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I really hold myself back from discussing Ghost of Tsushima, because I know a lot of people are in their feels about that game and it's very popular.
But it categorically misunderstands the films it's trying to homage. Kurosawa was rarely reverent to the Samurai.
But it categorically misunderstands the films it's trying to homage. Kurosawa was rarely reverent to the Samurai.
His best known films around about Samurai abandoning their post, because they had morals. Or a morally ambiguous character disobeying orders and being persecuted for it.
I literally beg people to watch an actual Kurosawa film before trying to reference his style.
I literally beg people to watch an actual Kurosawa film before trying to reference his style.
A lot of western depictions of Samurai don't understand this. They hear "lone soldier" and miss the whole narrative of them being a ronin.
Or that in context a ronin is a defector.
That's why so many "samurai homages" walk face first into Japanese far right rhetoric.
Or that in context a ronin is a defector.
That's why so many "samurai homages" walk face first into Japanese far right rhetoric.
And I love Samurai movies, for clarification here. But all the best ones show the Samurai for who they really were, a beaurocratic army in place to defend those already in power.
Where the protagonists are defectors who regret their past (Zatoichi) or morally ambiguous loners who get caught up in a bigger conflict and show a glimmer of empathy (Lone Wolf and Cub, to a lesser extent Yojimbo)
Anyway, I retweeted Kazuma Hashimoto earlier, and he wrote about this in his Ghost of Tsushima review. It's a great starting point for learning about the ultra-nationalist revisionism ingrained in the code of bushido.
https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2020/7/23/21333631/ghost-of-tsushima-kurosawa-films-samurai-japan-abe-politics?__twitter_impression=true
https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2020/7/23/21333631/ghost-of-tsushima-kurosawa-films-samurai-japan-abe-politics?__twitter_impression=true
This is also the piece in which a lot of people found out that Yoshitaka Amano was a far right conservative. Or at least he mentions it, I don't remember if he goes into it detail.
Fully expecting some people to unfollow over this one.
Join me next time when I talk about Cool Japan money being connected to racism against Koreans (I won't actually be discussing this, tl;dr it's Shinzo Abe what did you expect)
Join me next time when I talk about Cool Japan money being connected to racism against Koreans (I won't actually be discussing this, tl;dr it's Shinzo Abe what did you expect)
