RESOURCES ESSAYS ew Japanese artists have won the this film not only shows Kurosawa’s artistic international attention and critical independence (the director constantly fought acclaim enjoyed by filmmaker with war-time censors who wanted the film teaching and F Kurosawa Akira (b. 1910). His films to show nationalistic spirit and support for interpreting the span a career of over fifty years, and the war effort), but also reveals a major whether framed as period pieces or modern theme of Kurosawa’s work: the interplay of works of dramas, explore the elusive topography of illusion and reality. The popularity of this Kurosawa akira self and society. The popularity of his films film in Japan led to several more, some set By Jan Bardsley and has led to their wide availability on video in the past world of the warrior, such as Seven Samurai David P. Phillips with English subtitles, and stimulated many (1954), while others, such books and essays of critical interpretations. as No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) and This essay will present a brief introduction Ikiru (1952), explore illusion and reality in to Kurosawa’s life and work, followed by post-war Japan, engaging the personal and plans for teaching two of his well-known political dimensions of social issues. films in the college classroom: Ikiru (To Kurosawa’s first international success, as Live), a 1952 film which offers a cynical well as his first academy award, came in the early 1950s with Rashomon, a film which relates a crime through the accounts of three participants whose quite different perspec- tives on the event make the viewer wonder whether the notion of truth has any value at all. Although many know Kurosawa as the most famous Japanese director, his works have both influenced and been influenced by Western arts. Seven Samurai (1954), for example, served as the model for The Magnificent Seven, while The Hidden Fortress (1958) greatly influenced Star Wars. Kurosawa found inspiration himself in foreign works, modeling Throne of Blood (1951) on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Ran (1985) on King Lear, and The Idiot (1958) on Dostoevsky’s novel. As Kurosawa freely explores the western canon and Japanese culture, he both alludes to the possibility of universals in art (the grand questions) even From Ikiru (1952) look at life and its meanings in the post-war as he exploits the particular (Japanese set- Photo courtesy of Kurosawa Productions bureaucracy, and Rhapsody in August, a tings, their images and language). 1993 film that explores the nature of memo- Kurosawa never abandoned his love of ry, especially in ways that people choose to painting but has often planned for his films remember and to forget the atomic bomb- by creating illustrations and paintings. ings of Nagasaki. Perhaps no other film evinces this attention to the “painted” as well as Dreams (1990), a Kurosawa: a life in art film whose vivid, pre-production illustra- Though Kurosawa made his career in film, tions by Kurosawa inspired special exhibi- his earliest artistic ambitions focused on tions. Admired as much as these visual cre- painting and illustration. In 1936, forced to ations, the scripts of major Kurosawa films find a more lucrative profession, Kurosawa (Ikiru, Ran, Rashomon, Seven Samurai) found work as an assistant film director have been translated into English. trainee and succeeded so well in this form Those interested in Kurosawa himself will that he began directing entire films himself enjoy reading his Something Like an in the 1940s. His first film, Sugata Autobiography, a narrative rich with lively Sanshir ¯o, released in 1943, depicts in anecdotes about his childhood and his film Buddhist terms a young man’s spiritual and career to 1950. Yet, as film scholar James physical path to becoming a judo expert. Goodwin has observed, Kurosawa prefers to According to film historian Donald Richie, look forward to new work rather than back- 30 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 1, Number 2 Fall 1996 RESOURCES ESSAYS ward to past achievements. When honored audience to admire selfless, heroic actions given suggestions for role-play situations by the Academy of Arts and Sciences in that are humanitarian and nonconformist. and questions for small-group discussions. 