EA190 Week 9 Outline 17s

Missing Assignments: You have until class next Wednesday to turn in missing assignments (Discussion questions, Presentation notes). Upload them to "Late Assignments" drop box.

Relationship of Sue and Kaede: they are not sisters. They are daughter-in-laws from two separate clans, both of whom were used as pawns by Hidetora to destroy their families. Their response is completely different.

Effect of change of gender not simply more historical and therefore easier to accept. Who takes on the characteristics of Goneril and Regan and Cordelia? Not simply Taro, Jiro and Saburo.

I. Historical Situation of Ran : The Warring States period, the same as in Throne of Blood, but after the introduction of the gun (arquebus) in 1543.

In Ran we see:

A. A society in which concepts such as "kill or be killed" and "the low overthrow the high" have set the moral framework that Hidetora has followed most of his life, and which he now hopes to end by relinquishing power to his sons.

(Compare the phrase "the low overthrow the high" to Rotus Fortunae Fortune's Wheel. Astrology )

B. A society in which primogeniture is used to consolidate power within the family, which leaves second and third sons out in the cold (similar to King Lear)

C. A society whose social chaos is considered symptomatic of the degenerate age of Buddhism (an age in which we must rely on the interventions of Buddhas and Bodhisattva’s to achieve enlightenment). Different characters in the film have different attitudes towards whether the Buddhas care what happen to us or not.

II. Assuming that Ran is an allegory of the contemporary situation in the 1980s, what might Kurosawa be saying?

1. Shakespeare is not questioning the system, the structure of government. He may have serious questions about the monarchy, but he does not make them obvious.

B. In the post-war period (Throne of Blood) Kurosawa was able to openly question samurai values, which were used ideologically to support Japan’s imperial expansion, and thus he saw those values as a direct cause of the devastation that Japan experienced in the war.

In the 1980s (Ran), Kurosawa has changed focus slightly and is now targeting the cold war and the possible threat of nuclear war.

1. That even supposedly "realistic," pragmatic reasons for murder and war will lead to chaos and suffering

2. The question of human nature -- whether human beings are simply violent by nature or whether we can change, how violence begets violence.

Kurosawa: "When I look at Japanese history what I see is how man repeats himself over and over again."

3. Can we escape the societal structure we are born into? Are there any good characters in Throne of Blood or Ran?

1. Is there such a thing as a "limited engagement" war? Can we control violence or will it control us? (Kurogane is the character who is pivotal to this question)

1) Typical Kabuki plot as well: retainers try to shape and guide a leader who is weak and easily susceptible to bad influences. When they fail, they have to follow his orders even when they know it is wrong, and die defending him.

b. Does the introduction of guns (the arquebus was introduced to Japan in 1543) change the level of violence?

4. Final image of Tsurumaru on the cliff: what does it mean?

1. All attempts by characters to explain or relieve their suffering through the invocation of transcendent forces are baffled.

c. Edgar's attempts to teach his father succeeds in the short term, but fails to the extent that his father dies when he finds out that it is his son who has done all this. And we as the audience KNOW that the "miracle" is faked -- it certainly doesn't convince us that the gods have interceded.

d. And in the end Cordelia, Lear, Gloucester (and it is implied) Kent die. So although the evil are punished, so are the good.

Kent: Is this the promised end?
Edgar: Or image of that Horror?
Albany: Fall and cease!

There is no supranatural or supernatural force that will intercede for human beings -- their suffering is caused by their own actions. Thus we find that although the bad guys are the skeptics, and the good guys have faith, it really seems like the skeptical side is proven right in the end.

Nevertheless, what the skeptics fail to understand is the healing force of compassion and pity. In some sense the mother who is missing in this play becomes the subtext of the healing force of compassion and pity.

I'd argue that to the extent Lear learns anything in this play, it is that when he was king, he lacked compassion.

See the scene outside Tom o' Bedlam's hut, where he realizes that he has taken too little care of the poor, that poverty and suffering are what lead to madness, and that justice belongs to those with power.

How is the treatment of the supernatural (Buddhas, foxes) dealt with Ran versus Throne of Blood?

Is there any sense of redemption or hope at the end of the movie? What might break the cycle of violence?

C. What are the basic positions about god and nature?

3. The gods care about us, but can do nothing to alleviate our
suffering. We cause it ourselves.

D. Hidetora is NOT a man more sinned against than sinning. How does this affect our understanding of his suffering at the hands of his sons? How does this affect his understanding of his relationship to the gods? .

1. Although Kurosawa points towards Ashura and Kaede as demon, unlike Throne of Blood lack of supernatural forces behind events

1. Like King Lear, the nihilism is reinforced by an ending that seems to go against a number of hints that this is going to be tragi-comedy. Raises our hopes and dashes them -- leaves us feeling even more bleak.

In a number of ways, Kurosawa works in a very similar way, particularly in the last half of the film. Kurosawa keeps using familiar plot conventions that signal to us that there is going to be a happy ending with the bad guys punished and the good guys reunited to live happily ever after.

a. Sue dies because Tsurumaru forgets his flute (which is an echo of the Noh play Atsumori).

b. Saburo is shot down by an assassin when Jiro has already lost the battle with Ayabe.

