Your Name & The fear of being forgotten
Your Name is by far my favorite movie. When I first saw it, it was midnight. I was bored out of my mind, but didn't feel like sleeping. Back then, I was still really into Osu! and the last map i played just so happened to be the opening of an anime that I really liked the sound of.
I decided, on a complete whim, "Sure, fuck it, I'll watch that".
So anyways, this story ends with bawling my eyes out at two in the morning.
The movie hit me like a goddamn freight train. Up until then, I had never cried to any piece of media. But, fuck, it made me feel things.
I still remember talking to my now boyfriend about the movie, and having to explain that the movie was literally called "Your Name", and that it wasn't a movie named after him.
We ended up watching the movie together over vc a few years later, and he also ended up crying xd.
I think part of why the movie still hits so hard for me emotionally is that it reflects some of my fears.
Because, to me, your name is about long-distance relationships. Or at least that's what I project onto the characters. I've been together with Iza for about three years now, and we've never met in person. We live several thousands kilometres apart from each other, on entirely different continents. The only way we can communicate is digitally. And, I think the movie partially represents the fear I have about the impermanence of that. Because, what if some day, one of us just stops responding? The uncertainty that comes with digital communication does somewhat scare me. Because, If I die, how the hell would any of my friends know? I'd just disappear at some point. That lack of closure is just... horrible, I think. There's this person out there that you deeply care about, and suddenly they're just gone? Maybe they died, maybe they just don't care about you anymore, maybe they're busy - No way to tell for sure. That hope that they might still be out there seems worse than just knowing for sure.
But, I think, to me Your Name is also about all the awesome things that can come from that. You get a whole different appreciation for people you started out meeting online, I think. Because it's so easy to just unapollogetically be yourself on here. I've published blogposts about things here that I would not ever tell anyone about in real life.
And that anticipation of finally meeting someone after having known them for years - There's something special about that, I think.
Anyways, you should watch your name. Actually, If you've clicked on a blogpost about Your Name, you've probably already watched it. Oh well, go and watch it again.