Japanese Director Akiro Kurosawa Movie Review Assignment

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Japanese Director Akiro Kurosawa
Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa most notable films were directed from the 1950’s focusing on the Japanese feudal and modern societies while also addressing contemporary themes and traditions like Samurai etiquette in such films as “The seven samurai”, “The bad sleep well” and “ Ran”. However, Kurosawa also went beyond the conventions he integrated Japanese themes and traditions in Western style and cinematic narratives, but also connected with the global audiences. The popularity of many of his work is partly because he combined Orientalism and western cinematic styles (Cinecollage). Since Kurosawa made postwar films he addressed the challenge of maintaining traditional family roles and forging new identities at a time when Japanese society underwent changes.
Kurosawa highlighted that his father was from a military background and this influenced how he depicted male protagonists in his stories, who were trying to create an identity in postwar Japan. The male characters are celebrated when they show masculine battles, but at a time when the world around them was changing there were attempts to maintain the traditional family structure, which created role conflicts as the modern world is different. In the film Ran, an adaptation of king Lear, Kurosawa explores the construction of male identity where the ancient Samurai and masculine code are inverted as it is through the female characters that the samurai system is restructured (Howlett 360).
Japan’s mythic past as depicted in Kurosawa’s films during the Samurai period allow him to frame his tales based on mythic history (Howlett 362). Additionally, when contrasted with the modern times the changing role of men and women in the society is apparent where men struggle to maintain their dominance and face challenges to maintain their traditional roles like taking care of their families. the male characters are powerful when they pursue and conquer their rivals in Samurai films, and the message is that men were considered powerful and needed to take charge of their families and communities including restoring and maintaining the family honor.
In Run, Hidetora Ichimonji the aging warrior sought to divide his kingdom to Taro, Jiro, and Saburo, his three sons based on seniority, but Saburo was unhappy with the arrangement as he felt that the power was acquired through violence. After Jiro arranged for the murder of his elder brother Taro, he expected that to pass his dominion over Kaede, his brother’s wife who goes against cultural conventions and confronts Jiro (Howlett 363). The position of men in the Japanese society was that of leaders, with the first son being the most powerful, but the film shows that Saburo disagreed with his father and Kurosawa addressed the challenges of maintaining traditional family roles for both male and female members. When connected with the modern times, men struggle with loyalty to families and seeking independence where they are expected to take care of their families, yet many work away from home.
As Kurosawa draws inspiration from Japanese mythic tradition a...