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Analysis Of The Movie ' Empire Of The Sun '

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The 1987 movie, Empire of the Sun, follows a young English boy by the name of Jaime “Jim” Graham that gets entangled in a war. He lives in Shanghai with his parents, up until they are torn apart once Japan invades. His father’s decision to stay in the country ends up splitting the family apart when they go to leave at the last minute. His journey hardens him and causes him to lose the childhood innocence he should have kept for a few more years. Throughout the film, events occur that change his life irrevocably. Similarly to Jim, the British Empire changes in ways that cannot be undone, even after the war is over.
Up until this point in time, Britain had many different territories all over the world making it the overall world power for around two hundred years. “During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Britain had dominion over so many portions of the Earth it was said, famously, that ‘the sun never set on the British Empire.’ Since the end of World War II, however, that sun has been steadily dipping toward the horizon”(Halloran). Eventually, the Empire just became too big and spread too far thin. When Japan invaded Shanghai there was not much military power there because of how many territories needed to be covered in wake of the start of the war. The English knew that the Japanese were there in the wait and seemed to not think that anything serious was going to happen. For example, in the movie, Jim is flying a toy plane around a field while his parents are at

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