Regionalism and prejudice in Snow Falling on Cedars

Regionalism

This report analyzes regionalism in several contexts as they pertain to the movie Snow Falling on Cedars. The movie is pervasively filled with considerations relating to regionalism, outsiders vs. insiders, how insiders and outsiders mesh and the very dicey results that can ensue, how all of this plays off of national and international situations and conflicts and so forth. This movie establishes that many unique and different things can influence who interacts with who, how and why and the things that impact all of this are not just limited to race and nationality.

Movie Setting & Synopsis

The year and country this film is set in has a ton to do with why people feel the way they do and why there is such a bred animosity towards Kabuo, to the point that his guilt is almost assumed and someone very important in the movie actually withholds information that would exonerate him. The war is set roughly one and a half decades after Pearl Harbor in the Washington state area. This becomes extremely relevant because a white fisherman ends up drowning to death under very unclear and very mysterious circumstances and the main suspect has a seemingly obvious motive to kill the dead man.

But before getting into the minutia of the trial and how it all ends up, how the movie sets the tone and the mood. The colors are very stark and very pale. The look and feel of the early fishing scenes set the tone, showing a very pale environment that is borderline depressing just at the sight. The paleness of Hatsue's skin when Ethan Hawke's character Ishmael tries to talk to her and her cold demeanor to match just drive that point home further, although it becomes quite clear as the movie goes on why she was so cold to him.

Something else that is established quite early is that the white fishermen in the area are very anti-Japanese. They are clearly bigoted against people like Kabuo just because of his race. The collection of men talking with the sheriff make it quite clear early on that they assume that Kabuo is guilty. It is so blunt that an actual racial slur is uttered in clear earshot of everyone. It is clear that the fishermen are very close-knit and very likeminded. The people native and perceived to be home residents of the town are obviously have a bond that is very strong, even if that bond is built on a lot of negative feelings and behaviors. However, the bond of these white fishermen is not just limited to Japanese and other racial minorities but also pertains to any other perceived threats to their camaraderie as well. The reporter Ishmael approaching the group as they talk with the sheriff makes them noticeably react in a very negative way. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that Ishmael was previously in a relationship with the aforementioned Katuse but that is not made clear at the time.

There is also a collection of Japanese-Americans and other immigrants in the area and they coalesce around each other as well. There is very much a dichotomous relationship in the area as the Caucasians of the area stick together while the Japanese form their own group. However, as will be made clear throughout this work, these two groups intersect and interact in ways that are not expected to be the case even with the very tenuous and sometimes vitriolic nature of the relationship.

That being said, most of the arcs and tangents in this film and how they play together center on Japanese/American tensions post World War II. Kabuo's family had previously entered an agreement to purchase land from the father of the dead fisherman but the untimely death of Carl Heine Sr. lead to his widow reneging on the agreement even though all but two payments were made and the only reason the payments stopped was because the family was sent to an internment camp. Even with that, the person who ended up getting the land instead eventually had a stroke and decided to sell but Carl Jr. had beaten him to it. Even so, Carl Jr. tentatively agreed to sell him the parcel that was originally promised to Kabuo's father but was undecided mostly because of his own prejudice against the Japanese. The voyage he took to sea while considering this is when he died and even though a wake of a freighter knocking him off the boat is what caused him to drown, a blood-soaked piece of wood seemed to implicate Kabuo, with the motive being related to the land sale.

Ishmael eventually finds proof that Kabuo is innocent but holds out revealing this until the last minute because he was previously jilted with very little explanation by Hatsue, who is now Kabuo's wife. However, while the trial is deadlocked with one juror saving Kabuo, Ishmael eventually reveals what he knows and Kabuo is freed.

Regionalism in "Snow Falls"

There are several major dynamics that are in play in this movie. First, as noted earlier, the fisherman of the fishing city are very close-knit, they hate the Japanese with a passion (although it is not always overt) and they are very slow to turn on or otherwise offend their own but they react very viscerally to anyone that comes off as a threat, such as Ishmael. Another consideration is that the land that Kabuo was trying to procure was already basically bought and paid for before Carl Sr.'s family allowed their racism to color their actions and feelings. Not all of the negative events for Kabuo's family was Carl's family's fault (the internment camp thing was a national initiative) but they still could have honored the deal after everything blew over.

Ishmael's prior relationship with Hatsue is also a huge part of this movie. The relationship ended acrimoniously with little explanation offered to Ishmael and was presumably related to the fact that Ishmael was white and Hatsue was Japanese. There is also probably a gender-related dimension to that given that it is extremely likely that Hatsue's family, probably her father or another male, is who demanded the relationship end. Kabuo has his own demons. Even though he knows he did not kill Carl Jr., regardless of what his city-mates think, he feels guilty for killing Japanese troops during the war while fighting for the Americans. Despite the fact (or perhaps because of it) that the Americans seemingly turned his back against his service when his family was interned, he still feels guilty over killing the people of his ancestral homeland.

