Bone Of Blood Vs Macbeth

Shakespeare’s ultimate goal was to resonate with his audience by using his creative and artistic talent. Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood is deemed worthy of keeping this spirit of Shakespeare alive. Kurosawa took the main themes and ideas of Shakespeare and interpreted them in such a way that made it the great film it is today. Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood is the better adaptation of the Tragedy of Macbeth for the fact that the play was altered into feudal Japanese culture. The average audience of Throne of Blood has already read and analyzed the Tragedy of Macbeth. Therefore, a film such as, Polanski’s Macbeth, would be mundane. Kurosawa capitalizes on his imagination and Japanese culture and establishes them as the foundation of his film.

Director and actor, Roman Polanski, is a complex and controversial figure. Polanski’s life is filled with hardships which gave birth to his adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Polanski was born August 18, 1933, in Paris. At the age of three, he moved with is family to the city of Krakow, Poland, his father’s native land. Krakow was a ghetto in which the Jewish were sent to during Germany’s invasion. In 1941, his parents were captured and sent to two different concentration camps. His father was sent to Austria, where he survived the war. Polanski’s

mother was sent to Auschwitz and died there. Polanski managed to escape the ghettos and pretended to be a Roman-Catholic child visiting his relatives. He lived with several Polish families throughout most of his adolescent life.
On the contrary, he suffered greatly while living with those Polish families. He was abused and beat time and time again. Polanski was left with a fractured skull due to the brutal violence within the household. Polanski reunited with his father at the conclusion of the war. Polanski established his love for acting when he was a teenager. He developed his acting skills using radio dramas and films. Polanski enrolled and graduated from the Polish National Film Academy in Lodz. Upon the start of his career, he appeared in a number of films, which were directed by a renowned Polish director Andrzej Wajda. Overtime, Polanski became mainstream in Europe and was given the fortune and opportunity to release his films in London.
Although Polanski’s future looked quite optimistic, it did not turn out to be as such. Polanski moved to Hollywood in 1968 with his wife, Sharon Tate. The following year, Sharon was brutally murdered by members of a cult. This cult was known as the Charles Mason cult. Moreover, Sharon was pregnant throughout the tragic events of her murder. The Mason family gained a plethora of publicity for murdering Roman Polanski’s family. The horrific and extreme violence Polanski experienced in his life was reflected in the films he created, especially his adaptation of Macbeth. His films tended to focus on darker and more violent themes. One could not imagine Polanski’s life to get worse, however it did. Polanski, in 1977, was charged with six criminal counts for statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. The alleged act took place in actor, Jack Nicholson’s, home. Both Nicholson and his girlfriend, actress Anjelica Huston, testified against Polanski. Polanski plead guilty to only one of the charged and underwent six weeks of psychiatric evaluation at a nearby state prison in California. After that, he fled the United States and was at risk of being imprisoned for life if he were to step foot on American soil.
Polanski settled in Paris and returned to filmmaking. In 2002, Polanski made a comeback with the publicly praised Holocaust drama The Pianist. The Pianist, won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Polanski won Best Director Oscar for the film as well. However, he was not allowed to the award ceremony due to his criminal indictments. Throughout all this misery and despair, there was a light at the end of Polanski’s tunnel. He produced his interpretation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Polanski’s Macbeth put a strong emphasis on violence due to his dark past.
Akira Kurosawa was born on March 23, 1910 in Tokyo. Kurosawa’s family could trace its lineage as far back as the 11th century. Kurosawa was taught at a young age that he was a descendant of samurai. However, Kurosawa’s father, Isamu, believed he and his siblings should be exposed to Western Culture. Therefore, Isamu took them out to watch films. Kurosawa was initially drawn to art. After completing high school, he studied at the Doshisha School of Western Painting. One of Japan’s biggest directors at the time, Kajirō Yamamoto, insisted on hiring Kurosawa. Originally, Kurosawa wrote an essay application to work at the Photo Chemical Laboratories film studio. Kurosawa’s essay application caught the eye of Yamamoto and the rest is history.
Kurosawa worked as an assistant director under Yamamoto’s wing for the next seven years. He learned the importance of being able to write a good script. Together with Yamamoto, Kurosawa made twenty-four films. Japan entered World War II and was drafting several young Japanese men to fight in the war. Luckily, Kurosawa was labeled unfit for military service. He was able to stay in Tokyo and continue his work. It was during this time that Kurosawa was promoted director and created his first film, Sanshiro Sugata. Released in 1943, Sanshiro Sugata showcased Kurosawa’s talents as both a writer and director.
Furthermore, Kurosawa became an international hit with his film, Rashomon (1950).

Rashomon was a samurai murder story told from the perspective of four different characters. Martin Ritt remade the film as the 1964 Western The Outrage. The Outrage became the earliest of many of Kurosawa’s works that was adapted to this genre. Over the course of the next decade, Kurosawa developed some of his most influential and entertaining films. One of his most influential films was the 1954 epic Seven Samurai. Seven Samurai was made into The Magnificent Seven (1960). In 1957 Kurosawa released Throne of Blood. Throne of Blood was considered to be one of the better interpretations of Shakespeare’s

works.
Furthermore, Kurosawa wanted to gain a higher level of artistic freedom in his work. Therefore, Kurosawa started his own production company. His first film from his production company was Yojimbo (1961). Yojimbo is about a wandering samurai who finds himself in the middle of a feud between two villages. One can capture Kurosawa’s love for samurai. However, Kurosawa sought work in Hollywood due to an economic depression in Japan. Unfortunately, Kurosawa deemed unsuccessful in Hollywood. He was suffering financially; out of great disappointment in himself he attempted suicide in 1971. Kurosawa eventually recovered from his suicidal thoughts, however, he resigned himself to the fact that he would never create films again.