Comparative Analysis Of 47 Ronin

Our team feels that the film, 47 ronin (2013), generally supports orientalist structures due to its misrepresentation of Japan and Samurai through its character portrayal and historical inaccuracy. This film have several inconsistencies with the actual history as it over glorifies the tale of forty-seven ronin and display certain orientalist stereotypes throughout the movie.

This film over glorifies bushido which leads to the misconception that bushido was the representation for all of Japan. At the start of the film, the narrator said, “and yet to know the story of 47 ronin is to know the story of all Japan.” (47 Ronin) Although the legend of forty-seven ronin was often used as an example to illustrate the samurai’s ethics and code of conduct, the narrator was speaking as if

The book was taken as the truth and accurate portrayal of the samurai in the past. This mislead foreigners into thinking that bushido can explain all of Japan, portraying Japanese as self-sacrificial, courageous and honourable. In fact, the concept of bushido was “an idealized version” (Benesch 2) that was “formulated and popularized” (Benesch 2) by Inazo Nitobe. Since bushido is just an ideology, it cannot possibly be used to describe all Japanese. The film also emphasises the idea of bushido by showing the ronin’s blind loyalty towards their lord. Loyalty was definitely a factor that propelled them to avenge their lord but the film seems to ignore other possible factors and exaggerates their loyalty. In reality, the ronin were unwilling to die a “futile death” without achieving something (The Ako Incident: 1701-1703), which was what propelled them to take revenge rather than committing junshi. Hence, their motive was not purely to avenge their master but to achieve something in the last moments of their lives. In our opinion, there were also other factors that pressurized them to avenge Lord Asano like, their dependence on him. During the peaceful times in the Edo period when