Coming of Age

Leaf 285 – Art Inspired

 

I recently watched the film ‘Empire of the Sun’ (1987), which is based on J.G. Ballard’s book of the same title. It’s a film I watched many times while I was growing up, but it was only when I was much older that I actually read the book. Later still, I even went to several of the locations in and around Shanghai that feature in the book, which is actually a semi-autobiographical novel. 

Norman Rockwell - Freedom from Fear (1943)

I find it fascinating to see all the subtle nuances which Steven Spielberg managed to weave into the movie. The symbolic mirroring and foreshadowing. It really is a masterpiece of motion picture film-making. It must be quite a challenge to make a very good film of a very good book. Often, they end up being two distinctly different things. But, in this instance, there’s a lot in the book which is very deftly hinted at in the film – even if it is not shown exactly as it is described on the printed page. The two poems posted below are a reflection upon that aspect of the book as it is very subtly suggested in the film; of things seen and unseen; of things felt and experienced, but forever unspoken.

 

 

COMING OF AGE [I.]

 

A potato in his pocket?

 

Under cover of darkness

a secret self –

making new discoveries.

(after J.G. Ballard’s ‘Empire of the Sun’)

***

 

COMING OF AGE [II.]

 

Death’s radiance rises in darkness:

 

Watching Mrs Victor’s

soul ascend –

into bright white light.

 

(after J.G. Ballard’s ‘Empire of the Sun’)

 

'Empire of the Sun' (1987) film stills: IMDb / Norman Rockwell painting: Wikipedia