1990 for a lifetime of artistic achievement, The film provides material for discussions In investigating their topics, students ini- Kurosawa commented that the honor had about the role of conformity in Japanese tially examined the dynamics of such sub- come too early in his career and promised social settings, the place of the individual, jects as generational change, family, and that “I will continue to devote my entire and the fate of the iconoclast. The film also gender roles. One group, which was being to understanding this wonderful art.” introduces broader issues that have universal assigned to examine cultural and social Clearly, the sheer variety of Kurosawa’s concern, including the existential struggle of messages, chose to role-play an imagined works provides a source of endless interpre- its protagonist to find meaning in life, and scene in which the protagonist Watanabe tation. While the lesson plans offered here the humanitarian goals of individuals who tells his son why he is so disappointed with come from college-level courses in Japanese feel a basic need to help their neighbors. him. They then asked the class to identify literature, teachers working in high schools Teachers traditionally use films such as the problem they had depicted in postwar and adult education courses will also find Ikiru in the literature classroom by conduct- society, and the causes of this problem. The the use of a Kurosawa film highly effective, ing film analyses which parallel literary role-play and the following discussion either in creating a Japanese module in a analyses. Such an approach is easy for stu- helped the class to understand the mecha- world civilization or film course, or in a dents to grasp, but it does not take full nisms by which social characteristics and class devoted to Japanese culture. advantage of film as a medium. In order to egoism can supplant values such as family engage students fully, it helps to devise a cohesion and self-sacrifice. As they per- Kurosawa’s IKIRU : series of specific projects for students that formed role-plays, they started to read the role-Playing as learning help them to appreciate nuances of films film more closely, observing particular sets The film introduced in this unit, Ikiru, was which would be missed by simple analyses. of interactions and the ways in which char- produced in 1952, during an era when many Techniques that will enhance classroom acters resolve conflict, as well as techniques Japanese people were questioning the nature exercises with films include cross-cultural used by the filmmaker to shape audience and direction of social change and the effect comparison, group discussion, the writing of sentiments. of bureaucratization on Japanese values. The individual essays, and group presentations When students acted out the characters in film portrays an aging bureaucrat’s using role-playing in which students Ikiru, such as the hedonistic writer Toyo and anguished search for the meaning of life use their imagination to improvise as the dying Watanabe, they experienced direct- upon learning he has terminal cancer. The they act out the roles of characters. ly the frustrations of an individual struggling protagonist in the film, Watanabe, is chief of In this unit, working with both the film against the societal pressure to conform. the Citizen’s Section at city hall. and the film script, students were divided Consequently, they were better able to identi- Watanabe’s illness helps him to realize the into small groups and assigned one of the fy the conflict within individuals who make irony of how he has sacrificed his life to following topics: the choice to rebel. Students also prepared serve a system that cares little about the (1) theme and thematic structure role-play presentations that were loosely average citizen. Exhibiting behavior that (2) character portrayal and voices based on the script. For example, one group shocks his colleagues and superiors, (3) setting and time period in my class identified social messages in this Watanabe becomes an advocate and (4) role of the viewer/reader versus film such as the suppression of individual spokesperson for a group of women role of the writer/director will and the importance of allegiance to the attempting to coax city hall into converting (5) cultural and social messages, group. As they acted out scenes from the a local drainage ditch into a playground. and Through sheer perseverance he succeeds at (6) use of imagery. convincing city hall to build the playground. Students were divided into small groups, JAN BARDSLEY is an Assistant Professor of His triumph in changing the bureaucracy is one group per topic, and were given defini- Japanese Language and Literature at the short-lived, for after his death his coworkers tions for each of these topics. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. revert to their narrowly defined roles. For example, for theme and thematic Her recent research on the Japanese women’s peace movement in the 1950s has included Kurosawa’s Ikiru is a richly layered film structure, students were asked to isolate the trips to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and inter- that presents several important themes about main themes of the work being analyzed. views with older Japanese peace activists early postwar life in Japan which can be They were also asked to identify the objec- there. developed for classroom discussion. First, it tives of the filmmaker, and to address other DAVID P. PHILLIPS is Assistant Professor of presents the dilemma of a society that is bur- relevant questions, including how juxtaposi- Japanese Language and Literature at Wake dened by a bureaucracy which is unyielding tion of events within the film helps the film- Forest University.