So, in the comments below, answer two of the following questions:
- What is the theme of Roshomon? Back up your opinion with at least three examples.
- How do you think the Japanese's experience with World War II is reflection in the theme, tone, and story of this film?
- Is the film ever clear about how did what and who killed who? Can we trust any of these witnesses? Why? What do you think really happened?
I believe that the theme of Roshomon is about how people can't be trusted, but you should never lose faith in humanity. The whole story consists of a bunch of people lying, and a priest talking about how everyone is a sinner, but he still has hope. And in the end of the movie, the priest loses all hope for humanity, but has it regained. He blatantly states that his faith in humanity has been restored.
ReplyDeleteI know that for a period of 15 or 20 years after World War II, poorer parts of Japan suffered from many diseases caused by poor health, or in Southern Japan, from radiation. People had to steal to survive, because the war had taken away all financial assets that the Japanese had. And in that first shot, where you see the ruined building, I did think it was post-WWII right away. Most of Japan was destroyed. The rain symbolizing the cruelty of man. At this point in Japan, they were bitter, disappointed, and they lost all of THEIR hope for humanity. I think Kurosawa was trying to reignite that spark of hope in the Japanese people.
These are GREAT thoughts, Justus. I like the theme you picked out and the sort of tongue-and-cheek way you pointed out the the priest explicitly states the theme at the end.
DeleteI like your comments about how even though the film is set in medieval Japan, it tells a story that parallels what was happening in 1950 Japan. Kurosawa set most of his samurai films at the end of the samurai era when most of the samurai were out of work (because of the end of the shogun system). It was an era of change and political chaos (thus Kurosawa liked it -- it was dynamic and matched the world of the American Westerns he grew up watching). It also happens to match a later time when Japan's world was turned upside down: the end of WWII.
Tommy Kiter
ReplyDeleteThe theme of of Roshomon is about mostly no one is telling the truth people cant be trusted. All they did in the movie was lie about one thing and another and how the priest thought everyone was a sinner, but still has the courage to still move on. he has hope for humanity and he thinks humanity was and has been restored.
World war II was deadly and dangerous people in japan died of no food or no homes they had to do what they could do to survive there lives. the war really destroyed almost everyone ruined buildings homes etc. Japan was matter dissapointed lost hope in thereselfes. I think they were trying to bring everyone back together as one.This movie was interesting to me.
What about the baby at the end? How does that fit into your theme?
DeleteYou wrote a great description of the upheaval in Japan that followed World War II. You might add a sentence that ties it all together by stating how this upheaval relates to the events we saw in Roshomon.
Tayia Groesbeck-
ReplyDeleteI think the theme of this movie is you never know who is telling the truth. My first reason is Tajomaru said that he tricked the samurai into going off the trail to go look at swords with him then brought the samurai's wife there, she tried to hurt him with a dagger but was sedused by Tajomaru. My second reason is the wife said that Tajomaru left after raping her and she begged her husband to forgive her but just looked at her like she was horrible, she cut the rope that was holding him hostage and begged her husband to kill her so she would be happy and at peace in heaven. The way her husband looked at her mad her upset so she fainted and when she woke up her husband had a dagger in his chest. The third reason is the samurai's story is that after Tajomaru raped his wife, Tajomaru asked the wife to travil with him she said yes and asked Tajomaru to kill her husband so she wouldent have guilt of wanting two guys. Tajomaru was shocked at what she wanted and asked the samurai if he wanted her to be let go or if he wanted her dead. The wife ran and then Tajomaru let him go and he ended up killing himself.
I don't really think it was clear i had to look up what happend in the movie to know what exactly happend. They should have done a better job on makeing it clear. Plus I dont understand why the baby scene was in there?
For me, the baby scene is an attempt to add some hope to an otherwise hopeless story. The characters are upset that there is no good or truth in the world but then the baby represents the hope for the future. The peasant gets to redeem himself by taking care of the baby. At this stage of Kurosawa's life, he really felt that there was hope for the future of humanity, that we could really make things better if we had the willpower to change things. This ending is a reflection of that hope.
DeleteAt least, that's my opinion.
Josh, I see that in regards to the baby, it gives a great message.
DeleteHowever, I kinda felt as if he was lying about having the children of his own. That he knew that even if the baby lived it would have a sad existence, so he took him from the other man because he could tell that he would be unable to deal with the realities of it after everything that had already happened.
I'm not sure where that would leave everything, or if it even makes total sense, but it's just the feeling I got from it.
Good point, Ciya. I appreciate the way you're furthering the conversation. I really think that Kurosawa meant it to be a light moment at the end of the movie to reflect his optimistic outlook on life (at the time) but I like your phenomenological take on it. It's cool how all the dishonesty we've seen the whole film can cause us to not believe the message of hope at the end.
DeleteI like how you make a connection between the theme of not trusting others and the war experience.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I loved this film. The more time it has had to sink in, the more and more I realize how much I liked it.
ReplyDeleteThe major theme for me is pretty abstract. It has to do with our memories and how maybe everything we remember our minds have altered from the corresponding emotions, or just blatant self denial. Maybe our memories are never entirely accurate, but at the exact same time, they are. Because, to us, our altered memories are the truth. They are the experiences we remember.
I'm pretty positive the last story was the real one. This is because the fight was so... real. We never think of a fight like that, with both men being cowardly and afraid of not only losing, but winning. That huge element of realism makes it the only option for me.
That cowardly / afraid thing is pretty awesome.
