2024-07-29 14:36:07
Comparison of the movie ‘And the Baton Was Passed’ and the original novel
“I have two mothers and three fathers.”
A woman in her 20s, Yuko (Mei Nagano), is about to get married and tells her boyfriend of the same age: In addition to her biological parents, she has a stepmother and two stepfathers. Having five parents. But there is no shadow on Yuko’s face. Her expression is bright, as if she has received a lot of love from her parents.
In fact, Yuko’s biological mother died in a car accident when Yuko was three. Yuko’s biological father remarried her stepmother, but they divorced when she was in the fourth grade of elementary school. Her biological father left for Brazil, and Yuko lived with her stepmother. Her stepmother later married two more times. This is why Yuko has many parents, unlike other people.
The Japanese film ‘And the Baton Was Passed’, which was released domestically on the 17th, is a work that depicts the growth of a woman raised by multiple parents.. The difficult topic of what a ‘normal family’ is is solved with a unique setting and warm emotions.It attracted 1.2 million viewers in Japan..
![Two Moms, Three Dads… The New Meaning of Family Discovered in ‘The Worst Family’[선넘는 콘텐츠]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/07/29/126186740.1.jpg "Two Moms, Three Dads… The New Meaning of Family Discovered in ‘The Worst Family’[선넘는 콘텐츠]")
● “Mr. ~” to Dad
In the Japanese Bookstore Award-winning novel of the same name published in Korea in 2019, tension flows between Yuko and her third father, Moriyama (Kei Tanaka). For example, Yuko says, “Mr. Morimiya.” Use the title ‘Mr. ~’. Making it clear that you are not the biological parent.
“I lived with my biological parents for a short time, and before I could even feel them being a nuisance, I started living with Rika, who was a stranger. The next people who became my parents were Izumigahara, Morimiya…”
Yuko also expressed her dissatisfaction, saying, “I don’t know if it’s because I’m not her biological daughter, or if that’s just how dads are, but I’ve never heard her nag me.”
“There is always a clean distance that is not present in my blood-mixed family. Is it fortunate or unfortunate that I have never felt like living alone?”
● ‘Tsundere’ → ‘Fool for his daughter’
In the novel, Morimiya is also described as a ‘tsundere’, warm-hearted but blunt on the outside. It focuses on depicting the cold feelings between a new father and his daughter who cannot easily become close.
On the other hand, the relationship between father and daughter in the movie is full of warmth. Moriyama is portrayed as a ‘daughter doting’ who takes detailed care of Yuko. He prepares breakfast and dinner for Yuko every day, and doesn’t even drink alcohol, saying, “If Yuko gets sick, I have to take her to the hospital.” Moriyama’s helpless frustration at Yuko’s decision to become independent after graduating from high school is no different from his own father’s.
The dialogue between Yuko jokingly saying, “Why don’t you remarry? Don’t act like your dad,” and Moriyama confidently declaring, “It’s my duty to get you married,” makes people laugh. ‘Abnormal Family’ has the added charm of conveying a heavy subject matter as lightly as if it were a comedy film.
● ‘Cry buttons’ placed everywhere to stimulate tear glands
The setting for the new mother, Rika (Satomi Ishihara), is also different. In the novel, Rika is sick and weak, but attends Yuko’s wedding and congratulates her. We witness the moment when Yuko’s parents, who supported her life, pass the ‘baton’ to Yuko’s husband, Hayase (Mizukami Koshi).
On the other hand, in the movie, when Yuko gets married, Rika has already passed away. She hid the fact that she had been sick for a long time from Yuko before she passed away. That is why, in the latter half of the movie, when Yuko enters the wedding hall, only Yuko’s fathers are by her side. The latter half of the film introduces a dramatic twist by revealing that Rika had participated in the high school graduation ceremony where Yuko played the piano. In this way, the film stimulates the audience’s tear ducts by placing ‘cry buttons’ here and there.
● Is ‘Abnormal Family’ Really Unhappy?
While watching the film, I wondered if something like this could happen in real life. People around Yuko have small prejudices against her, but Yuko doesn’t really care about it. Furthermore, I thought it was unrealistic that Yuko’s stepfather and stepmother gave her as much love as her real father and mother. So, some people might dismiss the film as “nonsense.”
However, fairy tale-like stories are possible in movies and novels.Hayase, who grew up under her parents, envies Yuko, saying, “She is better than her biological parents in that they are considerate of each other.” Yuko walks down the ‘virgin road’ while receiving congratulations from her three fathers who love her more than anyone else. It shatters the illusion of a normal family, like the Japanese film “A Certain Family” (2018) by Hirokazu Koreeda, which tells the story of families who are not related by blood.
So, after watching this fairy tale-like movie, won’t your perspective on the world change a little? Some ‘abnormal families’ are happier than ‘normal families’That is.
Have you ever turned on your smartphone and binge-watched the original webtoon after watching the drama ‘Moving’? Have you ever tried ‘virtual casting’ after hearing that the web novel ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ is being made into a movie? ‘Crossing Content’ deeply reviews original works such as novels, web novels, comics, and webtoons, as well as works that have been made into movies. It analyzes from various angles how the original text changed as it was reborn as an image, and what are the interesting points to appreciate.
Reporter Lee Ho-jae [email protected]
2024-07-29 14:36:07