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Animated Short of What Happens Before War? Anti-War Picture Book Streamed
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Filmmaker and artist group NOddIN released an animated short based on Ribbon Project's Sensō no Tsukurikata (What Happens Before War?) picture book last Wednesday. The video is English-subtitled.
Peace activist group Ribbon Project produced the original picture book in 2004. The book describes the societal and policy changes that happen in a country when a country is gearing up for war, such as the inculcation of nationalist sentiments among citizens through authority figures, the erosion of civil liberties, and defining what a "good citizen" is. The book also describes how policy, executive, and military decisions become centralized to fewer, more powerful individuals.
NOddIN was founded after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and began production on the book's animated adaptation over a year ago with the collaboration of Japanese animators.
The Japanese government recently approved reinterpretations of Article 9 of Japan's post-war constitution, which renounces the country's right to declare and wage war as a method for resolving international disputes. Last September, the Japanese Diet enacted 11 security bills and amendments that allow the Self-Defense Force (Japan's nominally defense-oriented armed forces) to provide material support to allies that are at war or are otherwise participating in combat actions on foreign soil.