DeleteThe theme to this I thought was, that you never know what's the truth unless you were there. Although one of the guys said he witnessed the whole thing, but yet no one believed him, and he lied to the court. I didn't really like this movie, just because I couldn't stand the lying and betrayal in it. People are so scandalous, and its terrible. I don't know which story was the truth. and I don't know if I care to know. I thought each story was pretty terrible. I couldn't believe the wife could do such horrible things to her husband like that, no matter which story was true. I thought how they found the baby at the end of the film, was a great scene, but I don't know if I trust the man who took the baby, he had a weird look in his eyes, and seemed sketchy. I thought the baby should have stayed with the man who was carrying it the whole time, he seemed like he would have enjoyed it.
ReplyDeletei very much so agree with Bambie about how all the stories were different. i didn't like the wife either, and i thought she was a bad wife. I'm not sure if i believe her even when she was crying to the court. it seemed like she kept hesitating to make up her story. the part when the medium was talking to the dead husband was kind of creepy, but if i were in the movie i probably wouldn't believe what she said either. it was all kind of confusing and all the girls had strange looking eye brows. the wife couldn't make up her mind on who she wanted to be with. it was just a weird movie.
DeleteGood work, Courtney and Bambie.
DeleteI think the theme of Roshomon was that everyone will lie to get themselves either out of trouble, or to show the flaws of the person they dislike and make them seem worse than they really are.
ReplyDeleteThree examples? Story one. Story two. Story three.
We never found out who was telling the truth and who was lying. They were either lying to make themselves seem better, lying to make their enemies seem worse, or lying to keep themselves out of trouble with the law.
I think another theme of this movie was that the people who share your company are not always what they may seem. No one around the fire trusted each other. The man at the end reached out to grab the child from the other man and he assumed that he was taking the kimono for himself because it was cold and raining. When in reality, he was trying to take the baby because he has 6 children of his own and is more than willing to take on another who needs him.
We cannot trust any of the witnesses. They were all part of the story and I personally think they were all lying for their own selfish reasons. Who killed who and what exactly happened was never really revealed, which really bothered me. This movie was confusing, the crying was over exaggerated and annoying, no one was honest (I hate lying) and at the end, not even the men around the fire could trust each other. They started making horrible accusations about each other, but they also spoke many truths of the world. Such as, "You just can't live unless you're what you call 'selfish.'" "It isn't as though men were reasonable." and "After all, who's honest nowadays? Look, everyone wants to forget unpleasant things, so they make up stories. It's easier that way." The men were wise with the words they spoke.
I think I would probably like this movie more if I watched it again so that I could understand what was really going on.
This made me laugh: "Three examples? Story one. Story two. Story three."
DeleteI think that Japan may have been feeling a bit of Moral Ambiguity after World War II, kind of like they were (and everyone, actually) were deciphering who to point the fingers at. This is reflected in the film quite obviously. The "Whodunit?" theme depicts a state of confusion, with an apparent metaphor of the court, and the three men, figuring out what really happened.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts.
DeleteAshton Bowers:
ReplyDeleteI think the film is not very clear as to what really happened because you're not supposed to know, it's supposed to stay a mystery saying that no matter what story happened there was evil in one of the people or all of them, and to know what really happened would ruin the story.
The theme i think is about how there's always evil in any story or person which is why the monk couldn't trust his friend with the baby after the guy stole the babies clothes and hearing the story. and that nothing is perfect or ever will be but we may find a good side of things in the end.
How do you feel about this theme? Do you agree with that perspective?
Delete-Randi Michelle :3
ReplyDeleteI think the theme of this movie is that you can never trust anyone, which is why it is always important to just be honest and TELL THE TRUTH. Don't lie, depending on what it is, because it'll always come back and haunt you through karma. And a lot of times, people will end up finding out the truth, then loose respect towards you for lying. It's just stupid and pointless, just like how one of the Japanese men lied about the story he told, and one of the other men caught him in the act. Even the husband that ended up dying lied about his wife, they all lied just to help their case, when really it was only causing pain and confusion.
It isn't really clear about what really happened...but I honestly wouldn't be able to trust any of them. I don't trust the bandit or the wife at all, both of their stories didn't add up, and they both acted too fake for their stories to seem legitimate. If anything, I trust the Japanese man's side, because the husband could've been lying just to make his wife look bad for calling him a fool, etc. In the story, the Japanese man even said that the husband told his wife he hated her and that the bandit could have her, so why wouldn't he lie about what happened? Plus, the Japanese man had no reason to lie about anything, since he wasn't even involved in the situation, so why would he lie? That's just my opinion, but I think if we had to trust any of them, it'd be the Japanese man.
Your argument about who to trust makes sense to me.
DeleteThe lesson I learned from this film is that you can make yourself, and others around you, believe in whatever you want. There and 4 different stories told by 4 different people and each person must convince the other people, and themselves, that their story is true. In the end the final story is the one believed.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the film was influenced by the war in the fact that it was a dark story and everyone was arguing about who killed the husband. I feel that the husband was symbolism for the soldiers and innocent people killed in Japan and the other characters symbolized who and what the Japanese people blamed all the death on. For example, the Bandit blamed the husband's death on desire, the wife blamed the death on betrayal, the husband blamed his death on honor, and the poor man blamed the death on truth.
I think the poor man's story is the true story. I believe this because it is the most logical story to me. And I like the clarification his story promises.
I like the idea of the husband/samurai representing the innocent people who died during the war.
Delete