MIMA KIRIGOE: I don't know anything about myself anymore.
ERI OCHIAI: Well... How do you think you know that person you were a second ago is the same person you are now? A continuous stream of memories. Given only that, we all create illusions within ourselves, saying that we each have only one fixed persona.
Hello everyone! After a busy week (I really should get used to those!), this time I'm back with an anime for the first time in this blog! Even though it's a different concept, I loved everything about Perfect Blue, it was a film that seems relevant even today. Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post!
Perfect Blue is the directorial debut of the talented animator Satoshi Kon. Kon is known for successfully depicting the blurry lines between imagination and reality in his films, which is also one of my favourite themes ever established in cinema. After watching Perfect Blue, I immediately added Kon's other films to my list, so be sure to see more from him on my blog in the future!
The film tells the story of a pop idol, Mima, who gives up her career to become an actress and slowly losing her sense of identity throughout the process. She also gets disturbed by an obsessive fan which adds more stress and anxiety to her already unstable mental health. Even though the film was released almost 25 years ago, Mima's struggles with creating an idol and not living up to its expectations reminds the similar issues that some celebrities are going through nowadays. It questions the audience whether we put too much pressure on our favourite artists when their behaviour contradicts the image of that person we created in our minds. Let's talk more about this topic through the character Mima.
Mima is the main character of our film so we mostly experience the story through her eyes. After deciding to take a different career path, her fans get enraged with the decision and she finds herself targeted with labels such as being a "phony" and a "dirty girl". On top of that, Mima often gets haunted by her artificial pop star persona, who often blames her for being fake and ruining her identity.
As we see Mima getting ever so lost in these distressing thoughts, it makes the viewer question how "real" an icon should appear to the public eye. Should they act like a regular person or should they create an illusion of a perfect human being? For Mima's fans, the answer is obvious: the latter. As a result of creating this illusion and not being able to live up to it, she gets bombarded with negative comments and insults, which eventually leads her to get confused with her sense of identity.
Coming to the character Me-Mania, I must admit that I found him pretty unsettling. Me-Mania is an obsessive fan of Mima who doesn't just idealize her but wants to possess her. With his constant stalking and filling his room with Mima's pictures, we can see how far a person can go in terms of desiring someone. Unfortunately, fans like Me-Mania don't only appear in fiction, in real life there are examples of that kind of fans. One of them even took it as far as attempting to kill his idol and himself at the same time with the hope of uniting with them in heaven.
Me-Mania also serves as a symbol of Mima's inner thoughts about not being good enough in her new career as an actress. When the final sequence of the film comes (again, I won't spoil it), she manages to get rid of that obstacle which holds her back from becoming a confident young woman.
Reaching the end of this post, I'm giving this movie a good 9 out of 10. I'm definitely thinking of returning to this film one day, hopefully grasping the plot a bit more this time :). Before finishing the post, I highly recommend this article that explains the movie to a point where you feel a physical relief, and also this amazing video essay that presents interesting ideas about the film.
Thank you for reading this far and please don't forget to check out my Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr, all with the same nickname moviesatdawn. You can also comment your thoughts down below or send me your suggestions to: moviesatdawn@gmail.com. Thanks for being here and I'll see you right here next week!
ERI: It's all right. There is no way illusions can come to life.
Next post: Brief Encounter (1945) dir. David Lean
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