Yojimbo (film)

-
Yojimbo (Directed by Akira Kurosawa)/1961

Near the end of Tokugawa Shogunate era, the samurai (or ronin, which were samurai without masters) are losing their status.  Guns are starting to be introduced into Japan and the virtues and skills held by samurai are rapidly losing relevance. Yojimbo covers events that unfold as one of these mysterious no-name ronin arrive at a village controlled by two rival gangs.  Yojimbo means “body guard” and both the gangs try to recruit this ronin to be their yojimbo.  The ronin uses his wit and swordmanship to bring peace to the village.  This is a typical black and white (literally and metaphorically), good versus evil story.

One of the great things about these kinds of action flicks is that it is a good indicator of society’s shared notions around aesthetics and characteristics associated with "good" and "evil".  Fictions often associate evil with ugliness and good with beauty.  While the simplistic formula itself in the association may be problematic I find it interesting to see what kind of behaviours are associated with evil and what features are considered ugly in the world of divergent cultures.

In Yojimbo, all of the bad guys are shorter than the ronin.  Some of them are scrawny and poorly dressed, and others are obese or have a deformity.  The ronin is a good foot taller, possessing broad shoulders and chest.

When the ronin is presented with geishas he appears put out by women with dark skin, freckles and big noses.  He is disgusted by the way they sing loudly and lift their feet up high as they dance.  The one woman considered beautiful has light skin, big eyes and a round face.  She was also very quiet and completely helpless to a point where she wouldn’t even move without being dragged by a man.  The only time she shows any strength was when she runs to her crying child.

One point of note is how the most challenging gang member, Ushitora, looks more like the ronin than the others.  He is as tall as the ronin, has fairer skin and big eyes.  It seems that the closer the physical features of the evil are to the good, the greater challenge to overcome.  Ushitora is also cleverer than the rest and carries a gun with him at all times.  His possession of a gun appears to symbolise the tidal wave of new technology that was shunting the samurais at the time; he is also someone that is quite happy to fight an unfair fight: gun against a sword.

In a film where there is only one noble character, we are presented with a simple view of what is good and what is bad because ultimately all physical and behavioural characteristics are judged based on the “good guy”.  The film shows that it is despicable for a man to: get drunk, be fearful, be ego driven, be easily influenced, gamble, and be weak mentally or physically.  The ronin expresses particular hate when he comes across a man who loses his house and wife gambling and cannot do anything about it.

Whether or not these portrayals are politically correct or aspirational it is nevertheless interesting to note differing views on good and evil in other cultures. For me, this is what makes Yojimbo a fascinating watch.


Popular posts from this blog

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (book)

-
Image
History rhymes: it moves in cycles of growth, destruction and then further growth; we see intense conflict followed by loving peace, leading to complacency and the withering of what brought the beauty and success to begin with, only to give birth to something greater. Another common historical rhyme is that each age has a wealthy establishment which attempts to suppress information or people that threatens its control: Emperors, Tsars and tycoons. Any serious student of world history, mythology and ideas knows these things to be true.                                                                                                               The Nag Hammadi Scriptures have captured the imagination of seekers around the world because their story and content exemplify the points raised above. In brief, they represent a type of Christianity that flourished between approximately 70 AD to 400 AD but ceased to exist thereafter. They are called gnostic which generally means a direct knowledg
Read more

I See Satan Fall Like Lightning (book)

-
Image
Humanity tends to scapegoat individuals or groups to water the thirst for collective violence or to resolve tensions and angst. The scapegoating mechanism is at the heart of the Western canon: both Socrates and Jesus were put to death to appease the inflamed crowd. According to French American thinker Ren é  Girard, these are extreme, archetypal versions of a phenomena that plays out in lesser forms throughout human life. Girard sits at the crossroads of various traditions but is uniquely brilliant when discussing the role collective violence has in human communities. At the heart of Girard’s work is the notion of mimetic decision-making. By this he means that humans by nature imitate what they see, hear, and read, including in what they desire. The imitators inevitably begin to go after the same things in a world of scarce resources, which increases tensions in the community. Eventually, the tension becomes too great, and the individual or group is selected for scapegoating, whereby t
Read more

The Secret of Light (book)

-
Image
One of the most beautifully written and accessible mystical texts of our time is The Secret of Light by Walter Russell. It captures the truths of esoteric Christianity (such as that found in the sermons of Meister Eckhart), and the Hindu Upanishads, without getting bogged down in unapproachable terminology or culturally-specific mythology.                                                                                                                                                                                                    The essence of Russell’s text is that each human is an eternal consciousness that both experiences and is the manifestation of a single, eternal God-Mind. A human being is a conscious mind that experiences separate physical forms via waves and pulses of light which create the electrical charges governing her body and thoughts. As Russell puts it, “Electricity expresses the desire in the God-Mind for creative expression by seemingly dividing the One still ligh
Read more