Samurai

 With Shogun being the big hit on TV right now, the myth of the Samurai is being discussed.

Hiroyuki Sanada points out that most of the Hollywood  films about Japan and Japanese history are the interpretations of the westerners making the film. But here he influenced the film which differs from the earlier miniseries because it emphasized the Japanese characters and included Japanese actors playing all the minor roles in the film.

Smithsonian magazine article on the film and that period of history in Japan.

yup. Authentic. Or maybe not completely: no blackened teeth or high eyebrows for the leading lady.

Shogun is set in a  time was important to Japanese history: trying to unite the warring states causing chaos in the land, with the added problems of the Europeans who introduced new technology (guns) and ideas (Christianity, not just because of the danger of becoming a colony of European powers, but because it preached dangerous ideas that everyone is equal. This undermines the traditions of Confucian culture which honors hierarchy: women obey husbands, peasants obey local lords, etc. It's easier to run a country if the religion supports the idea that not to obey the guys in charge is a sin.)

So escapism? or is it a lesson for today's world, where the idea of separate states is being pushed by the MAGA types, but ignores the question of what happens when unity breaks down? Hobbes points out a strong central government might be the best choice, but hey who reads those old philosophy books nowadays?

But anyway, instead of Americanized viewpoints maybe watching the Samurai films and historical dramas of Japanese director Kurosawa will give a different background to those times of trouble before Japan was united:

For example: Seven Samurai, about farmers at a time of chaos facing bandits, hiring Samurai hitmen to protect the village.

the full film can be streamed from Internet Archive LINK

Who do you chose, the bandits who you know or the outsiders who you hire who might just take you over anyway?

The film was remade as the Magnificent Seven, placed in Mexico at a time of disorder.

and of course, Kurosawa's other Samurai films use themes similar to the American western. This essay on Yojimbo explains how noir films inspired the film, which then went on to inspire western films like a Fistful of dollars.

the Hidden Fortress inspired parts of Star wars, but we also see influences work both ways: Throne of Blood and Ran are Japanese retelling of Macbeth and King Lear.

Then we have the classic Roshomon about four points of view of the same crime.

This film is about the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and especially important today's news in discussing he said she said stories of sexual harassment where everyone's memory is tainted by self interest.

I always found Roshomon interesting, because the men and their stories all blamed the woman, but the final story, by a woodcutter who had no reason to lie, shows they are all wrong: All the men reject the woman after her rape, so she gets angry and provokes the men into fighting each other by ridiculing their manhood saying they only see her as a doll, not a real woman, and gets them to fight over her by saying that none of them deserve the love of a real woman of passion.

I should note that few reviewers notice this feminist outburst by a woman stuck into what might have been a loveless arranged marriage and now rejected by her husband for something she didn't do. (or maybe because he was angry because she didn't kill herself in shame for being attacked).

the western proverb is; hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.