Analysis

Based on the reviews of the articles above and the movie, the whole question and concept of regionalism should be brought into question (Jonas). Regionalism can obviously be a very positive thing but it can also be very, very negative and the Cedars film drives this home in so many ways. There are several story arcs and events in the movie that pose very deep and striking questions. Some may ask why Kabuo was regretful for fighting for his country (United States) while others may say he is a traitor for killing the people of his family's homeland. Some may feel that the fisherman, even if they were wrong, were right to assume that it was likely that Kabuo was guilty while others would say that nothing should be assumed without proof. Others still would point to the fact that Kabuo's family was clearly screwed out of the land they were entitled to and were paying for while others would say that Carl Jr. wanting to charge Kabuo anything for the land is itself a sham and that allowing racism to enter his mind was wrong.

Then there was the revelation to be had by Ishmael, when he figured out that Kabuo was innocent. It blows the mind of the author of this paper that Ishmael would even think twice about exonerating Kabuo even if he was extremely flummoxed by how his relationship with Hatsue ended. The fact he would even think twice proves he is a very bitter ex-lover and/or it may prove that the acrimonious ending to his relationship with Hatsue has made him bitter towards Japanese in general. At the very least, he seems to be bitter towards Kabuo for winning her heart after the relationship because Ishmael's attempt to talk to her early in the movie does not seem to indicate he outright hated her.

In any event, it is clear that the fallout from World War II had very far-reaching effects. Anti-Japanese sentiment was sky-high, even towards people that immigrated to America before or after the war and even towards people that fought alongside Americans. This shows how deep racism and prejudices can go, even to the point that people assume that a Japanese man is guilty of murder if for no other reason than he is Japanese and had a personal motive to do the deed. That being said, one could make a case for a motive in the case of Kabuo even if race was not a factor but it was blisteringly obvious that it was a huge factor and it greatly aggravated the situation.

Gender is also clearly an issue that can be discussed and explored as it relates to Cedars as it was mostly certainly an issue on many levels between Hastue, Ishmael and Kabuo. Beyond the aforementioned implications with Ishmael, the fact that Hatsue was a woman seeing a white man was no doubt very hard on her and is also no doubt why she broke it off.

One big dynamic discussed earlier is insiders and outsiders. Kabuo clearly represented himself as an outsider. He also considered himself a guilty man, although not for what he was accused of. Even so, his resolution silence could be viewed as respect for the court by some and cold-blooded lack of regret by someone else. The fact that he showed no remorse and did not offer a confession was no doubt viewed as an insult to the white people in the court and the jury and confirmed the guilt of Kabuo to everyone except that lone juror that hung out from the rest of the group. Were it not for Ishmael finding his conscience, vouching for an outsider, and offering the proof of his innocence to his lost lover, Kabuo would have been convicted or otherwise ostracized sooner or later.

Even with the entrenched and viscerally loyal groups, there was a lot of line crossing. Carl Sr. agreed to sell the land to Kabuo's father while Carl Jr. was considering doing the same for Kabuo himself. Ishmael carried on a relationship for some time with Hatsue even with the extremely large implications in doing that. Despite being persona non grata with the fishermen, Kabuo and his Japanese counterparts still insisted on trying to make a living in an environment and an area where anti-Japanese sentiment was all over the place, and in a country that his ancestral homeland had fought just 15 years before. Kabuo himself had fought for the Americans despite the anti-Japanese animosity and against people he would normally never harm and he forever felt guilt for doing so even before he was on trial for murder.

Another major theme of the movie is that while the court proceedings put in a charade of impartiality and justice, Hatsue and Kabuo know the fix is in. Despite all the pomp, circumstance and formality to the proceedings, it is quite clear that most everyone in the room including the judge and most of the jury already has their minds made up because Kabuo is a Japanese man who killed a white man for which he had a motive to hurt.

Something else that is quite clear as the film goes on is that the World War II actions between the Japanese and the Americans did not start the fire between them but it certainly poured a ton of gasoline on it. The anti-Japanese sentiments were already running wild in the American sphere in areas like San Pedro and people were just seeking a reason to explain or justify it. This was made clear with Carl Sr.'s family reneging on the agreement even before the war and it also played into Carl Jr. actually not considering making things right when he had the chance later on. Despite all that, Kabuo did the right thing but the tragedy happened later on despite that good fortune he had when his boat lost power.

Conclusion

It is clear that none of the good aspects or regionalism and peer groups is displayed in this movie. This movie showed all the bad aspects of regionalism and cliquish behavior and the havoc it can wreak on people that have done nothing wrong. While the movie does not condemn regionalism across the board, it certainly does show what it can do when based on race and jealously and how cultural differences can muddy the waters. It is a moral tale that shows that even if you think you are justified in your bigotry due to a war or something else that supposedly makes it OK, it is never that simple and broad-based assumptions about what other groups think about "your kind" are rarely correct. It is happening all over again in the modern time with the tenuous relations between Muslims and most American in light of 9/11 and other events related to those attacks. People that are Muslim or are perceived to be Muslims are being treated very poorly even when they have done nothing wrong. The international lines involved are just as unclear as it was in this situation with Kabuo. Due to some people who were American citizens but yet were Muslim and were attacking the United States, anyone with a similar background was treated with derision and suspicion even with no hard evidence to back it up. This was similar to Kabuo being a Japanese man who fought against his own ancestral homeland but was still treated like dirt and as a guilty man even though his guilt was by no means provable beyond a reasonable doubt. In the end, jusitice is justice and morality is morality and bigotry should never be allowed to pervert or cloud justice or be allowed to justify immorality.