Culture and Ideology in the Movie, Seven

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Culture and Ideology in the Movie, Seven Samurai

Many directors use their films as a means of glorifying, criticizing, or simply depicting, a particular ideological system. These ideologies are especially visible in foreign films, as the viewer is forced to assess the film from outside his or her culture and ideology, and consider the film in its proper context. Director Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese film Seven Samurai allows the viewer to understand several important aspects of Japanese culture and ideology. First, the film depicts the Japanese social class structure and its acceptance by the masses. Seven Samurai also reveals the pride of the Japanese, as well as the utilitarian, collectivist nature of their society.

As one of the farmers explains early in the film, farmers are born to suffer, it is their lot in life. This illustrates the Japanese class system, and the lack of upward mobility in it. The characters in the film all accept their place in the class structure, however low, and do nothing to change it. Although the farmers enlist the help of samurai to defend their v...

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