Bashō

https://youtu.be/zXvzgR3A9_I

Considering the video attached, the juxtaposition of images with the poems of Bashō serve several functions. Similar to the straightforward and simple language, the images are flat and linear. There is color and detail, but in a traditional style. Additionally, the images are of everyday life, mirroring the pattern of activities in the work. In some cases, the images relate directly to the words, including a woman touching her hair and workers in a rice field. Then the words become more abstract, describing “the air of a century past.” Images have a nostalgic simplicity, especially from a modern perspective, highlighting the simplistic beauty of life. There is a sense of industry, in ships and fields, mirroring the sentiment that the cicadas are unaware they will soon die. Similarly, humans work through the seasons, planning and reaping, working through daily life only to die. In contrast with the vitality of spring and summer, the mood shifts when “on a darkening sea/ the voices of wild ducks/ are faint and white.” Subsequent images indicate transition into later seasons, reinforced by the admission that “cherry blossom viewing/ has ended.” There is gradually less color, mimicking the fall and winter seasons. Blue abounds, suggesting the elegiac tone.  Early in the video, there is an image of an elderly man; at the end, a winding trail leading into the horizon. Both suggest the perspective of the speaker and segue into the next stage of life. As with the cycle of nature, life has an ebb and flow which leads to death.