III. Forum Question: Does Hidetora learn anything from his suffering?

A. Review: When does Lear go mad/obsessive? When does he (at least temporarily) become capable of reason?

Pt that Lear is veering between compassion and desire for revenge, a rage which sends him into madness. He is kept mad by the venomous stings of his serpent daughters’ ingratitude, and also by the stings of his own conscience about his treatment of Cordelia, which makes him unwilling to go to her. [4.3.45]

These things sting his mind so venomously that burning shame detains him from Cordelia.
His "madness" is cured by drugged sleep and the balm of Cordelia's forgiveness and love.

"Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am bound upon a wheel of fire,
that mine own tears do scald like molten lead."

But it’s not clear whether Lear's hard-earned charity or the redemptive role of Cordelia, are not in the end reduced to “nothing” by madness and treachery.

Lear plans a happy secluded future life with Cordelia in prison (in the end she does leave her husband for him), but this is shattered by her death.

B. At what moments does Hidetora go mad? How is this different? When does regain his sanity?

1) Sue on the ramparts when she is praying to Amida. All is fated. Hidetora says we're living in an Ashura world.

2) Rash anger about the villagers -- cf. Lear's understanding that he has "taken too little care"

4) Being burnt out of his castle (as he has burnt out people before). A visualization of the ashura hell that he takes directly from 13th century scrolls of battle scenes, and scenes of people being tortured in hell.

Where Lear is calling down the gods to strike his daughters, Hidetora is seeing all the ghosts from his past.

Alluding to a scene from Funa Benkei. where enemy ghosts rise up out of the water to confront the warrior who killed them.

In the Noh play, the ghost of Tomomori rises up from the waves leads his fellow samurai ghosts in attacking the boat. Benkei, who is a warrior priest, uses prayers to vanquish them.

In Ran the situation is different: whereas Yoshitsune and Benkei claim to be virtuous victors, Hidetora recognizes that he has treacherously killed. So Kurosawa just uses the first line from Funa Benkei.

Here the tall grasses are the waves, and Hidetora is confronted by visions formed by his guilty conscience. Like Macbeth by Banquo's ghost, but here clearly marked as madness, not the supernatural. Using Noh to reinforce the idea of the Ashura warriors trapped in hell, but again makes it a force in this world. It is the stings of his conscience, not the vengeance of the gods.

As in Throne of Blood Kurosawa is using contemporaneous theater traditions to locate the film in a particular (medieval) moment, and having Kyoami be dressed like a kyogen actor and do kyogen performance bits allows Kurosawa to insert elements of Noh and Kyogen theater into the film.

c. on the plain when Hidetora sees spirits of those he's killed -- similar to a Noh play, particularly Funa Benkei or Yashima.

d. Story of the Tama-no-mae fox. The story is itself an allegory for how women who try to rule from behind the throne are always negative influences.

1. A society in which concepts such as "kill or be killed" and "the low overthrow the high" have set the moral framework that Hidetora has followed most of his life, and which he now hopes to end by relinquishing power to his sons. (Compare the phrase "the low overthrow the high" to Rotus Fortunae Fortune's Wheel.)

2. A society in which primogeniture is used to consolidate power within the family, which leaves second and third sons out in the cold (similar to King Lear)

3. A society whose social chaos is considered symptomatic of the degenerate age of Buddhism (an age in which we must rely on the interventions of Buddhas and Bodhisattva’s to achieve enlightenment)

G. Assuming that Ran is an allegory of the contemporary situation in the 1980s, what might Kurosawa be saying?

1. Shakespeare is not questioning the system, the structure of government. He may have serious questions about the monarchy, but he does not make them obvious.

2. Kurosawa seems to be making the point in Throne of Blood and Ran that the system itself is flawed, and that any individual who is placed into the samurai system will be unable to escape from its structural violence.

So what are Kurosawa's main themes?

1. The cycle of violence: Who is in control? Is a "limited engagement" war possible?

Kurosawa: "When I look at Japanese history what I see is how man repeats himself over and over again."

How is this vision of violence the same or different from Throne of Blood? Does the introduction of guns (the arquebus was introduced to Japan in 1543) change the level of violence?

2. Faith versus skepticism

Who believes? Who doesn't believe? Does this line up with good versus evil?

How is the treatment of the supernatural (Buddhas, foxes) dealt with Ran versus Throne of Blood?

Is there any sense of redemption or hope at the end of the movie? What might break the cycle of violence?

Forum Question:

Does Hidetora learn anything from his suffering?

Review: When does Lear go mad/obsessive? When does he (at least temporarily) become capable of reason?

At what moments does Hidetora go mad? How is this different? When does regain his sanity?

Video: 2:06

How does his suffering and "journey of discovery" compare to Lear's?

"From Drunken Angel onward I have used light music for some key sad scenes, and my way of using music has differed from the norm--I don't put it in where most people do. Working with Hayasaka I began to think in terms of the counterpoint of sound and image as opposed to the union of sound and image."

Ran vs. Throne of Blood
In Ran doesn't use color realistically at all. So what does Kurosawa do? Uses deeply saturated color, that becomes symbolic rather than realistic.

Kurosawa said he based his use of color on images from medieval scrolls depicting famous battles, such as the destruction of Sanjo castle (see also Kurosawa's extremely colorful storyboards, accompanying the English translation: part 1, part 2).

How do the colors indicate the shift of dominance in movie from Hidetora at the beginning to Ayabe at the end? How does color-coding characters affect our perception of them as people?