Empire of the Sun ( Grade this-In place of Theme Essay)

Empire of the Sun


The movie Empire of the Sun was a very good movie. It had a lot of great conflict in it and it really showed how family was a very big deal in the movie. This movie is a movie to watch when you are teaching kids on how to pick out family values. This movie took place back in the 1940’s during the war with Japan and China. This boy named James and his family lived in China but they were British and the Japanese can in and made them leave the country. During the movie Family becomes a very big thing to James.

Before the war started James was a very normal boy. He had a mother and a father. He was British living in China as royalty. His parents were very rich, loving, and caring. He was a part of the Chinese family because he had Chinese maids and surfers. They also taught him how to speak their language. He had a very unique relationship with his mother. They acted all suddy like rich people acted back in the 1940’s and still to this day. Sometimes they mistreated the maids, which he calls family.

During the war Jamie was very confused, because he didn’t really know what he wanted to be. During the war all of the people in China was sent to concentration camps. While being in the camps he became friends with many different groups of people. He was friends with the Japanese, Americans, and the British. Jim was friends with the British but he really didn’t like them even though they shared the same blood. Jim loved the Japanese because he wanted to be just like them. He wanted to fly their cool airplanes. Due to the fact that Jim knew so many different languages he was able to communicate with different groups of people. Jim also wanted to be an American. He wanted to be an American because they were more laided back, adventurous, fun, and cool to be around unlike the British. He said, “That the British people on the other hand was stuffy, old school, and very traditional.”

After the war James was finally reunited with his parents after being split in the beginning of the war. When he finally saw his parents after 3 to 4 years he didn’t recognize them. After the war James was a smarter person. By him going through so much pain being in the camps he gained knowledge. He finally realized that there are all types of people in the world. There are evil people, good/nice people; people that will play you, and people that can’t be trusted. He realized that everyone can’t be family. I think that by him experiencing this war it made him better person. It made him finally figure out who he was. At the end of the movie he threw away all of his memories, dreams, and realized that this war was reality and not fiction.

This movie really showed how that anyone you’re around for a long period of time can start to become your family. This movie really shows how just the little things in life can make people stick together and help each other to survive. Throughout this movie I realized that all of my friends and teachers are a little family to me. This movie showed me how important it is to have a family and how hurtful and lonely it can be without a family.