelings as a result of the cultural, battle, and sexual divides that exist between them. They are completely unable to overcome these divides by means of any contact with the Other if this does not involve some kind of violence. Even high ideals such as honor and loyalty are peppered with violence, as if violence is the only ideal that can survive in war.

In this way, for non-war era film audiences, the film shows the results of overriding social, sexual, or personal ideals in terms of the dangers these pose to effective and fulfilling human relationships. If seen in a wider context, this is not only applicable to the context of homosexual relationships and their fulfilment, but also to other areas of human life where misunderstanding could be created by highly idealized cultural or personal values. Indeed, at the end of the film, the ideals war show themselves to be void when the war is removed and those who were considered heroes during war time become criminals awaiting execution.

In terms of representations of the facts, the film elegantly creates a fictional platform by not depicting the war itself. Instead, it represents the deeper realities experienced during the war by means of the associated setting of the prison camp. The factual is therefore used as a somewhat distant backdrop for the psychological realities created by the cultural, sexual, and ideological differences among the major role players and their victims in the war.

What is interesting in this regard is the fact that the realities depicted in "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" can be reinterpreted to apply to wider social, personal and psychological realities. The implication here is that a film of this nature, despite its subject matter, of a war that is no longer a contemporary reality, is universally applicable because it demonstrates the human reaction to the stress and hostility of the environment.