Japn 340 Japanese Cinema: Final Paper Ideas

1. Following the Kurosawa Thread Option

Two of Kurosawa's greatest films just might be Rashomon and Ikiru, though some woupld place Seven Samurai right there, maybe at the top of the list. I think you could write a wonderful essay on one ore more of these three films. They all seem to employ innovative narrative styles and dynamic camera work, lije the Woodcutter striding throught forest in Rashomon, or the way that Ikiru "ends" in the middle and we put the remainder of the narraitive together in a nonlinear fashion. What do you think? Rashomon seems to evolve from a crime narrative to a comment on humanity. The final scene under the dilapidated gate, in the torrential rain, does Kurosawa deliver some hope? What about Ikiru? How does Watanabe-san transform and what can we learn from him? Do we think that we--or his colleagues--will learn from him?

There is also something particularly attractive about Seven Samurai and the jidaigeki genre. We might recall that Kurosawa has written that while he was never invested in the formal conventions of the jidaigeki films, he longed "to construct a a grand action film without sacrificing the portrayal of humans." Yoshimoto, p. 240) Likewise, Prince argues that "For Kurosawa's ethical project to persist, the past must disclose possibilities of freedom and humane action not immediately accessible to the present (203)....Seven Samurai is a film about the modern wor[ld], an attempt, by moving farther back into history, to uncover the dialectic between class and the individual, an effort to confront the social construction of self and see whether this annihilates the basis for individual heroism (206)." In the end, the film seems to say that people (social classes) need to cooperate and function as one even though their interests may at times differ, if they want to accomplish something. Don't blindly follow leaders, but if there are good leaders like Kambei and the others, it may be the only sensible course of action in times of crisis. Heihachiro's flag may symbolize a new form of unity that transcends social classes, if only for the moment. How does that message resonate with postwar audiences in Japan? How about elsewhere?

In the years these films were made, 1950-54, there was that feeling that Japan needed a different kind of subjectivity than what was experienced in the 1930s and during wartime, and Kurosawa was trying to explore that in some of his early films in order to help Japanese people construct some new values and a dynamic sense of self that were suited to a modern, democratic era. Is this a good way to view Seven Samurai? What makes Kambei such a good person and good leader? What makes the film, Seven Samurai, so powerful and compelling?

Could it be, as Audie Bock suggests, that each individual (samurai) has to decide for himself whether "the little bit of good they can do, so that ordinary people can live in peace and with a modicum of comfort, is worth doing to the utmost, even to the point of death. . ?" Is this notion of self-sacrifice for the greater welfare a traditional Japanese virture? Or is it perfectly compatible with the modern? Is it what heroes everywhere do? Where would you place yourself in this discussion?

2. Focusing on After Life and Departures

Taking a look at these final two films by younger filmmakers, what sort of perspective do you think they offer? How does their visual style compare with other films that we have watched? Memories seem to be a concern of both films. But also, After Life is clearly about the filmaking process itself, "about the choices and dilemmas that face filmmakers, who must sift through the human experience to choose which images contain the power to inspire and endure." (Tina Gianoulis) It is all well and good that characters need to select the memory that matters most to them....but not all comply. Some can't, others won't, and in some cases, boundaries get crossed as people transgress and watch videotapes of other peoples' lives, and one "client" even slips a letter to one of the staff members in a way that unexpectedly connects two disparate narratives.

And Departures is at least in part about the power of gesture and ritual, properly performed, to allow a practioner to achieve a higher state of consciousness much as the old tea masters did. In order to perform ritual properly, one must be focused, centered and completely self-aware. Music might have done that for Daigo but then that ship sailed. So he had to discover another avenue, another space to inhabit, a place in which he could learn and grow. To learn, to grow, to become better human beings--is there anything else to which we should aspire? To learn to perform our job well, to learn how to improve ourselves as we do so, to become selfless, or "unattached" in the Daoist/Buddhist sense, isn't this a wonderful gift? Life isn't always easy but you do what you must do and you do it to your utmost ability.** Does this kind of recognition also occur with some of the characters in either Rashomon, Ikiru or Seven Samurai? Can you formulate a discussion of these films around some ideas like these?

**This echoes a line from singer-songwriter, now Nobel Laureate, Bob Dylan who writes:

Life is sad, Life is a bust.

All you can do, is do what you must.

You do what you must do, and you do it well.

I do it for you, honey baby can't you tell?

Buckets of Rain (1975)