The movie Perfect Blue is one of those movies that mess with your head. The main character is a young girl named Mima, a young pop star turned actress. Little did she know that changing careers would challenge who she was. Poor little Mima went from a cute innocent pop idol to a bucket full of crazy.
Mima’s main audience, as a singer and actress, was predominantly men. Throughout the movie Mima is repeatedly objectified by men. The director of the movie had Mima do a rape scene. In her heart she knew that she didn’t want to do the scene but she felt that she had to do it or risk letting everyone down. Another man that took advantage of Mima was the photographer. He took nude pictures of Mima and showed something that Japanese people find unacceptable. She was exploited for the enjoyment of men. But it all works out in the end. Every man that used Mima for her sex appeal ended up dead.
Another thing that helped de-rail Mima was the fact that she was put in the spot light. We “normal people” put celebrities high on a pedestal. They are put high above everyone else. We follow them on line and read about then in magazines. It’s kind of sad to think that celebrities don’t really have a personal life. Every time they say or do something the whole world knows about it. If you take that all into account you can understand why Mima goes crazy.
Mima slowly loses her personal identity. Someone puts up a blog called Mima’s Room; we later find out that her stalker is the one who created the site. The person knows her extremely well. They went into detail about which foot went first when she got off the subway. Later she realizes that if the site said she did it then it must be true. For example the site said one day she went shopping. Her response was, “I guess I went shopping today.” For Mima, and the audience, it is hard to tell the difference between the movie and reality. If Mima doesn’t know which one is real, then she doesn’t know who she is. I think the big sign of Mima’s loss of identity is when her fish died. When Mima got home and saw her fish dead she tore the room apart. The fish represented Mima and their death represented the fact that she had given in to everything around her. After she stops crying she noticed that there are two fish still alive. To me that means that there is still hope for Mima, she will overcome all the difficulties.
Interesting that you pointed out the death of the fish. In ancient Greco-Roman mythology fish symbolize transformation, and that is obviously what Mima undergoes. It’s as if the fish were a catalyst to her mental breakdown. In the end the tables get turned on Rumi, so one must wonder if they were both crazy? Was Mima just getting brainwashed by Rumi and is actually of sound mental health? No doubt that the life she had been leading would make anyone crazy. I’m not sure what the two fish would symbolize, but I can relate back to the dual-fish symbol of Pisces. I don’t think the Japanese follow western astrology, but Piscean downfalls are mentall illness, co-dependence and insecurity, and an unstable sense of self, which is comparable to Mima. Perhaps Mima allowed all these men to take over her life because she subconsciously needed their attention to give her a sense of self worth?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement that Mima ended up doing things that didn’t exactly feel right to her and that she was exploited by men in many instances. Her celebrity status was also her undoing because it took away the privacy and safety that she probably needed. Her fans also created another set of standards that she probably felt she needed to live up to. It’s not just that, though. She’s also having a crisis over what is real and who she is. The website adds even more confusion to that, and throughout the movie multiple possible identities are created. I also agree with you when you said that “if Mima doesn’t know which one is real, then she doesn’t know who she is”. This comes to haunt her throughout the whole film. However, I think it’s true that there’s still hope that Mima can find stability in her life eventually.
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