Game of Shows

There is a good reason for my lack of content regarding TV. Even though this last decade has brought us some of the best shows to date, there is still an absence of quality programming. HBO’s recent efforts such as Treme and AMC’s Breaking Bad have been the cream of the crop in recent years (in my opinion), but it seems to end there in terms of quality episodic dramas. It hasn’t even been due to lack of time that I’ve given most shows a miss (especially new ones). It honestly comes down to the fact that I have not received any glorifying recommendations.

Last week however I read about HBO’s new series titled Game of Thrones; which is currently wrapping up it’s first season. After the first episode I was immediately hooked; and it’s been a long time since any show has left me with my heart racing at the closing credits. For me this has been HBO’s trademark since The Sopranos, and it’s good to have this feeling back. Based on a fantasy novel by George R. R Martin, the story is, much like many modern dramas, woven through a number of different families, at varying levels of power and in varying areas of this world which the writers have created. Set in a time where Kings and Queens ruled their land and warring families would do whatever was necessary to gain power, the show (much like Deadwood), gives us a much grittier and more mature and look at the era in which the story is set. Many films based in a land of medieval fantasy are targeted towards children, and therefore cannot portray the swearing, whoring and boozing nature of men in these times. Not relevant to accurate historical drama you say? Perhaps, but it cannot be argued that these portrayals paint a more believable and therefore more enjoyable experience. I must also mention the set designs and costumes as both are amazing and it’s clear that there were no corners cut in regards to the budget.

I was also told AMC’s The Killing was a worthy addition to this year’s otherwise bland programming, but after the first two episodes which aired back-to-back during its premier, I don’t see why it’s any more than just a well written cop show. After nearly being axed I wonder if this is due to there being enough cop shows on TV? The masses vote with their ratings and that’s what they want, but networks such as HBO, AMC, Showtime and even FX are not necessarily producing for the masses; they are niche markets that should remain that way. In case you’re asking; what of The Shield and Dexter, they’re cop shows?! Technically they are about cops, but one is crooked and the other is a serial killer; the moral ambiguity of these shows set them apart from the regular CSI/NYPD/Law & Order crowd. Upon proofing this piece, I may have just shown my age with those last references; I'm not even sure if the last two are still running =p

Seven Samurai - Film Analysis

Seven Samurai, released in 1954 by the Toho Company of Japan, became popular for being one of the first jidaigeki (period drama) films to break away from the clichés of the genre’s past, and attempt to provide a more accurate historical account of the Edo period. Said to be one of the most influential films of all time, Seven Samurai’s story and aesthetic borrowed heavily from American Western’s in the early 20^th Century, and in turn influenced western directors after Kurosawa’s success.

Early Japanese cinema, which is often pigeon-holed as samurai or ninja films, had more in common with the stories of classic westerns; lone heroes lending a hand to common folk for the upkeep of law and morality. These heroic tales often sprout from society’s need for a savior during difficult times, and as Japanese identity was heavily bruised after the end of the war, this need became evident in the surge of films featuring such tales. Highlighting Japan’s class system and the roles of individuals within, Seven Samurai’s story revolves around a group of master-less samurai called on to help villagers defend their homes and crops from ruthless bandits. It was released at the height of commercial success for both the production company and the genre itself.

Kurosawa attempted to re-invent jidaigeki to make the films more realistic both historically and artistically. In such films as Yojimbo he went to the extreme of using realistic sounds of swords cutting flesh, which emphasised the artificial nature of past period films. His scriptwriter and producer, recurring collaborators on the majority of his films, worked together with Kurosawa to research the era. His desire to recreate an accurate portrayal of a day in the life of a samurai led to the discovery of how few records were kept on such aspects. The story was instead expanded from the accounts of samurai helping villagers in exchange for food and shelter. After an abnormally long production and exorbitant budget (11 months and JPY$210 million - seven times higher than that of a typical production), Kurosawa’s film, much like The Hidden Fortress, was a huge financial risk that garnered him great praise but also criticism for its hyperrealism.

Although thoroughly researched by Kurosawa and his team of writers, it has been critiqued as being historically inaccurate. “The film creates a heightened sense of realism by meticulously showing all kinds of detail that are normally ignored in conventional jidaigeki films” (Yoshimoto, P. 243). He is also said to be less of a Japanese director but an American-Japanese director, whose influences are more than evident in not only his jidaigeki films but also his adaptations of Western authors/playwrights such as Shakespeare and Gorky. This has given critics the grounds to claim he lost nationalistic character and ideology whilst making films targeted at the Japanese population, and whether this is true or not, it cannot be argued that his films were accurate on a visual level.

The most vivid example of Kurosawa’s depiction of this era would be his meticulous attention to detail with the settings and costumes; he worked alongside many different teams of designers and consulted with historians to recreate the setting in which Seven Samurai takes place. To form the characters, Kurosawa compiled a band of fairly contrasting personalities in order to explore different forms of heroism and help engage the audience. They ranged from the “dutiful apprentice Katsushiro and the consummate swordsman Kyuzo to the ingenious and spiritually wise leader Kambei” (Goodwin, P. 165). Kurosawa pioneered the use of multi-camera filming, and his choice of utilising long close-ups is not only a strong story-telling device but also a space for the audience to truly understand and sympathise with the characters. Most memorable of Kurosawa’s stylistic touches are his slow-motion death sequences, which have been described as “a perpetual shock that stems from the misalignment of time within the montage” (Prince, P. 349), and which appear in a number of his films.

In the final scene of Seven Samurai we realise that by training the villagers to defend themselves, the samurai have essentially made themselves redundant, and in his closing line of the film, leader Kambei states: “Again we are defeated. The winners are those farmers. Not us…” This changes our perception of the story so that the villagers are the heroes, not the samurai, leaving the audience with a bittersweet realisation that we ourselves are capable of protecting one another, against all odds. These timeless tales coupled with Kurosawa’s humanism, original technical style and attention to detail have positioned him as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, whose legacy is still evident in the films of today.

References:

M Yoshimoto, Kurosawa – Film Studies and Japanese Cinema, Duke University Press Books, Durham NC, 2000

J Goodwin, Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore ML, 1994

S Prince, The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1955