Yojimbo: Ideology and Interpretation
Yojimbo was directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1961. It is the story of a
nineteenth century Japanese village that is controlled by two opposing
merchants and their clans. The visit of a wandering samurai, who seeks work
as a hired killer, interrupts their arguing over a gambling concession. The
samurai, Sanjuro, is able to exploit both gangs using his skill with a sword.
The story is an Eastern take on the Hollywood western with a dash of satire,
with “The bodyguard who kills the bodies he is hired to guard.”1 The film
incorporates a humanist take on capitalism and its adverse outcome on
society.
The main message of the film is the destructive nature of capitalism on
society. This message is reasonably obvious given the nature of the story and
its outcome. The opposing gangs are in markets for sake and silk, and their
desire to dominate the market economically is what motivates them to kill. In
Yojimbo, it is money that creates greed, and greed that necessitates murder.
The film brings attention to the intentions of Western economy and attempts to
prove the negativity and insatiability of these objectives. The earliest example
of this in the film is when the bodyguard witnesses a son running away from
his family to pursue a life of gambling. The fact that the son prefers a short,
exciting life to a long, productive existence serves as a stepping-stone for the
overall apathy of many of the story’s main characters. The choice of selfindulgence
over self-fulfillment is an illustration of the moral emptiness of
capitalistic values.
1 Kael, Pauline. Film Theory and Criticism: Yojimbo. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Secondly, the story of Yojimbo shows other factors of capitalis...
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...ional values with the newly established commercial
ethos. In many scenes he seems to be simply acting out his aggression on
whoever is closest to him, just to go against the grain. His nihilistic tendencies
reveal the confusion of a warrior in peacetime, especially the uprooted nature
of a masterless samurai in a strange social climate.
In summation, an examination of the diegetic world of Yojimbo reveals
how the subtexts of a capitalist economy conflict with the ideologies of
humanism. Almost everyone is dead by the end of the film, yet it is neither
disturbing nor surprising. The manner in which they conducted themselves
brought on their fate. Kurosawa’s message is clear and concise, and the
conflict he presents gives insight into the casualties of a market economy.
Yojimbo delivers the importance of human morals by narrating an example of
their absence.
"Relocating the Cowboy: American Privilege in "All the Pretty Horses"" Pepperdine University: Global Tides Seaver Journal of Arts and Sciences. Maia Y. Rodriguez, 2014. Web. 2 May 2016. . The Western typically illustrates the journey of a man, usually a horse riding cowboy, into the Western frontier where he must conquer nature "in the name of civilization or [confiscate] the territorial rights of the original inhabitants... Native Americans" (Newman 150). What this brand of mythology promotes is precisely the values of American culture: rugged individualism, achievement and success, activtity and work, democracy and enterprise, and--most importantly--
I believe that the film does indeed conform to a certain type of narrative structure expected by other films of this style. This film, through and through, is a Western, even starring one of biggest names in Hollywood Westerns, John Wayne. We’re thrown into a world of sturdy, rugged men riding around on horses, decked out in cowboy hats and belt buckles. Wayne portrays the archetypal man, honorable, reliable and
Ultimately, it's difficult to draw a conclusion from the films overall message. On the one hand, the
Wright, Will. (2001). The Wild West: The Mythical Cowboy & Social Theory. New Delhi, London: Sage Publications.
Westerns have been around for many years. Some would consider westerns to be American classics because they describe early life in a mostly undiscovered America. In class two western films were watched and discussed. These two westerns were High Noon and Shane. On the surface, these movies are categorized as the same genre and look very similar but after further inspection it can be determined that the movies have a lot of differences. Of course, both movies share the same central theme of law versus social order, but the way each movie portrays this central theme is very different. This universal theme between the two movies can be investigated through, setting, violence, view of family, how women perceive guns/violence, and the choice of
of the American Dream. They travel west hoping to escape less than perfect lives and pursue success in
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
In a single sense, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is a book in regards to the West; it is just a book that bridges this gap between your “old” mythological along with the “new” revisionist Traditional Western and creates a brand new direction to the genre to follow along with that of a more practical myth. It works by using and inverts various classic tasks of the cliché Western and sets them having themes in addition to issues connected with modern traditional interpretations of the West, generating a brand new type of Western. The novel follows an adolescent runaway from home with some sort of disposition intended for violence, acknowledged only as "the kid, " who had been born inside Tennessee during the famous Leonids meteor showers of 1833. Inside late 1840s, he first meets a large and absolutely hairless personality, Judge Holden, for a religious resurrection in Nacogdoches, Texas. There, Holden displays his darker nature by falsely accusing some sort of preacher involving raping both a little daughter girl plus a goat, inciting these attending the actual revival to physically strike and kill the preacher.
