As a symbol, the samurai reflects the Japanese Imperialism, which led the country into the Pacific War. That’s why many directors, ex-soldiers, decided to use samurai films to criticize Japan. Because the samurai was a highly respected symbol, the first thing to do was to bring it back to reality.
The samurai will lose his prestige. Men won’t be “samurais” but “ronins” — a degrading position. Meaning they’re almost good-for-nothings. For example, take this film title Three Outlaw Samurai where 2 different ideas are put together. How a samurai can be an outlaw?
What about the code of honour? The spiritual part of the samurai? What was virtue has become vice. Wisdom has been replaced by Power. Values such as honor, respect, loyalty have become the tools of a corrupted and hypocrite system. That’s what you can see in Harakiri, or in Inn of Evil where the only people with real humanity are the renegades of the society (the original title is “We give our life for nothing”).
And because the samurai is an historical icon, why not use historical times where values and institutions of the society are dying? History offers great set of ideas for stories: for example, the revolution (the end of the samurai) is the perfect background to destruct the myth of the samurai. At that time, the samurai was no longer samurai or ronin. He was a ruthless assassin, a killing machine.
What does it mean? By using just the symbolism of the samurai, it’s pretty easy to criticize society. The samurai is an example: you’ll find the same idea in Southland Tales where an ice cream seller is also a gun seller. Or, in Idiocracy where the best movie ever done is “ASS”. Symbols to criticize society.
To be continued…
{ 0 comments… add one now }