Thinking about Mirai
–Who is included in the family? How are they integrated into the film? What role they do play to Kun,
our main protagonist?
–How does Kun and his ‘nuclear’ family (mother/father/baby sister/dog) relate to their extended family?
–What does the symbol of the ‘family tree’ say about the construction of family?
Thinking about Tokyo Godfathers
–What are the types of family we see (biological/chosen/idealized/etc.) and how are they portrayed?
–What does “family” mean for each of the three main characters?
What are the conflicting definitions of family? Do the characters’ definitions change over the
course of the movie?
–What can challenge or break a family? (What does that tell us about how families are constructed?)
Thinking about either
–Do we see representations of the modern changes in the Japanese family?
What (if anything) do you notice about familial patriarchy (remnants of the ie system),
a father’s impotence/powerlessness, or an absent mother?