Alex Vernon. "Staging Violence in West's "The Day of the Locust" and Shepard's "True West"." South Atlantic Review 65.1 (2000): 132-151. Print.
These events define the essence of regionalism, particularly because such affairs would not usually take place outside of the mining camps. In fact, the whimsical competitions and betting that occurs within the story set up a notably realistic atmosphere of California during the Gold Rush era. As alluded to throughout the short story, gambling is a famed and frequent pastime in the mining camps. The infamous Jim Smiley is especially known for gambling, as he would “[bet] on anything that turned up you ever see” (Twain 122). For example, “if there was a horse-race, [he’d bet on it]; if there was a dog-fight, he’d bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, he’d bet on it… why, if there was two birds sitting on a fence, he’d bet [on] which one would fly first” (Twain 122). In fact, Smiley “ketched a frog one day… and said he cal’lated to educate him… he never done nothing for three months but… learn that frog to jump” (Twain 123). Wheeler noted that “Smiley would ante up money on [the frog] as long as he had a red” (Twain 124). The betting and humorous jumping-frog competitions are simply a characteristic of the lawless Wild West, and are thus subject to regionalism because the activities are not partaken in within other regions. However, there is also a connection to regionalism with the art of storytelling itself. As
Western films are the major defining genre of the American film industry, a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are one of the oldest, most enduring and flexible genres and one of the most characteristically American genres in their mythic origins - they focus on the West - in North America. Western films have also been called the horse opera, the oater (quickly-made, short western films which became as common place as oats for horses), or the cowboy picture. The western film genre has portrayed much about America's past, glorifying the past-fading values and aspirations of the mythical by-gone age of the West. Over time, westerns have been re-defined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed. But, most western movies ideas derived from characteristics known to the Native Americans and Mexicans way before the American culture knew about it. What you probably know as a good old western American movie originated from a culture knows as vaqueros (cowboys for Spanish). They are many misrepresentations of cultures and races shown throughout movies from as early as 1920's with silent films. Although one could argue that silent film era was more politically correct then now a day films, the movie industry should not have the right of misrepresenting cultures of Mexicans, Indians and there life styles in films known as western films.
A typical Western would usually be set in the late 19th century in the mid-west of America in a remote town. The town is usually small, lonely and unwelcoming. Typically a western set looks like it is in the middle of a desert with sand, cacti and tumbleweed which gives a desert look, there are usually never any lakes or rivers around these features make the place look really hot and deserted. The buildings are generally timber board houses with swinging doors and outside the buildings are places to keep their horses, there is also always a General Store and a Saloon. Horses and carriages and cattle are used to give a western feel. The cowboys are typically dressed in western style clothing for example they wear simple shirts and jeans they may also wear ponchos, waist coats, hats, boots with spurs, guns and a belt to hold the gun and bullets, Hero's tend to wear lighter clothing and the villain’s tend to wear darker clothing.
Few Hollywood film makers have captured America’s Wild West history as depicted in the movies, Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Most Western movies had fairly simple but very similar plots, including personal conflicts, land rights, crimes and of course, failed romances that typically led to drinking more alcoholic beverages than could respectfully be consumed by any one person, as they attempted to drown their sorrows away. The 1958 Rio Bravo and 1967 El Dorado Western movies directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John Wayne have a similar theme and plot. They tell the story of a sheriff and three of his deputies, as they stand alone against adversity in the name of the law. Western movies like these two have forever left a memorable and lasting impressions in the memory of every viewer, with its gunfighters, action filled saloons and sardonic showdowns all in the name of masculinity, revenge and unlawful aggressive behavior. Featuring some of the most famous backdrops in the world ranging from the rustic Red Rock Mountains of Monument Valley in Utah, to the jagged snow capped Mountain tops of the Teton Range in Wyoming, gun-slinging cowboys out in search of mischief and most often at their own misfortune traveled far and wide, seeking one dangerous encounter after another, and unfortunately, ending in their own demise.
John Ford’s classic American Western film, Stagecoach (1939) shows many examples of political life and social behavior during it’s time. The plot is about nine travelers onboard a stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory. In the beginning, the passengers of the Stagecoach are unfamiliar with each other. However, their relationships grow as they get to know each other during their journey. Each character claims a different social position.
Humanism is a philosophy that involves the search between truth and morality, through humans means in support of human interests. Humanism rejects transcendental justifications, such as the supernatural and divine disclosure. A common form of this rejections would be The Bible. This philosphy also tends to be even-handed, seeking to make all people equal in terms of wealth and social status. The movie advocates all of these features of humanism.